Why OWU Communities Are All Over The World

• Olowu Reveals The Significance Of OWU People In History

Have you noticed that there are so many Owu communities all over Nigeria? Have you also discovered that there are many Owu communities abroad?

There are many. And we can tell you a lot about this.

Recently, City People spent quality time with the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, HRM Oba Prof. Saka Adelola Matenilola at his palace in Abeokuta, Ogun State and we asked him to tell us a little about the Owu people and why they are everywhere in the world. We also got him to tell us a little about the significance of the Owu Kingdom in history?

“It is a long story. But I will make it short because it is a very long story. The first thing that a lot of people may not realise, even Owu sons and daughters as well, is that Owu is very international. It goes way beyond Nigeria. Here in Nigeria, we have settlements in about 8 states that I’m aware of Apart from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ekiti, we also have settlements in Abia State. We have a community in Abia State with their own Igwe who identify themselves completely as Owu. They migrated there during the Yoruba war which really was the Owu War in late 1800. And we also have another settlement up North of River Niger who identify themselves as purely Owu. That is North of Kwara State, North of River Niger. We also have two settlements in Bene Republic who are completely Owu with their own Obas as well. We have a settlement, a community in Togo who are purely Owu with their own Oba as well. We also have settlements in Brazil and Cuba as well”.

Owu is very international. And we are not even talking about those who migrated as part of economic migration, but those who have settled there and have a community with proper leadership. So, you can see Owu is really international. And that is one part of it. The other part is that, a lot of us who are based here in Nigeria may not appreciate the fact that, Owu runs much deeper and much wider than Abeokuta here. A lot of people when they say Owu, they would say Owu is in Abeokuta. But when we say Owu in Abeokuta, we have settlements in many parts of Ogun State. Let’s say Ogun Central essentially. Awowo, Akinale, and it goes as far as Gbalefa to the South West of Abeokuta, and the whole of Ifo, Paapaa Lantoro, and the rest and the rest. Those are part of the Owu settlements in Abeokuta. That is apart from the ones in Ogun East; Ijebu area and Ikosi area, and part of Lagos State of course. Owu is really, really, vast in terms of the spread, in terms of the demography and all that. And it has a very rich culture as well.

How does Kabiyeesi connect or relate with these various settlements?

“Well, for those that are connected directly to Abeokuta which are the ones in Ogun Central, we have regular meetings with all the Kabiyesis and the Baales once in a month, here in Abeokuta. For the rest of Owu world wide, we have an annual convention which we call The Owu Convention which holds around the first or second week of December, every year, where we all come together and share perspectives, do things together, discuss issues that are common to us as well. And we have a plan for some of the things we do.

We must give a lot of credit to late Chief Akin Olugbade who actually (I think it was in the ’80s) went around the world trying to identify Owu settlements and communities. The body he formed at the time has now transformed to what we call The Royal Union of Owu People. It is called RUOP for short. So, we have that Convention once in a year and we rotate the venue. This year, 2023, we would be having our Convention in Ijebu-Igbo. Last year, we had it at Telemu in Osun State. In 2024, we would be having it in Kwara, Kwara State would be hosting us. And that is how we connect essentially”.

“That is apart from the regular visits. Because the Obas have Quarterly visits, Quarterly meetings. We held the one for the current quarter in Ijebu-Igbo about a month and a half ago. So, we do have quarterly meetings as well. Apart from that, we have a big project of trying to rebuild fully, Orile Owu, which is in Osun State. It is where we migrated from. A lot of us migrated from there in the early 1800. By the way, there are lots of other Owu settlements that have settled else where before the Owu war of 1800. The Kutas, Obalonyan in Kwara State and the rest, settled there before the 1800 Owu War. But then, it was the main Owu War in 1825 to 1832 or thereabout, which dislocated us. So, we are trying to rebuild that Orile Owu”.

“And that is a big project that we are embarking upon now, and it is really well under way, where we would all have our presence. So, we are trying to build our secretariat there, you know, a settlement there; where all the Owu settlements outside of Orile Owu can have a place where we can relax when we are going there for a meeting, we can just have a guest house, or something, apart from the secretariat. So, we do a lot of things to ensure that we bond, and we keep our relationship and our bond going”.