History
How The Yorubas Lost Ilorin To The Fulani Warriors Under The Reign Of Afonja
- Ilorin was established to be a town where the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo will lord over
- The Aare-Ona-Kakanfo was the overall head of the whole Yoruba warriors
- In the end, the Yoruba lost a major war against the Fulanis.
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In the old days when war was rife, and superiority was gained by pillaging towns and villages, Oyo strengthened its hold on the Yoruba race and became an empire.
As it was with tradition then, the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo (the overall head of the whole Yoruba warriors) was prohibited from living in the same town with the Alaafin (paramount ruler of the Oyo empire).
The reason for this was that the Alaafin and the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo both had similar powers, and two kings can’t rule in the same town or village.
As a result of this, Ilorin was established to be a town where the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo will lord over, while the Alaafin will remain in Oyo. Despite the fact the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo is very powerful, he still has to report to the Alaafin, and must answer to the Alaafin at all times.
At that time, which was in the late 17th century, Aole, the son of the deceased Alaafin Abiodun was the Alaafin of Oyo then, while Afonja was the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo.
Alaafin Aole, also known as Arojanjan was a hot-tempered king who cursed at every opportunity given to him. Such was his love for curses that he would wake up early in the morning and curse whoever he’s not happy with.
On one expedition, the Alaafin ordered Afonja to lead his army to a land and bring the head of the Baale (a representative appointed by the king to oversee a small village) to him.
While they approached the village, Afonja discovered that the Alaafin had actually sent him to a town called Iwere-ile, and it was a taboo for any Aare-Ona-Kakanfo to attack Iwere-ile.
The reason for this was that Iwere happened to be the hometown of the first Aare-Ona-Kakanfo’s mother, and Ajagbo, one of the foremost Alaafin had placed a curse that any Aare-Ona-Kakanfo that attacks Iwere-ile will die a terrible death.
This angered Afonja because he believed that the Alaafin intentionally sent him to Iwere-ile so that he would attack them and then suffer the fate of Ajagbo’s curse. In retaliation, Afonja sent the Bashorun (one of the most important chiefs in Yoruba land) to Aole with an empty calabash. According to Yoruba tradition, an empty calabash presented to a king signifies death — the King must open a sacred calabash in his grove which will lead to his immediate death.
Aole, being a tough man collected the calabash and broke it into pieces, refusing to open the sacred calabash as expected of him. Bashorun returned to Afonja and explained Aole’s actions to him. Afonja got enraged and he declared war on Aole, threatening to end his reign in Oyo.
While he was doing this, Aole climbed a hill for seven days and laid a curse on the Yoruba race each day, telling them that they will never unite for a greater good.
It was at this point that a Fulani man named Shehu Alimi came across Afonja. Alimi promised to reinforce Afonja’s army and solidify his warriors. Afonja was desperate to oust Aole, so he accepted Alimi’s offer, and they were able to kill Alaafin Aole.
The throne of Oyo was claimed by Alaafin Adebo, whose reign didn’t last long. Alaafin Maku replaced Adebo, and he also died shortly after. For more than six years, the Oyo throne remained vacant, and Afonja ruled as paramount ruler.
It was in the 7th year that Majotu became the new Alaafin. Afonja’s relationship with Alimi had become so strong that Afonja disbanded his own army and replaced them with Alimi’s fulani army.
Unknown to Afonja, Alimi’s eldest son Abdulsalami had plans to take over Ilorin, and when Shehu Alimi died, Abdulsalami led a war against Afonja who was without an army of his own.
After facing the fulani and killing a lot of them alone, Afonja was eventually killed as the fulani warriors (also called Janma) speared him to a tree.
After Afonja’s death, Abdulsalami declared himself Emir and pledged allegiance to the Sokoto caliphate. Several reprisals attacks were made to recapture Ilorin from the Fulanis, but it wasn’t successful.
That is how Ilorin became a caliphate, and would never have an Oba as paramount ruler.
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