Ikeji Arakeji is a town in
Oriade
Oriade is a Local Government area in the northeastern part of Osun State. It is predominantly occupied by the Ijesa people. Its capital is Ijebu-Jesa (or Ijebu Ijesha) in the north of the area at.
It has an area of 465 km and a population of ...
local government area of
Osun State
Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Og ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
. It is located in the west of Nigeria, from
Akure
Akure is a city in south-western Nigeria. It is the capital and largest city of Ondo State. The city had a population of 403,000 as at the 2006 population census.
History
Pre 1914
Rock engravings dating back to the Mesolithic period, ha ...
(capital of
Ondo State
Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to ...
). The people are of the
Ijesha
The Ijesha (written as Ìjẹ̀ṣà in Yoruba orthography) are a sub- ethnicity of the Yorubas of West Africa. Ilesha is the largest town and historic cultural capital of the Ijesha people, and is home to a kingdom of the same name, ruled by an ...
tribe of the
Yoruba ethnic group. The inhabitants are majorly farmers and Christians. The people of Ikeji Arakeji originally migrated from
Ikeji Ile in the early 1900s. The
Joseph Ayo Babalola University a private Nigerian university in Ikeji-Arakeji, in Osun State, established by the
Christ Apostolic Church Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) is the first Aladura Pentecostal church present in Nigeria and other countries. It arose in the first half of the 20th century, in the then-British empire. It was formally established in 1941 after a split from the Apo ...
worldwide. The university is named after the first spiritual leader of the Christ Apostolic Church,
Joseph Ayo Babalola (1904–1959); it is located at the place where he died in 1928.
The migration to Arakeji
Arakeji is the principal deity of the town, now known as old Ikeji. The town, the original settlement (Ikeji Ile) had a very hilly topography and was not the ideal location for good communication, although it was good for security purposes. the town itself was rugged and suffered from erosion. it was against this background that the British Administrative officer in 1918 advised the community to move from Ikeji Ile (old Ikeji) to new site so as to make the town readily accessible for regular communications and establishment of social amenities. The Advice was acceptable and the former Agamo now the present site Ikeji Arakeji was chosen.
References
Populated places in Osun State
{{Osun-geo-stub