Ilaro
Ilaro, Ogun State is a town in Ogun State, Nigeria.
Coordinates: 6°53′24″N 3°01′01″E / 6.89°N 3.017°E
Ilaro is the headquarters of the Yewa South Local government, now known as YEWALAND which replaced the Egbado division of the former Western State, and later became a part of Ogun State of Nigeria. Ilaro town is about 50 km from Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, and about 100 km from Ikeja, the capital city of Lagos State. Other neighbouring towns to Ilaro, headquarters of Yewaland include, Ajilete, Oke-Odan Owode, Ibese, Oja Odan, Pahayi, Idogo-Ipaja, Papa-Alanto, and Imasayi. Ilaro was founded in the 18th century by Aro who migrated from the Oyo town to settle down in Igbo Aje, a little hill situated at the centre of the town from where he and his warriors could sight enemies (mostly slave traders from the neighbouring Benin republic known then as Dahomey) on attack from a long distance. Aro himself was a warrior and a hunter to be reckoned with. Ilaro had her name from "Ilu Aro" meaning the settlement of Aro which later became Ilaro for ease of pronunciation. Ancient Ilaro town was blessed with great farmers, hunters and warriors out of which Orona and Osata ranked the files of Ilaro history. In the history laid by these humble kinsmen and peace-loving individuals, apart from saving the lives of their kinsmen from the hands of the invading Dahome and other warriors, news had it that Orona with his "Ekun" (Leopard) when he became old and wanted to show the potency of His powers entered into the ground and told his people to call upon him whenever there is problem, i.e. in times of war, by just pulling the chain attached to himself and the leopard as at the time of entering the ground. This place where Orona disappeared into the ground with his Leopard today had been renovated and constructed as an emolument for lovers of history and tourists. Close to this monument is the town hall named after the honourable warrior (picture shown,) "’Orona’ Hall". the statute of Oronna and his Leopard are still there for tourists and lovers of history to see. Osata was an Ancient Ilaro ruler in the 19th century who sacrificed his own son for his people to enjoy abundance of rainfall at a time Ilaro was plagued with drought. The dialect spoken in Ilaro as the headquarters of the Yewa/Egbado people is the Egbado dialect. When Ilaro indigenes meets outside home The shout of “Omo Oluwewun” has a magical power of unifying the Ilu Aro people. Ilaro of the late 19th and 20th century benefited immensely from the Missionaries. The Missionaries introduced religion and western education to the people of Yewa Land. Churches and schools were founded of which the Christ Missionary Church and school was founded as CMS and the first secondary school in Egbado land known then as Egbado College Ilaro, now Yewa College was also founded.
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