>>18083067
Within their respective districts each group adopted modes of governance with which they were familiar----- that is to say, the political organization they had in their homelands before the crisis. Thus, Abeokuta became a city of cities with several similar but distinct cultures each administering their own justice and protecting their own interests.

I centered on the Egba at the beginning of this post because although Abeokuta was made up of different sub-groups, it was the Egba who were most numerous. This meant that if you took a count of all the districts within the city, Egba led districts would outnumber all the rest, which gave them a more prominent role. Each district had its own Ologun, Ogboni and Parakoyi organizations, however, a common hierarchy of all three would be formed for the purpose of intracity interests and administration.

The first of these 3 city wide councils to form was the Ologun, meaning people of war, council. This is unsurprising because defense from the wars going on in "Yoruba-land" would have been the principal interest of Abeokuta's largely refugee population.

A common hierarchy of war leaders for all of Abeokuta was established by Sodeke. He assumed a large degree of authority as military leader of the city-state, but not even this prestige would grant him ultimate power. In order to see his decisions implemented, he organized a central council of military leaders from each district. The political power of this council declined after the death of its founder, Sodeke, in part because of his lack of a successor, and in part because military interest, with the exception of defense against Dahomey attacks, no longer took center stage amongst the issues Abeokuta had to solve.