Brief History of Oda

Umologbe the founder of Ogbe is said to be one of the sons of  Oduduwa, the founder of lle-lfe, which according to Yoruba mythology was the centre of the universe. Umologbe was a prominent and brave hunter as well as a hard-working farmer. As a hunter, he had as part of his traveling kits, guns, a relic crown, amulets for all purposes, and deity known as "Eegun Ogbe", which was said to be the origin of Masquerade in Oda till date. Annually Asodeboyede would send certain things including ram to be sacrificed to "Eegun Ogbe". This shows that there had been an age-long relationship between Oda and Akure.

Umologbe was said to have had a brief spell alongside Asodeboyede at Oritagun in Akure, before he left and finally settled at Ogbe, a large expanse of land with few aboriginal settlers who lived in scattered huts. Asodeboyede had earlier moved southwards under the leadership of Olojada also known as Umologbe, a prominent and skilful hunter and they reached a point of about six kilometers away from the present location of Akure and settled there. On one of the hunting expeditions which they usually embarked on collectively, Asodeboyede also known as 'Omo Ekun" shot and killed an elephant. He immediately remembered his Ifa Oracle's prediction before leaving Igbo Oye. It was at this stage that Umologbe left Asodeboyede and founded Ogbe.

Ogbe was said to mean quarters or places for the princes. There were about sixteen aboriginal villages surrounding Ogbe which was then a centre of attraction in the region. So also, there were various tribes that engaged in war with the Akures and the Ogbe people. Such tribes include among others the Idanres, Owos, and the Binis. The town was intermittently ravaged owing to different wars such as Ipata wars. During the period, war was an inevitable phenomenon and as such, all the traditional rulers in Ogbe always put up a brave defense of the Ogbe territory.
Many of the wars were won and some were lost due to different factors. However, there was a very tough war that shook the Ogbe city and its territory during the reign of Oba Opamudasuan. This was called 'Ogun a ja mose lo", this was supposed to mean a war whereby the enemies are given a tough resistance or tough fight. The classification was meant to make the traditional heads get well prepared and protect the Ogbe city and give its territories sound protection. However, the Oba of Ogbe at the time, Opamudasuan had a contrary translation of the preparatory message, which was sent by Ooni of Ile-lfe.
He consulted with his Army generals and they resolved that since the war was to be fought with their legs on firm land, a heap of wet mud, that is, beaten earth that would take Ogbe warriors were stationed round the city with their legs inside the wet mud. Opamudasuan has not completed the preparations for the war when he got words that the Aburu warriors were already approaching Ogbe. All the warriors were armed with weapons and the traditional ruler together with his war generals' stucked their legs into the beaten earth and waited in that position for war.
When Aburu warriors from Benin got to Ogbe and met the warriors in a motionless position inside the mud, they were killed in their hundreds and defeated. If the preparation had not "cemented" the Ogbe fighters to a spot, they would have escaped, regrouped to reclaim the City. By this single mistake, Oba Opamudasuan lost his life and all the glories of the ancient city of Ogbe. Thereafter, Seven other Obas emerged after Opamudasuan with Oba Agbedere a female the last traditional head of Ogbe.
When Ogbe fell around 1764, young men who were not recruited for the war and who saw the destruction of their ancestral home, escaped to Oda with the surviving women and children. The people of Oda received the Ogbe people who were the inhabitants of their headquarters and were ready to be in peaceful co-existence with them. Oda was initially conceived as a refugee camp for the Ogbe people until their surviving men were strong enough to re-build their ancestral home. Some of Ogbe people who were outside the community at the time Aburu war was on chose to settle in the places they were, for instance, Akure at the time they heard the news.
During the movement of Ogbe people to Oda, the Moses of the exodus was Prince Ausi. While escaping from the invaders, he had a cap on his head known as "Fila Ojukoba" meaning invisible cap, and this made it impossible for anybody to see him and his entourage. Prince Ausi later became Olojoda the traditional ruler at Oda because of his status at Ogbe. He got married to a famous woman named Ekusolatan, who was famous because she was credited with importing the Alaojo festival to Oda from Eku, whose location remained unknown to the inhabitants of the town till date.
Prince Ausi bore children named Olumadeji, Adegboye, Olokunolu and Erumola. Olumadeji the eldest son was appointed by his father, Prince Ausi to oversee llekun as the Elekun of llekun (a vassal chieftaincy under the Olojada). His four children constitute the ruling houses in Oda till present. Ilekun – 'Ile Ekun' (land of tiger), was an outpost settlement of Oda. This settlement as at that time was under incessant attack by tigers and other dangerous wild beasts. The prowess of Prince Ausi in defending llekun was the reason why he was made Elekun.

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