Part 2 — Chapter 13

Chapter XIII THE LAST OF KATUNGA THE GREAT METROPOLIS AND THE END OF A DYNASTY § I. Final Efforts to Throw off the Fulani Yoke The Metropolis had long been left to herself whilst great and stirring events had been taking place all over the country. The outcome of the rebellion of the chiefs and the revolution Was the foundation of modern Ibadan, Abeokuta, Modakeke, the occupation of Ijaye, Abemg, the destruction of the city of Owu, and the fall of many ancient towns in the plain, and above all the ascendancy of Ilgrin under the ravaging foreigners. That such important events as these should take place, one after another, altering the face of the country, and the King not be able to promote or retard the accomplishment of any— a King only in name, the direct descendant of absolute monarchs and deified heroes—could not but be a matter of pain and grief to the sovereign. Added to all this was a great calamity which befel him at home, one that distressed him sore and accelerated his death. A fire broke out in the palace and all efforts to arrest its ravages failed, and most of the accumulated treasures of his ancestors were consumed in the conflagration ! Great efforts were made to remove some to out-houses away from the direction of the flames, but unfortunately by a turn of the wind, those out- houses also caught fire and everything was lost ! Between the distress caused by the Ilorins now masters of the country, and the destructive fires the King died of a broken heart. Prince Oluewu was elected his successor with the general consent of the nobles and the King-makers. Oluewu was said to be a prince comely in person, but all too conscious of his own dignity and importance ; haughty and irritable in temperament. His one aim and determination was to recover his dominions from the Fulanis first, and then subdue all his refractory chiefs. Soon after Oluewu's accession,Shittathe King of Ilgrin, required him to come to Ilgrin in person to pay homage to him as his vassal. But Oluewu was unwilling to go ; however, his great chiefs, and especially Prince Atiba of AggOja brought pressure and entreaties 258 to bear upon him, and he was prevailed upon to accede to the wishes of the conqueror in order to save the capital and the remnant of the towns that still paid their allegiance to Oyo. Shitta received him with every mark of honour and distinction; but all the same, the shame and disgrace of it all, with unutterable resentment rankled in the breast of King Oluewu. The Gbedu drum was beaten before him as he went, and also on his returning. Shitta's attention was drawn to that particular drum and he asked some questions about it. When he was told it was a royal drum beaten before the ICing alone, he ordered it to be taken away, saying " There cannot be two Kings in my dominion but one only, and that is myself." Oluewu felt his humiliation keenly and was resolved to resent it at all cost or die in the attempt. But that was not all; the Emir of Ilorin sent Jimba one of his head slaves after Oluewu to ransack the palace at Oyo and to bring away anything of value he could lay his hands upon so that Oyo may not be said to have anything which Ilorin has not. This Jimba did, and among other things removed were the 100 brass posts in the long corridor of the palace erected by King Aganju. Again, a short time after, Shitta required the Alafin of Oyo to come over to Ilorin to perform the ceremony known as " tapping the Koran," in order to become a true Moslem, but the AlAfin was resolved never to go to Ilorin a second time come what may. The chiefs urged him to do so in vain. However, Akioso the Basorun and Ailumg the Asipa went, against the express order of the King forbidding them to go ; and on account of this he was resolved to punish them, although they were too powerful for him to order their execution at once. The AlAfin's refusal to go to Ilorin being considered an offence to Shitta, the latter sent an army with Lanloke the chief of Ogodo, which ravaged the suburbs of Oyo and the city itself was threatened. At this crisis the AlAfin invited the aid of the Baribas, to assist him in subduing his enemies " within and without." Those within were the Basorun and the Asipa who went to Ilorin against his commands. On a fatal morning the Basorun and the Asipa went with the other noblemen to a council at the palace gate, for consultation about the impending Ilorin war, and the defence of the city. Whilst there, they heard that the Baribas were entering the city by the Modahade gate. Thinking that they were invited by the King merely to help to defend the city, the A§ipa rode to meet them and was according them a hearty welcome in the usual manner of men on horseback shaking the fist, when all of a sudden a shower of darts came pouring down upon him, and the son of one Fagbayibi shot him dead on horseback! The Baribas then pursued after the Basgrun who fled to the palace begging the King to spare his life. " Ah," said the King, " why should you beg me now, are you not the master and I the subordinate ? Why crave your life from your servant ? " In the noise and confusion that ensued with the entrance of the Baribas, the Basorun managed to escape to his own house ; express messengers were thereupon sent to his relatives that he should be kept under strict surveillance whilst the King and his allies were engaged in the defence of the city, and that they would be held responsible for his escape. But a family council was held and in order to save him from a disgraceful death in public, his relatives put an end to his life by strangUng. The forces of nature came to the defence of Oyo on this occasion. There was a great storm, and whether it was due to the great number of gUttering Swords and spears brandished, or whatever may have been the cause, hghtning was attracted and so Izirge a number of men were struck in the Ilorin host that their army was discomfited, and the men fled away in terror. Oyo was a great city, which could not be rushed by the Ilorins nor could it be invested and reduced by along siege, for there was always the fear that a prolonged siege of their metropoUs by aliens might rouse the great chiefs of the country to its aid. Thus failing to take the city, Shitta's next tactics were the subversion of the remaining large Yoruba towns that still showed any allegiance to Qyo, and hence Gbodo was besieged. He also succeeded in securing the alliance of some powerful Yoruba chiefs among whom were the Onikoyi, Chief Elebuof Ago Oja, and Prince Atibaof the same place. This last named having resided at Ilorin for some time was well known to the Fulanis. The AlAfin again secured the help of the Baribas. Eleduwg the Bariba king promised to help him not only to conquer the Ilorins but also to subdue his rebel chiefs. Gbodo which was closely besieged by the Ilorins was well nigh taken when timely help arrived in the person of the Eleduwe and his Bariba hordes. Some of the Yoruba chiefs were serving in the Ilorin army at the time, notably those of Ago Oja mentioned above, but be it said to the praise of Prince Atiba that he was acting merely out of policy, for his soldiers, from private instructions previously received, were firing only gunpowdei. This was suspected when in spite of the vigorous attacks of Atiba, his fire never killed or wounded anyone ; the guns of his men were thereupon examined, and the truth had to be confessed. The Baribas were good archers, the siege of Gbodo was raised and the defeated Ilorins and their alUes were hotly pursued. It was about the month of June, when the rivers were swollen by rain, and thousands of Ilorin horse and foot were driven into the river Ogun and were drowned. Elebu the brother and successor of Oja the founder of Ago found here a watery grave. He would have escaped death but for the plot against his life. It is said that the late Oja was a dear friend to Prince Atiba and the friendship continued all through his life until he perished at the Kanla expedition; but Elebu his brother begrudged that friendship: he always suspected the influence and good faith of the prince, regarding him as a potential usurper of his family rights ; and when he succeeded his brother as the Bale of Ago, there was always friction between them. Consequently on this occasion as Elebu plunged into the river during the flight and with great difficulty swam across he caught hold of a Gbingbin tree that stretched its branches far out into the river, but one Lohosa who had preceded him and got on to the tree, seeing Elebu in his exhausted condition, and in order to do good service to Prince Atiba, cut off that branch of the tree and Elebu was swept away and was drowned. Prince Atiba himself nearly lost his life there also, had not Yesufu his uncle, carried him across on his back and given him his horse on the other side to ride home. But the prince and many others owed their life really to Maje his balogun. The Baribas would have overtaken them at the banks of the river before they could cross had he not kept them at bay whilst horses and men were struggling across, and so he gave up his life to save theirs, for he fell there. The wreck of the Ilorin army gathered at Bala and Iwo from which places they returned home. But the Eleduwe was not satisfied with raising the seige of Gbodo, he was determined to free the country entirely of these foreigners, and hence he was resolved to conquer Ilorin. Oluewu the AlAfin, whose cause he was espousing was right glad and sent round to invite the co-operation of all his subjects includ- ing those who were alhes of the Ilorins, knowing that they were aUies only out of policy, but not wilhngly, and that they would be glad to be free from the foreign yoke. But matters were complicated by the fact that most of the Oyo chief towns in the eastern and western provinces had been subju- gated by the Ilorins and were vassals of that state. Hence at a council of war held by the two Kings it was decided that they should not march straight from Oyo to Ilorin, but make a detour by the western province, in order to secure the alliance and good faith of these vassal states, and thus to collect an overwhelming army against Ilgrin. Accordingly the Eleduwe sent Jankgrg one of his war-chiefs to garrison Ago Oja, whose chief was an Ilgrin ally, and Jegede another war-chief to garrison Otefan whilst he himself was following with his invincible army in their wake. The Ilgrins hearing of the threatened invasion were not idle either, but were making full preparations offensive and defensive. Jimba the head slave of the king of Ilgrin headed an expedition of horse and foot to the Otefan farms when they heard of the garrison there, and brought away several captives. Jimba's route in going was through the Esiele farms, but was so far from the town that his company was not seen. On his return he came through the town and halted at the gate to receive Fasgla the Bale, who came to pay him his respects. Jimba did not dismount as he was in a hurry to get away with his captives lest he be over- taken, for he was sure of a pursuit. On horseback he accepted the hospitality of a drink of cold water, and before hurrying away gave the following advice to Fasgla " You are between two fires and you would be wise to vacate this town at once. I am just returning as you see with captives from the Otefan farms. Although you were not aware of my passing through your farms yet had I been detected, I would have suspected you as a traitor, and would have punished you on my return although you may be innocent. And now as I return through your town the Otefan pursuers will track me to this place and you may likely suffer for it and we have no means of protecting you, hence I advise you speedily to vacate this place." The Esiele people after consultation together decided at once to follow his advice. Otefan being the nearest large town and wishing to cast in their lot mth the new conqueror, they decided to escape thither and accordingly despatched oneBankgle to apprise Idowu the Bale of Otefan of their intentions. At Bankole's instance they promised not to desert their home before his return as they treated him on a previous occasion; but their cowardice got the better of them. On returningBankgle met the fugitives by the way and this was the third and last time Esielg was deserted, and is to this day an uninhabited desert. It was in the month of March 1830, that the Eleduwe accom- pam'ed by Prince Atiba of Agg Oja and Jatq, Eleduwe's general, joined the garrison at Otefan the rendezvous of the Oyo army. Kurumi of Ijaye, the Aseyin of Iseyin, the Sabigana of Igana, the Okere of Saki and others of the western province met them there. Here King Oluewu and the Eleduwe pledged the confidence of all the Oyo war-chiefs save the Bale of Ogbomoso and the Onikoyi, both of whom were in secret alliance with the Ilorins, although they outwardly professed loyalty to their lawful sovereign. Meanwhile, the Emir of Ilorin alarmed by this great host sent to the Sultan of Sokoto his suzerain for help. The Sultan sent 17 kings under Esugoyi of Rabbah to his aid, and they came with such an overwhelming force that those of the two kings were as a mere handful before them. The two kings were besieged at Otefan by the Ilorin and Niger hosts, several battles were fought, and they were nearly overwhelmed by numbers. At the last great battle, but for the courage, wisdom and experience of Eleduwe theBariba King, the fate of the whole expedition would have been decided on that day. He fought in the centre, the AlAfin and Oyo chiefs in the right and left wings. He sent aid to those fighting in both wings, so that thej, forced the enemy into the centre, and in one furious charge he bore down upon them and dispersed them. Esugoyi's army was routed with great slaughter and fled away in confusion. The victory however, was dearly bought, for Yenibini, King Eleduwe's first-born son fell in the battle. The Oyos pursued their victory too far till they met with a disaster. They dearly learnt the lesson that in the pursuit of a foe footmen are no match for horsemen. The Ilorins having recovered from the panic of their defeat, a body of horsemen suddenly wheeled round and charged upon their pursuers and speared about 400 of them, thereby forcing them to desist from the pursuit. They were then able to retreat in good order, and made good their escape. § 2. Failure. The Eleduwe War About the month of June, 1830, the two Kings left Otefan for Adeyi, and thence proceeded to Ogbomoso. Here King Oluewu sent round to the whole of the Yoruba chiefs to join him in the last effort to throw off the Fulani yoke. There responded to his call Oluyole of Ibadan with several Egba war-chiefs, Kurumi of Ijaye, Ayo of Abem6, Timi of Ede and others. This mighty host remained here for about six months wasting time. They were holding councils almost every day as to how best they might attack Ilorin with success. But here also the future of the expedi- tion was foreshadowed and the doom of the allied Kings was sealed. There were two principal causes for this, viz., the rapacity of the Bariba soldiers, and the imprudence of the Kings. The excesses of the Baribas made the Yoruba chiefs and people fear lest they pass from one master to another and a worse. The Fulanis weie after all a superior race, but the Baribas, a race of bandits, as masters would be more intolerable. The country was literally being ravaged b^ them. They considered themselves licensed to all the goats in the country. Even when kept in the inner apartment of the houses, they would get at them and devour them. Sheep they did not care for, but goats, say they are traitors and must be devoured. For this reason the Yorubas termed them " Arun-eran " (cattle devourers) while the Ilorins termed them Ikoriko (wolves). Their excesses consisted not only in devouring cattle, but also in stripping and depriving helpless ones of their cloths ; at length they spared not even men though they might be armed. Organized bands would attack and deprive men of all their valuables. The Oyos could offer little or no resistance because the persons of the Baribas were held sacred, already being considered the deliverers of the country. The following instance will show how sacred their persons were regarded. One of them attacked an Oyo man, who was not wilHng to give way Hghtly and the Bariba was shot dead by him. The Oyo man ran away. So much noise and hubbub were raised about this, that both Kings rode in person to the spot to see the corpse. The converse to this might have happened every day without provoking any comment. But the eyewitnesses of the affray were so much in sympathy with the murderer that he was not betrayed, so disgusted was everybody with the excesses of the Baribas. All this might have been avoided if instead of wasting time at Ogbomoso they had given the soldiers work to do by marching at once on Ilorin, half demoralized by two successive defeats. On the contrary they allowed them time to regain theii confidence and perfect their defences. Small blame indeed to the soldiers as each one had to provide for himself, how- ever prolonged the campaign. The two Kings were imprudent enough to betray their feelings. It leaked out that after the conquest of Ilorin all the refractory Yoruba chiefs who had usurped the King's prerog- ative would be murdered by the help of theBariba king ; and the kingdom would again be one under the Alafin. One or two instances might be given of how the Kings betrayed themselves. L. Timi Bamgbaiye of Ede on his arrival at the camp went straight to pay his homage to the King. Being a corpulent man the Eleduwe was heard to remark " See this corpulent fellow, one of those who have made themselves fat upon the King's diverted revenues. Never mind, he also will be dealt with after the war as he deserves." 2. Above all the others the one who appeared the most offensive to the Bariba king was Prince Atiba of Ago Oja. He was all Fulani in his manners. He had resided at Ilorin for some time and adopted the Fulani custom of being lifted up and helped off his horse by his attendants, and one of his menials ready with his sandals so that he might not have to walk barefoot when his riding boots were off. The two Kings were one day sitting at a pubUc meeting, and Prince Atiba arrived late with an august pageantry to the disgust of the kings and chiefs present, who could not afford as much. He was preceded by his Junior war-chiefs mounted on strong ponies, with their attendant footmen ; then those mounted on larger horses came after, then himself followed on a specially powerful animal richly caparisoned, with a large retinue. He was lifted off his horse his sandals being ready for him to put on, contrary to the etiquette of the country to be shod before a king. This was disgusting to both Kings and to many of the Oyo chiefs present, who, notwithstanding the rebellion and revolution still going on, have yet full respect for royalty. Olurinde the chief of Sepeteri in the eastern province, could not bear to see this act of disrespect pass unreproved, so he went near and pulled off the sandals from Atiba's feet, and thus reprimanded him : " Know you not before whom you are ? How dare you be shod in the presence of our King ? " Atiba could not brook a reproof from a commoner and from wounded pride fiercely retorted; "And who are you ? And what is that to you ? The King is my father and, as a prince, I have privileges which the likes of you can never aspire to. I can even pass by him into the harem which none of you can dare do ; but who are you ? " The contention was so sharp that Kitoyi the Okere of Saki had to interpose begging Prince Atiba to have respect for the two Kings, to take off the sandals, and not to persist merely for the purpose of spiting the Sepeteri chief. The Kings noticed all this and marked Prince Atiba out as one of those to be dealt with after the war. Lastly the disaffection towards Oluewu was increased by the unreasoning stubbornness he displayed to whatever advice was given him, however good. The Oyo chiefs who were left to guard the city were kept informed of everything that transpired. They were very anxious as to the fate of the expedition ; their own interests were chiefly involved in the fate of the capital. They were sure the offended chiefs would take revenge and wreck the army of which they formed a part. Consequently they sent message after message to advise the King not to advance on Ilgrin direct from Ogbomoso but to come by way of Ikoyi, Iwo, Gbogun, and Sah6 making the attack from the north so that having the capital and the Niger provinces behind him he might in case of defeat have safe places within easy reach to retire- upon. And in order to give strength and force to the advice, they represented it as the express advice of the god Ifa by divination. Knowing his haughtiness they sent their messages through the Bariba king, to whom alone he might perhaps listen ; but as they anticipated, not even from the Eleduwe would he brook any such advice. He was for marching straight on Ilorin from Ogbomoso. Before the army marched out of Ogbomoso the disaffected Yoruba provincial kings and chiefs entered into a conspiracy to desert the King and his ally at a critical moment and therefore in order to apprise the Ilorins of their intentions they sent them- a parabolic message in soap, camwood, and karinkan (flesh brush) implying " We are attending the bride to the bridegroom's house." This was fully understood at Ilorin. The huge host left Ogboragsg in December 1830 by slow stages encamping first at Aduin, where they were for nine days. (Ilorin is but one good day's walk from Ogbomoso). On the tenth day they advanced to Jayin, thence to Ogele, and from Ogele they encamped at the farm of one Ajiya of Ilorin. Never before was Ilorin threatened by so large a force, consequently the consternation there was great, and vast preparations were made for battle, offensive and defensive. The face of every man was marked by grim determination to do his best. The Moslem priests were very busy making charms and amulets not only for individual self- protection but also in order to defeat the enemy completely. A crow, a cat, and a crown bird (the Agufan) with charms tied round their necks were sent by special messengers to be left in the camp of the allied armies. These messengers were caught and when threatened they boldly showed that they despised death and said to their captors " Take our advice and decamp at once for as for the yams you are now cooking in our farms it is a question whether you will be able to eat them before you are^ defeated, and even if you should, we are quite sure that the survivors will evacuate them at the Ogbomoso farms." Shortly after this a company of Ilorin horse surprised a body of men who went foraging, and the Bariba troops who went out against them were repulsed, but Prince Atiba whose men were armed with guns came to their timely aid, drove back the horsemen and captured a horse. To show the wanton excesses of these Baribas, even after this skirmish in which they figured so badly, they went unceremoniously to Prince Atiba's tent and coolly loosed the horse that was captured and were taking it away ! They laid claim to it not because it was captured by them, but because they considered themselves now the masters as it was they who had the first brush with the enemy. But the Prince was not the man to forego his claims easily, he pointed out forcibly how, but for his timely succour there could not have been any question as to the ownership of the horse, for instead of capturing, they themselves would all have been killed, or captured. The contention was so fierce between them that the Alafin had to send a special message to Atiba to forego his claims and give up the horse for the sake of peace. The following day being Friday the Kings did not take the field until 2 p.m., Fridays being considered unlucky up to that hour. The Kings again fought in the centre in the highway called the Pakaba road, and located the Yoruba war-chiefs on the right and left wings of the army. But Prince Atiba of AgQ and the Timi Bamgbaiye of Edg did not fire a shot or shoot an arrow before they gave way, affording the enemy an advantage to surround the two Kings. It was Oluyole of Ibadan alone who seemed not to have been apprised of the plot, for he fought for some time on the road leading to Oke Suna and pressed the florins hard towards the town wall. The camp was taken behind them and fired before the Kings were aware of the perfidy of the Yoruba chiefs. There was no alterna- tive now for them but to fight desperately and sell their Uves as dearly as possible. The Eleduwe fought with his usual bravery and exhausted all his skill to retrieve the position if possible, but he was overpowered by numbers and fell among the slain. His head was taken off and carried in triumph to the town and exposed upon the town WcQl. King Oluewu's heir seeing that the day was lost rode up to his father and bade him farewell, to meet again in the other world. Putting spurs into his horse he galloped to meet the enemy and fought gallantly until he fell among those he had slain. The Ilgrin horse and foot were in pursuit all night and unfortunately for the wreck of the Oyo army whilst escaping to Ogbomoso they missed the way taking one that led back to Ilorin ; they met the pursuers at a short distance and were all either captured or slain. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the charm bearers who were caught, that the yams they were then cooking might be eaten at the Ilorin farms but would be evacuated in the Ogbomosg farms. Lanloke the chief of Ogodo who had always been an inveterate enemy of Oyo and an active ally of Ilorin, taking advantage of the absence of the King and principal war-chiefs from the city, came and attacked Oyo, but he was repulsed by the Ohota nick- named Ari-ibon-peji eyin, (one whose gun can create a gap in the upper front teeth), who was left in charge. When the news of the disaster reached Oyo and that both Kings had perished, Lanloke again attacked the city but was again repulsed. The citizen's fearing that he would receive re-inforce- ment from Ilorin did not wait to try any further conclusions ; the great metropolis was deserted, some fled to Kihisi, some to Igboho, and some even to Ilorin. As it was not a flight from an enemy in pursuit many who reached Kihisi and Igboho safely with their family returned a^ain and again for their household goods and chattels till one Agandangban went and told Lanloke that Oyo had been deserted, and the latter proceeded immediately to plunder, and carry away what was left by the citizens. Thus failed the fourth and last campaign against Ilorin, and such was the fall of the great Metropohs " Eyeo or Katunga," the ancient Oyo, still in rains.