A Short History of Okuku
In the same way as other Yoruba towns, Okuku has a genealogical connection with Ile-Ife, the support of life in Yoruba folklore. Oladile the pioneer behind Okuku was an immediate relative of Oduduwa and one of the four siblings who left Ile-Ife simultaneously: the others being Alara, Ajero and Orangun.
Similar to the example back then, a large portion of the offspring of Oduduwa emigrated from Ile-Ife to settle and claim virgin land where they could become popular in their own freedoms. One of the four kids, Orangun, chose to stop when he got to where is referred to the present time as Ila and became known at his climb to the lofty position after triumph in battles as Orangun Ile-Ila.
Another, Ajero halted at the spot presently referred to now as Ijero in Ekitiland where he turned into the Oba subsequent to winning his fights.
The leftover two siblings, Alara and Oladile continued on until they arrived at an area in Ekiti land. After series of success, they chose to settle at last at Aramoko, the new foundland. Normally, the senior sibling Oladile had expected to be enthroned however Ifa minister divined in any case, demanding that the prophet had not picked Oladile but rather his more youthful sibling, the Alara. Oladile opposed yet the cleric immovably demanded that it would either be Alara or another person, most certainly not Oladile. In this manner, while Alara turned into the Oba in Aramoko; Oladile, his kids and allies left Aramoko and continued on looking for another space.
It is in this manner no conincidence that the relatives of the decision house in Okuku have the Yoruba Oriki of "Omo Alara, Omo Ajero, Omo Orangun Ile-Ila". They are all (expanded) offspring of these siblings in Yoruba custom.
After counsel with Ifa Prophet, the Oladile bunch was exhorted not to settle until it went over a particularly thick cluster of palm trees. In the long run, Oladile found a total uninhabited spot in a thick palm woods. The settlement he in this way found was named Iko-Ikin (Iko, a thick cluster, Ikin, palm-nuts) which became changed so as to kookin, close to the Otin Waterway.
The new settlement was expanded by the appearance of various settler families generally from farther north. A gathering of wood-carvers drove by Otebolaje from Oje came to get comfortable Kookin, and wedded Oladile's girl, Lalubi. This family was given a conventional chieftaincy, the Odofin. The significance of the Odofin, an old in-law of the Olokuku, gets mostly from the way that he is the customary host of another Olokuku for brief periods after establishment and before the Oba moves to the Aafin (Royal residence).
Different foreigners before long followed among them Apa, Tela Oloko and Winyomi, the organizers behind Aworo-Otin's, Oloko's and Oluode's Mixtures, separately. Each gathering was permitted to hold its own chieftaincy or customary title carried with it or given to it for good help, a training which proceeds.
Along these lines, Kookin developed to be a huge and prosperous town. Admittance to press from the mines at Isundunrin close to Ejigbo empowered Kookin to turn into an iron-works focus. It is expressed that there were more than hundred and forty individuals in the exchange, and that Kookin market provided Ila, Ilesa, Oyo, Iresa and Iregba with iron apparatuses and weapons.
Kookin, and hence, Okuku, turned into the focal point of the various networks that started to develop around it. Some of them were connected/associated with Kookin itself, and among these are Inisa, (through the Eesa and the Osholo), Eko-Einde and Ijabe. Eko Einde and Ijabe were both said, by legend, to have administering houses plummeted from children of Oladile who were shipped off resolve debates among gatherings of rookies. Numerous different networks were laid out and these regarded and acknowledged the power of Kookin.
After Oladile, numerous Obas controlled at Kookin. Among them were Oluronke Alao, the forerunner of the present Oyeleye part of the Okuku family, Mosin, Oyedeji, Oyedele and others.
Around 1760 Kookin took on a lost conflict with the Ijesa in the Ijesa Arara (midgets) war. The conflict was supposed in light of the short height and stockiness of the trespassers who struck when all physically fit men were in the ranches.
The conflict survivors were driven by the Oba Jala Okin from Kookin, a couple of kilometers north of the remains of Kookin to establish another settlement which came to be considered Okuku, 'Awa ti a ku or Oku to ku' (that is, survivors) in the wake of enduring one more debacle brought about by water harming resulting after drinking the water of the Obuku (previously Amuku stream).
Jala Okin controlled Kookin for a considerable length of time before the slaughter and he kept on administering the new settlement for an additional eight years before he dieid. He changed his title of Oba Kookin to Olokuku (the proprietor of Okuku) of Okuku. He is affectionately associated with his practically boundless ability to persevere and his authentic characteristics of capable administration.
Yet again there was harmony and progress until the Ilorin-Ibadan Wars what began during the rule of Oyekanbi I and upset harmony at Okuku. The Ilorin war camp was at Offa while that of Ibadan was based at Ikirun. Okuku was in the middle between. Thusly, Okuku endured earnestly during the conflict by the striking gatherings. Oba Oyekanbi passed on throughout the conflict. It was only after the hour of Oyewusi I that the conflict finished and Okuku again appreciated harmony following Skipper Grove's burden of harmony in 1893.
Oba Oyekunle (1916-1934) ruled at a period when The Second Great War and Yoruba wars were seething. His reign introduced relative harmony in any case, he was liable for resolving limit debates among Okuku and a few towns around Okuku. His magnetic character and his unprejudiced nature won for him the help and deference of individuals of towns and towns around Okuku. He was the mind behind the primary Local Court. A nearby cell called 'Atimole' was constructed and the local police 'Akodas' began to work during his rule.
To oblige the then Locale Officials a rest house, 'Bareke', was likewise fabricated. He changed the covered royal residence into a close present day castle roofed with layered iron sheets. He laid an exceptionally impressive establishment from which present day Okuku arose.
Oba Oyewusi II, Olokuku of Okuku
