Brief History Of Awe Town, Oyo State

Awe was founded by four maternal brothers from Ile Ife. Their first port of call was Gbagura near Eba Odan now know as Ibadan before the Egbas moved to their present location. While in Gbagura, the four brothers displayed uncommon level of gallantry and hitherto unseen dexterity in the art of war that made them an enigma before the people of Gbagura. One of such act is how they spread "parapara" mat over Ogun river for the Ibariba warriors to cross and as they got to the middle, they removed the mat making all the warriors to drown. That is why part of the Alaawe cognomen is "o fi eni parapara segun Idomi". As a result of this and so many other heroic acts, the eldest brother, Ilemolu was rewarded with the title of 'Olukotun", the second in command to the Agura,the king of Gbagura.

One thing that is common to the four brothers is that they hated injustice with passion. This was the original reason why they left Ile-Ife in the first place. An incident happened which made the three younger brothers to decide to leave Gbagura. They informed their elder brother, Ilemolu Olukotun. Together they consulted their IFA oracle and having got a direction, Ilemolu said he cannot leave his brothers and so decided to move with them despite his age and position.

By the time they founded Awe, Ilemolu was already too old to rule and so instructed his brother, Oladokun to rule. He said, Kumawoyi should be the "Basinku" and head of the Kingmakers while Mafile, the last born should rule after Oladokun. He himself choose to be their father who will prepare them for the throne.That is the reason why we have two ruling houses in Awe till date and a new Alaawe must spend seven days in ILEYE, which is the house of Ilemolu Olukotun.

Oladokun, the first ruler of Awe begat Beyioku who ruled after Mafile. Beyioku begat Fakanbi, alias Awuya fowo gbonti. The mother of Awuya is Awitan the daugther of "Olorundoro omo Alugbin" from Igbeti and the founder of Oloro compound. Olorundoro was bought to Awe to be beating "IGBIN" drum for the elders in ILEDI.

When ODI AMOLA/ODI AMONU, the new boundary between Awe and Ago Oja was constructed during the time of OYAGBEBI, the fifth ruler of Awe as a military tactical response to the activities of the invaders, it was Fakanbi who volunteered to lead the Awe Revolutionary Guard and Curtail the activities of the Sunmomis, Penlepes and the invading forces from Oyo who were trying to capture smaller towns and villages to populate Ago Oja to replace the old Oyo which was destroyed by Fulani war leading to the death of OLUEWU the last Alaafin in Oyo Ile.

Fakanbi and his team succeeded exceedingly in defending the territorial integrity of Aweland as he was reputed to have a charm that makes all invading forces, once sighted, to go astray as he and his followers are fanning their ears backward. Such invaders will find themselves close to Iwo or somewhere very far away and it becomes an arduous task finding their way back to their base. For those who succeded in entering the Odi Amola, there is a method they used in neutralizing them.

The military tactics is usually for the team to retreat and split into three units. The first two usually hide at either side of Asaba river as they allow them to pass through while the third unit wait at Amuni river. Once the invader pass through Asaba, the two units will attack from behind and such forces were usually overwhelmed and arrested at Amuni river which has been charmed to weaken anyone with evil intentions towards Aweland.

Present kabiyesi, Oba Cornelius Abiola Taiwo is a direct descendant of Fakanbi, alias Awuya fowo gbon'ti.

@duro4chang Fascinating post! Thanks for this. Please which of the four brothers is Asalu house descended from?