Brief History of Ira Town

The history of Ira in the present day Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State, of Nigeria began at IRA -FERE founded by Laage.
The site of "Ira -fere" is some three kilometers away from present Ira and one can get to the place through a turnoff at a hill called Kereloriaje, about one and a half kilometers away from the present Ira on the way to Ofa.
Like other ancient Yoruba towns and villages, there is no date of its founding.
But when one considers the fact that Oya, the famous wife of Sango the fourth Alaafin of Oyo came from this place, one would note that it is a very old Yoruba settlement.
Without the history of Ira, the history of Yoruba is not complete.
History informs us that Laage, the son of Laru, the founder of Ira -fere came from Oyo.
He was a warrior and hunter. It was hunting expedition that brought him where he settled at the place called Ira-Fere.
The name Ira-Fere came about as a result of his using magical power to disappear (ra) and reappear suddenly later.
Whenever he was not found in his hut, people would say ''O ra fere ni, o feree yoju na (He has just disappeared, he would soon appear again).
It was from ''O ra fere' that "Ira-Fere" was coined.
When Oya left Oyo at the demise of sango Alaafin, she decided to come home to her birth place Ira-Fere.
It was a sad event for the Ira-Fere people that sango died because they wouldn't know Oya's fate after Sango.
There were stories that Oya had left Oyo but no one know exactly for where and what route she took.
It took the hunters quite some time before they stumbled on a site just some one and as half kilometers outside of the present site of Ira.
The hunters and other elderly people that later went to the spot noted that the paraphernalia on the ground surrounding a hole belonged to Oya and concluded that ''Ibi ti Oya ra si niyi (This is the spot into which Oya disappear). Oya was deified and became an object of worship.
Laage would come from Ira-Fere to worship Oya on the spot she had suck into the ground and a shrine had been built.
The area is know as ''Igbo Oya'' (Oya's grove) till today.
When Laage became very old and the distance between Ira-Fere and Igbo-Oya was too much for him, he consulted with his people and moved to the present site which is not far from Igbo Oya.
''Fere'' was dropped from the name of the place they left and ''Ira'' is retained till today. Ira shares boundary with Ekosin and Iyeku in Osun State and with Iresadu in Oyo state.
Ira shares boundary with Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State at Aboto.
There are many villages on Onira's land. At one time or the other in history, the Onira granted people from various parts of Yoruba land permission to settle on his land.
Among the villages are Inaja Alaro, Inaja Maliki, Ahogbada, Sanni Ode, Bakin, Asaoye, Egbejoda and Ago Owode. Hence, A owns the land.