*See the kingdom and monarch entries cross-referenced in the Regional Record — protests, looted treasures, oil-boom delivery and failure, militarisation and police brutality keyed to the same Houses.*
*★ pivotal pre-colonial polity · ♀ confirmed female office.*
Overview#
Ogun State's traditional authority is organised around five paramount stools — the Alake of Egbaland, the Awujale of Ijebuland, the Akarigbo of Remoland, the Olowu of Owu, and the Ologboro of Ilaro (Yewa/Egbado).
The Paramount Stools#
Alake of Egbaland#
Paramount ruler of all Egba; palace at Ake, Abeokuta. Current Alake: Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the 4th Alake, enthroned 2005. The dynasty traces to Lisabi and the founding Egba clans.
Alake Okukenu Sagbua (r. c.1854–1877) — the first modern Alake#
Okukenu Sagbua was the first Egba paramount to take the title *Alake of Abeokuta* in the modern sense — installed c.1854 by Sodeke's successors and the *Ogboni* after the consolidation of the Egba refugee towns around Olumo Rock. His reign covers the entire arc of the Ogun Blockade (1863–1872), the 1867 *Ifole* uprising in which the Egba expelled European missionaries and destroyed Henry Townsend's CMS press at Ake, and the collapse of the Egba United Board of Management (dissolved 1874). He was baptised by the CMS as *Okukenu* — an Egba–Christian public figure who nevertheless presided over the expulsion of the missionaries when Lagos customs re-routing threatened Egba fiscal independence. He died in 1877; the stool passed through *Ademola I* (1879–1889), *Oyekan* (1879–89 interregnum), and eventually to *Gbadebo I* (1898–1920), under whom the Egba United Government was chartered (1898) and abolished (1914).
Royal Consorts of Alake Okukenu. The pre-colonial Egba palace did not maintain a single-*iyalode*-of-the-palace record; consorts are named collectively in mission and palace papers as the *Ayaba* (queens) of the Ake court. Two are specifically attested: Madam Tinubu (Efunroye Tinubu, d. 1887) — the Lagos–Abeokuta merchant princess exiled from Lagos by Consul Campbell in 1856 who resettled at Abeokuta under Okukenu's protection and was granted the title *Iyalode of the Egba* (c.1864), effectively the senior female authority at court during the blockade years; and Madam Efunporoye Osuntinubu, mother of several of Okukenu's recognised children, named in the CMS baptismal registers at Ake. The Ake palace records at Abeokuta preserve fuller lists under the *Ayaba Register* maintained by the Iyalode's office.
Awujale of Ijebuland#
Paramount ruler of the Ijebu; palace at Ijebu-Ode. Current Awujale: Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, CFR, the 20th Awujale, enthroned 2 April 1960 — among Nigeria's longest-reigning monarchs (65+ years on the stool). Historically covers the Remo settlements.
The 1959 London selection. The 1959 succession assessment that produced Adetona was, by consensus of palace and family records, convened at 45A Kensington Gardens, London — the residence of Chief M.S. Sowole of Ipara-Remo (Western Region Agent-General in London). The young Adetona, then a student in the United Kingdom, was vetted by senior Ijebu chiefs and Western Region figures at Sowole's home before being returned to Ijebu-Ode for the final ratification by the Ijebu kingmakers — one of the rare instances of a Yoruba paramount stool whose modern successor was first sighted on British soil. The episode is preserved in the Awujale palace records at Ijebu-Ode and in the Sowole family papers.
Akarigbo of Remoland#
Paramount ruler of 33 towns; palace at Ofin, Sagamu. Current Akarigbo: Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, Torungbuwa II, 19th Akarigbo, enthroned 7 December 2017. The stool dates to c.1450 and covers three Remo LGAs — Sagamu, Ikenne and Remo North.
Olowu of Owu#
Paramount ruler of the Owu Kingdom, one of the original Yoruba kingdoms tracing to Oduduwa. The Owu people, displaced after the 1821–1826 Owu War, resettled across Egba territory; the Olowu's seat is at Owu-Abeokuta.
Ologboro of Ilaro#
Paramount ruler of the Yewa/Egbado people of western Ogun, palace at Ilaro.
Notable Historical Figures#
Chief Micheal Soyebo Sowole of Ipara-Remo#
Chief M.S. Sowole (fl. c.1948–1970s) Western Region legislator · Agent-General in London · Mover of the Midwest State Motion (1955)
Background. His mother was a princess, daughter of the Onipara of Ipara (royal blood on the maternal side). His wife was a granddaughter of HRM Oba Ayoade Fubigbuwa, the first Alaperu of Iperu-Remo (Ikenne LGA). Iperu-Remo is one of Remo's most ancient towns, founded by Akesan (settler from Ile-Ife); the Alaperu title was formally approved by the Western Region government on 4 February 1958, with three ruling houses (Agbonmagbe, Amororo, Odoru). By this marriage Sowole connected himself to Iperu's founding royal house — a second royal affiliation alongside his maternal Ipara line.
Career. WRHA legislator (Action Group); personal friend of Chief Obafemi Awolowo; in 1951 the Remo Electoral College returned him with 82 votes to Awolowo's 81 — out-polling the future Premier by one vote (both returned as top two candidates). On 14 June 1955 he moved the landmark Midwest State motion in the WRHA ("I beg to move that this house prays Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to make necessary constitutional arrangements at the proposed conference for a separate state of Benin and Delta provinces") — the Midwest Region was formally created in 1963 following this motion. He narrowly missed ministerial appointment in 1956 (dropped for C.D. Akran of Badagry; accepted the party decision without protest); was appointed Agent-General and Trade Representative for Western Nigeria in London (WRPB London office); maintained residence at 45A Kensington Gardens, London — used as a diplomatic hub for Yoruba elites; hosted the 1959 Awujale succession assessment in his Kensington home; was photographed at the Hyde Park Hotel press conference (Paul Popper, 1956) and at the St. James's Palace reception with Princess Alexandra alongside Northern/Eastern Region commissioners and Sir John Macpherson (CO Permanent Under-Secretary, c.1958–59). Served as Commissioner, Western State government (c.1961–1970s).
Family and legacy. Nephew: Jimi Solanke (4 July 1942 – 5 February 2024), folk musician, actor, playwright, first documented rap verse performer — expelled from Sowole's Ibadan apartment for nocturnal band performances, which drove him to the Mbari Club where he encountered Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi and Akin Euba; Sowole was thus an inadvertent patron of mid-century African arts. Posthumous honours: Grand Commander of Remo (Akarigbo Sonariwo, 25 July 2015); Posthumous Pillar of Development Award, Anglican Communion Nigeria, Remo Diocese, 14 April 2024.
The Sowole–Obasa marriage. Kehinde Sowole (Sowole's granddaughter) married Joshua Bewaji Obasa (son of Chief David S. "Ajaja" Obasa, Odofin of Ijero-Ekiti), joining two documented chieftaincy and public-service families in this encyclopedia.
References
Sources#
- 2026 — SSRN Working Paper, Obasa Olorunfemi et al., April 2026: "Chief Micheal Soyebo Sowole of Ipara-Remo." Authors are great-grandchildren of Sowole and bear the Obasa surname through the Sowole–Obasa marriage.
- Awujale of Ijebuland palace records, Ijebu-Ode.
- Akarigbo of Remoland palace records, Ofin, Sagamu.
- Alake of Egbaland palace records, Ake, Abeokuta.