- Celebrating the cultural heritage and defiant spirit of the Oyo Empire
- The event is a tribute to the courage of Alaafin Adeyemi Alowolodu I
- The 2025 commemoration will include a dramatic re-enactment
One hundred and thirty years after the 1895 British invasion of the Alaafin’s palace, known as “Ogun Pepe” (Pepe War), the people of Oyo are preparing to mark the event that symbolised Yoruba resistance to colonial rule.
Eko Hot Blog gathered that the week-long commemoration, scheduled for November 2025, will celebrate the cultural heritage and defiant spirit of the Oyo Empire.
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The current Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade I, announced the event as a tribute to the courage of Alaafin Adeyemi Alowolodu I, whose stand against British interference sparked the war.
He said the memorial would highlight the bravery of Oyo’s ancestors and give international recognition to their struggle for self-determination.
“The Pepe War was not just a local conflict; it was an act of defiance against imperial oppression and a statement of sovereignty,” the monarch said.
In 1895, Captain Robert Lister Bower, the British Resident Commissioner in Ibadan, ordered Alaafin Adeyemi to surrender two men, Bakare and Kudeefu, over a disciplinary action. The monarch refused and executed Bakare, prompting Bower to invade Oyo with 60 armed soldiers.
Oyo residents resisted fiercely, and the sound of British gunfire — “pepe, pepe, pepe” — gave the war its name. Though injured, Alaafin Adeyemi escaped and later returned after a truce brokered by the Catholic Bishop of Oyo.
The 2025 commemoration will include a dramatic re-enactment, exhibitions, symposia, and a heritage project to recover artefacts looted during the invasion.
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