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Ijebu Igbo (Yoruba: Ìjẹ̀bú-Igbó) is a town in Ogun State, Nigeria. It is approximately a 15-minute drive north of Ijebu Ode. Ijebu Igbo, also written as Ijebu-Igbo, is the headquarters of Ijebu North Local Government Authority, of Ogun State, Nigeria. Its geographical coordinates are latitude 6° 58' 0" north, and longitude 4° 0' 0" east.
Map of Ijebu Igbo, Nigeria
Ijebu Igbo is divided into five clans: Oke-Sopen, Oke-Agbo, Ojowo, Atikori, and Japara. An oba (king) is enthroned to govern each of these clans. These obas are typically classified as "third-class" and they all submit to the headship of the Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo. The orimolusi is a first-class and he is the supreme head of Ijebu-Igbo. The last Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo was late Oba Samuel Adetayo Onasanya (Ikupakude IV), who died in 1994.
The town's primary economic activities are timber, cocoa, exploitation of mineral resources and it is home to many saw mills. History has it that the founder, Onayelu, was a great hunter who hunted the northern parts of Odo-Oluiwa; the present Ijebu Ode, where he was a prince. Following the sudden demise of his father and the subsequent controversial accession to the throne of his younger brother, the Ofiranoye while Onayelu was away hunting, he decided to migrate from Ijebu Ode to settle permanently on the large expanse of land where he had been hunting and known today as Ijebu Igbo.
Thus Ijebu Igbo has the largest land mass of all Ijebus, and in Ogun state, Nigeria. It extends to, and has three important boundary points at Ibadan, Ikire, and Ondo. Like all other Ijebus, the people of Ijebu Igbo speak the Ijebu dialect that is distinct from and similar to the Yoruba language. Ijebu Igbo boasts of many secondary schools, amongst which are two of the foremost secondary schools in Nigeria, Molusi College & Abusi Odumare Academy.
Ijebu Igbo is the political headquarter as well as the commercial nerve centre of Ijebu North local government with many of its indigenes playing actively on the national political stage.