Epe, Nigeria

History

In years past, before this settlement came to be called Epe, the town had earlier been known as Igbo Obo (Forest of Monkeys). Some group of hunters from Ijebu, were led by one Urankaloye or Uraka had visited this part of the world during a hunting expedition in search for animals. Though it later served as the refuge for the forces of Kosoko, the Yoruba king ousted from Eko area of Lagos by the British in 1851. In 1892, Epe was the embarkation point for the military expedition sent by Sir Gilbert Carter, the then Governor of Lagos, to defeat the awujale (the Ijebu political and spiritual ruler) at Ijebu-Ode. Uraka and Aramope which were both hunters then left Ile-Ife on a hunting expedition arriving in Ijebu-Ode, Uraka never knew that he was on a threshold of history.

When Uraka got to Ijebu-Ode, he got a message through an Ifa divination. He was told to move southwards towards the sea and should settle anywhere between his crossing of the sixth and seventh river. After crossing the fifth river called "OTERIN" (Cold Water), he got to a place later identified as 'Poka' where he used his popoka stick to strike the ground. Poka town was derived from his name called Uraka's popoka stick. At Poka, the Ifa oracle was further consulted for direction which led Uraka to proceed and after crossing the sixth river, he finally settled in a place called "ETITA".

From the History section of Epe, Lagos State on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.