Ogun State

== History ==
In pre-colonial times, today's Ogun belonged to the [[Oyo Empire|kingdom of Oyo]], which sank into [[civil war]] around 1800. South of Ogun, on the tiny island of [[Lagos]], the British had a naval base near which the town of the same name grew rapidly.

Until the [[Berlin Conference|Berlin Congo Conference]] in 1885, Great Britain had focussed on a few strategically placed bases for its merchant fleet and navy, such as Lagos and [[Calabar]], and was not interested in the communities developing there.

After the European colonial powers had staked out their spheres of interest 1885 in [[Berlin]] (these were only valid if another power had not previously brought the area in question under its control) the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] quickly expanded thusly its territory in the assigned Niger region. The British attack on the Kingdom of Oyo in 1891 was the first step, the [[History of Nigeria#The punitive expedition to the Kingdom of Benin in 1897|punitive expedition against Benin]] 1896 the second. Today's Ogun became part of the "Protectorate of Lagos" (as opposed to the [[Colony of Lagos|''Colony'' of Lagos]]; the border between these two is identical to the modern border between [[Lagos State]] and Ogun State - inhabitants of a colony were treated as fully entitled subjects of the British crown, those in protectorates not) in 1893 and later of the "Protectorate of Yorubaland", in 1906 of the "Protectorate of Southern Nigeria" and in 1914 of the whole of Nigeria. In 1899, it received a railway connection to Lagos, the "Boat Express" ran through Ogun to [[Apapa]] and thus connected the region with the wider world. In 1899, it was several years earlier in this than other regions in West and Central Africa that were not connected to the coast.

In the 1930s, Ogun was a centre of the [[Abeokuta Women's Revolt|Nigerian women's movement]] under the leadership of [[Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti]] ([[Fela Kuti|Fela Kuti's]] mother). Democracy in colonial Nigeria after 1922 only existed in Lagos and Calabar; Nigerians could not participate politically elsewhere (see [[History of Nigeria#Governor Clifford, the Clifford Constitution|here]]).

During the 1940s, food was strictly rationed in Nigeria. The transport of food from the more agrarian Ogun to the hungry metropolis of Lagos was severely penalised (Pullen Scheme, see [[History of Nigeria#Rationing, price control, agricultural damage, education offensive|here]]).

In the first elections in Ogun, 1954, the semi-socialist "Action Group" (AG) under [[Obafemi Awolowo|Ọbáfẹ́mi Awólọ́wọ̀]] became the strongest party in the Western Region, to which Ogun also belonged.

After independence in 1960, the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] region, and Ogun in particular, was engulfed in conflict between the [[Obafemi Awolowo|Ọbáfẹ́mi Awólọ́wọ̀]] and [[Ladoke Akintola|Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá]] fractions of the AG party ("Operation Wetie", see [[History of Nigeria#Independence, First Republic (1960/1963 - 1966)|here]]). In July 1966, the then ruler of Nigeria, [[Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi|Johnson Agulyi-Ironsi]], was assassinated in [[Abeokuta]] in the second coup of the year, which was the prelude to the [[Nigerian Civil War|Biafra War]].

The state was formed on 3 February 1976 from part of the former "Western" state.
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