People at the palace also seemed to practice astronomy, with triangular pavements facing a true eastern direction; the extreme alignments to the movement of the sun from one solar solstice to the other worked as a sundial.

Counterbalancing the Awujale is the Osugbo (known as the Ogboni in other parts of Nigeria), a council of all free born, titled men that acted as the kingdom's courts.

The Osugbo is divided into six groups based on rank, the highest being the iwarefa, whose head the Oliwa was the second most powerful figure in the nation.

[citation needed] The state rose in power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, mainly due to its important position on the trade routes between Lagos and Ibadan.

[6] The British emerged victorious in the conflict and captured the Ijebu capital, burning the meeting hall of the Osugbo.

[citation needed] The Ijebu kingdom is governed by a king and his group of titled elders, who usually are men of a higher status and of considerable influence.

Since the invasion of Lord Lugard, these councils have continued to meet and advise the Obanta kings, their power, however, is largely ceremonial since the establishment of the colonial administration in their protectorate.