Okene

Okene is a town in Kogi State, central Nigeria, based in a local government area of the same name and lying along the A2 highway. It is the home town of the Ebira people, whose language is spoken there. Wikipedia gives the area as 328 square kilometres and the population as 320,260 at the 2006 census. The local government area was created in 1976 from the former Ebira Division, and the Ajaokuta and Ogori-Magongo areas were later split from it, in 1991 and 1996. Local tradition holds that the Ebira migrated from the Jukun country in present-day Taraba State and stopped briefly at Idah on the way. The town has a Federal College of Education, a satellite campus of the Kogi State Polytechnic, and the Azad Palace, the residence of the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland. The wet season is warm and overcast and the dry season is hot, with March the hottest month.