I was drenched in the pool of dirty banters as my friends mocked me that evening when they discovered that I’ve been posted to a ‘village’ in the distant-flung side of Oyo State. I was deployed for my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to serve at Obalufon Grammar School, Sepeteri in Saki-East local government. Yes, It was quite depressing for me, but I had no reason for a long drawn out lamentation over a split milk.
The next day, carrying my heavy bag pack over my shoulders, I stepped out of my house, ready to leave for the park. The place of primary assignment from my house, down to a town after Saki is many whacking kilometres away from Ibadan. Hence, after wishing a warm goodbye to my friends and family, I started off to Sepeteri. Six hours later, I breezed in a prosaically situated town of Sepeteri. It was late in the evening that i had no option but to crash at the corps members’ lodge, there, it was the beginning of my reorientation about the town, i was enthusiastically welcomed, it was a new story entirely, as i felt so cool and internally relaxed. I even saw a nest in which a bird was busy feeding its child.
Wherein now, as I’m satisfactorily serving in Sepeteri town, situated in Saki East Local government. A local government area in Oyo State, Nigeria. it was created on December, 4th 1996, by the then military of head of State, late Sani Abacha. The headquarter of the Council is Ago-Amodu. It has an area of 1,569 km² and a population of 110,223 at the 2006 census. It is said that Saki East Local Government Area has five major communities which are Ago-Amodu, Sepeteri, Ogbooro, Oje-Owode and Agbonle. It needs be said that Saki East Local Government was formerly part of the defunct Ifedapo Local Government with the headquarter at Saki, until December 4th, 1996. This old Council was broken to Atisbo, Saki East and Saki West. The Local Government shares boundary with Saki, in Saki West, Tede in Atisbo and Igboho in Oorelope local governments.
Obviously, apart from these principal towns, there are hundreds of districts and they include Ogunlere, Laipapa, Ajandaku, Sango, Wiliki, Yanrin funfun, Arugede and Kaaka all in Oje-Owode, Alagolo and Buda Banki at Ago-Amodu and Mangoro, Imodi, Woru, Aloba, Aba Nla, Kusiji, Onkosa in Sepeteri, Yikiyiki, Mafowuro sere, Odo-Ogun, Alaparun, Amititi, Amukoko, Alakia in Ogbooro and many others in Agbonle. There are eleven (11) political wards, one in Agbonle, two in Ago-Amodu, two in Ogbooro, two in Oje–Owode and four in Sepeteri town.
Evidently today, Saki East is predominantly by the Yorubas, but they have a lot of non-nationals who come there to settle as farmers, including Fulani/Bororo, who find the pasture in the area beneficial to their animals. People there are predominantly farmers and their soil accommodate virtually all plants and crops. Farmers in the area are second to none when it comes to product of food and cash crops like cassava, yam, maize, wheat, while cashew and mango are produced in large quantity.
Today, out of the 5 corking towns in Saki-East, this piece will be able to talk about two major intriguing towns in this local government. It’s amazing that I’m a testimony to the cracking and supernal features of the two towns of Sepeteri, the one I reside in, and Oje Owode, a neigbouring town in the same Saki-East. First, there is Sepeteri, which is the biggest town in the Saki East Local Government Area of Oke-Ogun Oyo State, Nigeria. The people of Sepeteri are believed to have migrated from a town called Ifon in Osun State. Sepeteri is located between Igboho, Ago-amodu and Oje Owode to Shaki, Ago Are and Iseyin. The people of this town are farmers and hunters, I guess that’s why Oke Ogun is called the food basket of Oyo State. Obalufon is the tittle of the King of Sepeteri, Maybe it’s because they migrated from Ifon that’s what bring the tittle. There are 3 ruling families in the town, Ogboros, Daodus and Baloguns.
The town is homogeneous comprising in the main, people belonging to the Yoruba ethnic group who speak the Yoruba language, although minority groups from elsewhere in Nigeria and Africa are represented. Like all other Yorubas, they claim descent from Oduduwa. The extended family system is important to the Yoruba culture. Muslims is the majority religion here, with a minority of Christians and those who follow traditional beliefs. Economically, Sepeteri is a town blessed with mineral resources. There is mineral availability in the area, such as tantalite, columbite, cassiterite, kaolin, and granite. It’s said that the Government is setting up a lapidary to process the minerals and an international gem stone market in the Capital city of lbadan where miners can market their wares. The town has tourism potential, such as Old Oyo National park, lyemoja Shrine, Fishing festival, Old mining sites. Agriculture is the major work of the people of Sepeteri. Apart from the primary roles of providing food and shelter, employment, industrial raw materials, it remains an important source of revenue in the Local Government.
Wherefore, Oje-Owode, one of the five towns that make up Saki East Local Government area of Oyo State. The community was founded around 18th century by Olude who oral history confirmed as the first settler. Oje-Owode is strategically located at the centre of three local government headquarters i.e. Saki, Ago-Amodu and Tede, the headquarters of Saki West, Saki East and Atisbo local government areas respectively. It is geographically located approximately on longitude 3˚ 32’E and latitude 8˚ 35’N. The mean annual temperature is 26.20˚c. The lowest temperature is experienced in August with 24.3˚c as mean and the highest in March with a mean of 28.7˚c. Oje-Owode falls in the regions with two seasons like other areas in the Southwest of Nigeria.
It is situated in the transitional zone between the rainforest geographical region and the northern savannah zone, and therefore can be regarded as the derived savannah. The relief is relatively plain and the vegetation comprises of both forest and savannah vegetation, supporting the cultivation of varieties of crops (both cash and food crops), while grazing lands are also available to suit animal rearing. The area is also blessed with fertile land and the soil is characterized by fine texture that contains loamy and sandy soil types depending on area. All these, whether, soil and vegetation features adequately favor agricultural activities. This explains why the inhabitants are predominantly farmers and hunters. It is a town in Oke Ogun area of Oyo State which prides itself as the food basket of the state. In addition, craft works such as soap making, cloth weaving, blacksmithing are engaged in and locust bean and shear butter oil known in local parlance as “Ori” are also produced by women while high proportion of the inhabitants also engage in petty trading.
Furthermore, one interesting thing about Saki-East towns, most especially the two towns of Sepeteri and Oje-Owode is that despite the inter-ethnic clashes raging in certain quarters of the nation, Sepeteri and Oje-Owode in Oyo State presents a peaceable coexistence of three ethnic groups. For the Fulani who are mostly herdsmen, and Hausa, who are business people residing in Oje-Owode and Sepeteri, the town in Saki-East Local Government Area of Oyo State, is where home is and their place of origin, despite not being ethnically or linguistically connected with the community. Without being able to state specifically the number of years that they have resided in this Yoruba town, the Fulani and Hausa in this two communities now see a hometown deconstructed to mean a place of residence, a place of safety and/or a place where help is available.
The people of the two towns have furthered our relationship by creating and running communal societies of interest with the Yoruba. In the society, they socialise during festive seasons. Apart from this, there have been inter-marriages between us and the Yoruba. Likewise, their children attend the same schools with theirs such that the knowledge which used to be an exclusive preserve of the Yoruba is now being shared with Fulani children. Infact, beyond this, they have easy access to land whenever whenever they are in need. It’s also intriguing that some cannot literally remember their state of origin. Sure, there are some bad eggs around smearing the peace and unity enjoyed in the towns.
Without statistics or opinion polls it’s obvious that the Sepeteri, Oje-Owode and other towns in Saki-East can be categorized as one of the materially richest part of Nigeria, one that has a lot to contribute to the development of Oyo State and Nigeria. Infact, the Saki-East area people have for so many years engaged in farming activities, including animal husbandry, which is done mainly by Fulani pastoralists, who have settled there for a long time. However, for many reasons has remained the most undeveloped and the most marginalized in the country. The resources of the region, according to experts, shows that the area is richer than some African countries, including Botswana which is rich in diamond and is one of the most prosperous African countries.
It’s sad that despite being the breadbasket of the state and other parts of the South-West, the roads linking this very important part of the state are in a sorry state and in dire need of very urgent rehabilitation to reduce the post-harvest losses yearly recorded by farmers among other problems facing the people. Huge quantities of farm produce rot away on many farms because of the difficulty in transporting them to markets in the urban areas and this is part of the frustration sabotaging government as well as individuals’ efforts to make the country self-sufficient in food production. Today, many thanks to the Oyo State government, led by Engr. Seyi Makinde who has eased the stress by rehabilitating othe Ibadan/Iseyin Road, which would ease the transport problems the people were facing. Other development must also be placed in these areas, such as basic amenities, security, and infrastructures for development.
Ogungbile Dotun
