First published in 1982. This book, makes sense of Lugard's administration in Egbaland, by to devoting space to the history, religion, and political structure created by the African peoples of western Nigeria. Only by looking at the Egba traditional system and their attempts to modernize their state prior to 1914 can one fully appreciate their sense of loss and betrayal after annexation. The Abyokuta uprising was a very important event during the imperial phase of Nigerian history.

The purpose of this book, Local Government in Western Nigeria: Abeokuta, 1830-1952, A case study of exemplary institutional change, is to delineate the democratization process of governmental institutions in the city of Abeokuta, western Nigeria, during the 1940s and 1950s. The Egba at Abeokuta were chosen because they are an important ethnicity within the Yoruba, the then third most populous ethnic group in Nigeria. The period from 1939 to 1952 marks the time when western Nigeria was ruled via the native administration system - the local governmental structure instituted by the British. However, the historiography of the Egba is elongated to include the formation of Abeokuta in 1830. By 1952, government was nominally extended to every constituency in Abeokuta. This presaged the comprehensive democratization movement in Nigeria.