ABOUT ABEOKUTA
Abeokuta is the capital of Ogun State. The town derives its name (meaning "Under the Rock") from the Olumo Rock, a massive outcrop of granite rocks. The highest point of the Rock is 137 meters above sea level. The Rock is naturally surrounded by caves , one of which is about 20 feet long and 25 feet wide. Abeokuta lies in the South-West of Nigeria about 100 kilometres from Lagos. To the North of it, some 70 kilometres away, is the city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.

The Rock is sacred to the Egba of Abeokuta because it was the place where they found refuge from their attackers in the days of internecine wars. To them, Olumo Rock stands not only as a monument of faith in unity but also as a source of strength and unfailing protection and sustenance from the Supreme Being who led their ancestors through the complexities of life safely to Abeokuta.

Abeokuta was founded about 1830 by Sodeke (Shodeke), a hunter and leader of the Egba refugees who fled from the disintegrating Oyo empire. The town was also settled by missionaries (in the 1840s) and by Sierra Leone Creoles, who later became prominent as missionaries and as businessmen. Abeokuta’s success as the capital of the Egbas and as a link in the Lagos-Ibadan oil-palm trade led to wars with Dahomey (now Benin). In the battle at Abeokuta in 1851, the Egba, aided by the missionaries and armed by the British, defeated King Gezo’s Dahomeyan army (unique in the history of western Africa for its common practice of using women warriors).

Another Dahomeyan attack was repulsed in 1864. Troubles in the 1860s with the British in Lagos led the Egba to close the trade routes to the coast and to expel (1867) its missionaries and European traders. After the Yoruba civil wars (1877–93), in which Abeokuta opposed Ibadan, the Egba alake (“king”) signed an alliance with the British governor, Sir Gilbert Carter, that recognized the independence of the Egba United Government (1893–1914). In 1914 the kingdom was incorporated into the newly amalgamated British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. The Abeokuta riots of 1918 protested both the levying of taxes and the “indirect rule” policy of Lord Frederick Lugard, the British governor-general which made the alake, formerly primus inter pares (“first among equals”) the supreme traditional leader.

In early times Abeokuta was an agricultural trade centre (rice, yams, cassava, corn [maize], palm oil and kernels, cotton, fruits, vegetables) and an exporting point for cocoa, palm produce, fruits, and kola nuts. Rice and cotton were introduced by the missionaries in the 1850s, and cotton weaving and dyeing (with locally grown indigo) are now traditional crafts of the town. Abeokuta is the headquarters for the federal Ogun-Oshin River Basin Development Authority with programs to harness land and water resources for Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states for rural development. Irrigation, food-processing, and electrification projects are included. Local industry is limited but now includes fruit-canning plants, a plastics factory, a brewery, sawmills, and an aluminum-products factory. South of the town are the Aro granite quarries, which provide building materials for much of southern Nigeria, and a huge, modern cement plant at Ewekoro (18 miles [29 km] south).
Abeokuta was a walled town, and relics of the old wall still exist. Notable buildings include the Ake (the residence of the alake), Centenary Hall (1930), and several churches and mosques. Secondary schools and primary teachers’ colleges at Abeokuta are supplemented by the University of Agriculture (formerly the University of Lagos Abeokuta campus), which specializes in science, agriculture, and technology, and the Ogun State Polytechnic. Population is estimated to be about 600,000

ABEOKUTA SOUTH FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY
The Abeokuta South Federal Constituency is one of the 9 federal constituencies in Ogun State. The constituency is made up of the Abeokuta South local Government. It is the only constituency in Ogun State made up of a single local Government, which is an indication of the size and population of the constituency. However, indications are that Ijebu Ode Local Government may also be given its own Federal Constituency in the next constituency delimitation exercise by the electoral body.

Abeokuta South Local Government with a population of about 300,000 is usually referred to as the premier Local Government due to the historic eminence of the geographical entity as the traditional seat of the local or native Authority in Egbaland since 1898 and as the seat of the Government of Ogun State which came into existence in 1976. The Abeokuta Local Government was created in January 1977. However, in 1991 the government of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida created the Abeokuta South Local Government with its headquarters at Ake.

The Abeokuta South Federal Constituency is mainly inhabited by the Egba Ake Stock which is further made up of Egba Eku, Egba Aarin & Egba Agbeyin. It has as its royal fathers, the Alake of Egbaland and the Olubara of Ibara. There are many cottage industries within the constituency namely pottery at Ijaiye, tie & dye at Itoku, wood carving and blacksmithing e.t.c. The constituency is divided into 15 wards for political purposes. These are: (i) Ake I (ii) Ake II (iii) Ake III (iv) Emere (v) Ijemo (vi) Itoko (vii) Ijaye/ldi aba (viii) Erunbe / Ijoko/ Ilogbol/Oke jigbo/ Oke ijeun (ix) Ago Ijesa/ljeun titun/ Ago Egun (x) lporo Sodeke/Isale ijeun II (xi) Kemta / Itoku (xii), Okeyeke/ Imo / Kuto (xiii) Igbore /Itori / Agooba (xiv) Onikolobo / Adigbe (xv) Ibara.

The local government council has total number of 486 employees consisting of 359 junior staff and 127 senior staff headed by the council chairman Hon. Biodun Ajayi.

RELIGION & CULTURE
Christianity, Islam and Traditional religion are the three religions of the people of the constituency and they have three major festivals which are (1) Egungun (2) Igunuko (3) Oro.

The Constituency is represented at the National Assembly by Honourable Dimeji Sabur Bankole who as part of his promises to the people of the constituency has put in place a year long series of monthly events geared towards touching the lives of the people in various areas such as health, education, small business and security. These events being coordinated by the Skipper Initiative in conjunction with the Gateway Front Foundation will include, provision of health aids, and drugs, scholarships, loan schemes and much more. The events will be rolled of in July 2004 with the HEALTH/ SECURITY DAY to be chaired by Her Excellency, The first lady of Ogun state, Yeye Olufunke Daniel.