Part 2 — Chapter 34

Chapter XXXIV THE END OF THE WAR §1. Governor Carter's Progress up Country Governor Carter was not the man to leave his work half done. The refractory and irreconcilable Ijebus had been subjugated ; the Egbas had submitted and their apologies accepted. He now proceeded to the further interior to put an end to the protracted war, fraught with so much evil to the country. The measure adopted for this purpose was the only one capable of dispersing such fierce combatants, viz., an armed intervention advocated for by the writer all through these wearisome years. Although it might not be necessary to pull a trigger, yet a display of force offered a far more convincing weight of argument than volumes of treaties, faultless though these may be in aim and purpose. The presence of the Governor himself gave additional weight and importance to the Mission. Governor Carter left Lagos on the 3rd January, 1893, for his tour. He was accompanied by a posse of Hausa soldiers, with Captain Bower, one of the officers who came out for the Ijebu war. The Maxim gun was en Evidence throughout the whole way. The Governor went via Abeokuta. He there had a long con- ference with the Egba chiefs and a treaty was signed on the i8th of January, 1893 {vide App. A). Face to face with the conqueror of Ijebu, and knowing the unsatisfactory relations that had always existed between Abeokuta and Lagos since the time of Governor Glover in 1867, and the part they played recently in conjunction with the Ijebus, they were certainly apprehensive of subjugation or annexation : and when the Governor assured them that he would do neither provided they mend their manners in future, they respectfully requested that that assurance should be specifically stated in the treaty ; hence the clause. [Clause 5. ... So long as the provisions of this treaty are strictly kept, no annexation of any portion of the Egba country shall be made by Her Majesty's Government without the consent of the lawful authorities of the country. No aggressive action shall be taken against the said country and its independence shall be fully recognized.] This should be particularly noted because in after years other 626 parts of the country, whose independence was never even threatened {e.g., Oyo and Ibadan) there being no need for any such thing, were held by some to occupy less favourable positions because a specific guarantee of their independence was not stated in the treaties signed with them. They were taken to be open to annexation. The expedition leaving Abeokuta proceeded to Oyo, the capital of YoRUBA via Iseyin. The Governor was well received by the Alafin of Ovg and His Excellency's tent was pitched in the Asipa's market, hard by the King's garden. This was a concession due to the owner of the town, the Asipa being the son of the late Oja the founder of Ago d'Oyo. His Majesty had several private interviews with His Excellency besides the public reception accorded him, and a treaty was concluded between the AlAfin and the Governor. {Vide, App. A.) From Oyo the Governor was now about to proceed to Ikirun via Ilorin. The Alafin was asked for an Ilari to go with him to the former place for the dispersal of the Ibadan camp by authority. He once more told off the Ilari Oba-k6-se-tan to go with His Excellency ; but the Governor would have nothing to do with that name of evil omen, " The King is not ready." His Majesty was told plainly that it was time the King was ready, for this war must now come to an end. Seeing the Governor was not a man to be shuffled or trifled with the King at once yielded, and ordered Oba I'olu (The King is the Chief) to go instead. The short and sharp lesson taught the Ijebus made an impression on the whole country not soon to be effaced. From Oyo the Governor proceeded to Ilorin via Ogbomgso. He was cordially received by the Bale of Ogbomosg, who ever after- wards often referred to the pleasant and pleasurable time he. spent with the Governor. He was apprehensive about his proposed visit to Ilorin, and he did all he could to dissuade him from going there as he greatly feared the perfidy of the Ilorins and their hostility to Christians generally. From all accounts the Governor on the other hand unfortunately left with the impression that the Bale's seeming anxiety on his account was not due to disinterested motives but to the sight of the large amount of presents he saw going forward to Ilorin ! The reflective reader of these pages, however, will see that the Bale had good and ample reasons for distrusting the good faith of the Ilorins. At Ilorin the Governor had several interviews with the Emir and they parted with an assurance of mutual friendship. But it was generally reported that from the moment the Governor's proposed visit to Ilorin was known, the Mullahs and others waited upon the Emir and requested him to give them bullocks and money to make charms in order that the Anasaras (Christians) might not enter their town. The Emir, although not in accord with them in this purpose, nevertheless granted them their request. He had occasion to throw this in their face and reproach them for it afterwards. He was reported to have said that he knew the futiUty of their attempts, and that they would have been more candid if they had averred that they wanted something to feast upon. For why should not the Governor visit him ? He liked to see the Governor. The Governor is a European, and him- self a Foulah by descent, and they know that the European and the Foulah were brothers, and why should the Mullahs interpose between the meeting of two cousins ? Had he not granted their requests, they would have charged him with niggardUness and would have made the world believe that their charms would have kept the Governor back if the Emir had granted their requests. He concluded in this way, " But the Governor has come and is gone and what about the charms now ? You may now retire and be more honest in future." One thing that struck all the visitors to Ilorin forcibly at this period was the almost total absence of the fair complexion and straight hair of the original Foulahs. By intermarriages and miscegenation the Negro element had absorbed the Semitic. The Emir himself was of a purely dark complexion, being partly of Yoruba descent, which accounted for his disposition to peace with the rest of the Yoruba country. From Ilorin the Governor proceeded to a station between the two camps near the River Otin ; there he had several meetings with the war chiefs on both sides. The case for the Ibadans was easy enough, they were there to defend the country against the Ilorins, as soon then as they decamp they (the Ibadans) would go home. The Ilorins averred that they were in their own farms and should not be asked to go home. The Ibadans came from full four days' journey, it is they who should be asked to go home. But the Governor repUed that he knew all that, he knew how the Ilorins came to be there, he even knew how Fulanis and Gambaris came at all to be in Ilorin, but he did not come there to discuss ancient history. He fixed a day in which both camps should be broken up together ; he appointed those who were to see the Ilorins home, and those who were to see the Ibadans home. The Awere stream near Erin was appointed as a boundary between the two States. And so the camps were broken up on the same day. The Ibadans had wanted to stop a day or two at Ede to compose the difference between the people and the Tinii Lagunju, who had been deposed by them, but they were hurried homewards so that they could not do so. Thus ended the sixteen years' war. We might call attention to the fact that all the towns serving the Ibadans in the Ibolo district asked the Governor for a flag each as a protection against Ibadan oppression. The Governor did not accede to their wish but promised to give attention to their request. The Ibadan army arrived behind their town wall on the 22nd March, 1893. § 2. The Return Home of the Ibadans The usual mode of a triumphal entry into the town after every successful campaign was followed on this occasion also, because whatever it was, they had not suffered a defeat, their army was still intact. Hence they slept one night outside the town wall, preparatory to a triumphal procession into the town the next day. Here friends and relatives visited them, and every preparation made for a grand procession. Very early, at the dawn of the 23rd, Sanusi, the late Are's eldest son, first entered the town with the bones of his late father in a coffin borne before him. • He set it up in state at the gate of his house awaiting the war chiefs. Before entering the town the majority of the senior chiefs thought of having a private meeting among themselves to settle their own differences, or they might find it difficult to govern the town peaceably. Enormous wrongs had been perpetrated upon individuals, houses had been wrongfully confiscated, properties and people stolen and sold and any amount of mischief had been done whilst they were at war, so that most of them thought that those at home would be justified if they should close the gates against them so that they might not enter, and if they did, there was sure to be a civil war. No one committed greater wrongs than the Balogun's slaves, and the Agbakin his chief adviser. Moreover, the war chiefs had long been ashamed of the Balogun as their commander-in-chief, because he was so given up to liquor and was scarcely ever found sober all the time they were at Ikirun. They once approached him there to remonstrate with him for it, and his reply to them was, " Does my drink cost you anything ? Am I not buying it with my own money ? " At the seat of war the Balogun was supreme and absolute, nothing therefore could be done ; but at home it was otherwise. Approaching him therefore to talk matters of so great importance over before entering the town, they found him as usual in his inebriate condition. He answered them roughly ; and he said that 630 THE HISTORY OF THE YORUBAS he had no time for a council, and that if any one had anything to say to him, let him come to him in his father's house. Thus did the Balogun stifle all overtures intended for his own benefit. The chiefs were all stung by this remark, and there and then agreed to reject him as head of the town. They however suppressed their feelings and followed the order of proceeding. The Balogun led the way and the others in the strict order of their ranks followed ; every man as soon as he entered the town gate fired a gun, and there was a regular feu de joie the whole time as the procession wended its way to the Are's house on the hill, and before his gate to give account of the war as they would have done if he had been alive. Thousands upon thousands of spectators lined the route the whole way, shouting welcome to some of the chiefs and hooting others. The Balogun was received with a rigid silence by the crowd, whom his slaves had wronged. Thus they came to the front of the Are's house. The Balogun in front, the other war chiefs behind him prostrated before the coffin and wept ; then he began to give his account:— " 'Twas ye who sent us to the war. We met the enemy on our soil and we repelled them, and carried the war into their own country. We fought to the utmost of our powers, and finding the battle too strong for us, we invited you to come to our aid. Ye will remember how ye led us to the fight and how many hard battles we fought in your presence. Then ye took ill. .and. .then, .it came to pass., ye were transformed [E paradk]. And after that we fought several hard battles, and did all we could to keep up the Ibadan prestige: we were not able to conquer the enemy, and they were unable to drive us back, till the white men came and separated us. We have since then been at Ikirun defending our frontier against the Ilorins. They were unable to come near to encamp against Ikirim, and we were unable to go and meet them at Yanayo, until the Governor of Lagos came and ordered both of us to decamp." They wept once more, and thereupon Sanusi brought out the customary presents his father would have given them had he been alive. The ceremonies over, the next thing was for the whole of them to accompany the Balogun home, and thus to acknowledge him the head, but they had rejected him. Akintola was the first to mount his horse and say to the others, " Haven't ye your father's house to go to ? I am going to mine." Each of the younger war chiefs took it up, " I am going to mine," " I am going to mine," and mounting his horse each of them went home direct, leaving the Balogun and his own people to go home by themselves 1 It needed no prophetic eye to see that a storm was gathering which would burst at no distant date. The usual presents and refreshments theBalogun had ordered to entertain the chiefs with were all ready, but no one came to partake of them. The Balogun at first treated the matter lightly, affecting to care nothing for their plots ; but when he received no message of congratulation from any of them, and no secret message from any to disclose the nature of the plot, then he began to reahze the danger of his position. He was severely isolated. At dusk the next day he went to the Agbakin to ask him to beg for him. But the Agbakin was his chief adviser, aider and abettor all the while at Ikirun ; he was by many considered as guilty if not more so and should be dealt with along with the Balogun ; therefore the Agbakin for the sake of self-preservation, speedily dissociated himself entirely from the Balogun, trying his utmost to secure himself whilst receiving from the Balogun large presents intended to mollify his brother chiefs. But as the Balogun's fate was already sealed what he had thus received he kept for himself. Governor Carter, following slowly behind, arrived at Ibadan on the 26th of March, 1893, and encamped at the Basorun market where booths and enclosures had been prepared against the arrival of His Excellency and his party. The Ibadans in the meantime suppressed their feelings against the Balogun, and His Excellency, not knowing what was going on underneath, had dealings with none else but the Balogun, taking him for the head of the town. The Governor unfortunately left Ibadan highly disappointed with the conduct of the chiefs because they declined to sign an agreement he drew up for them, and the idea of a European Resident he broached was repugnant to them. They objected that they had been absent from home about seventeen years ; they had only just arrived, the town was as yet without a head; they were not yet settled down for civil administra- tion and hence there was no one authorized to act in an official position. These essentials must first be seen to before they could consider any treaty or agreement. The Balogun then said to him, " You have said you were sent from home to separate us, then you go home again and tell your masters you have carried out your mission." The Governor's last words to them were, whether they were wiUing or unwilling they would have to do it. At a banquet given at Lagos in honour of the Governor's successful mission. His Excellency in his after-dinner speech referred bitterly to this incident. He said that he met with 632 THE HISTORY OF THE YORUBAS success all along his tour in his going and coming, till he got to the last stage where it was least expected; there he met with a rebuff and he believed they were instigated to it by one in his own train but he hoped all would be right in the end. To anyone with an open mind the Governor's words sounded very strange indeed ; it could only be attributed to an imperfect knowledge of the people. His Excellency might have allowed to such men as could govern a town like Ibadan and all its dependen- cies some credit of knowing their own minds and not be swayed by a mere clerk in his office. But what people anywhere in Africa, nay, in the whole world, would readily and speedily fall in with the view of a foreign garrison in their midst if they could help it ? Besides, the argu- ment advanced by the chiefs seemed reasonable enough. As soon as the Governor left Ibadan the Balogun's troubles began afresh. He paid heavily in slaves, cowries and goods to beg for his life. After all had been received the chiefs sent for Osb, the chief officer of Orowusi's house, to come and represent his master's house in the council held at the big market (always the place of meeting when there was no head of the town). The Balogun was charged with all the enormities perpetrated by his slaves, the confiscation of so many houses for little or no cause, rapes and robberies all unpunished, etc., etc., they ended by saying that they had rejected him, and that he should honourably go to sleep. We may remark that all these charges are such as would have been condoned but for his personal unfitness, which in the eyes of the Ibadans were unpardonable, viz., (i) His great indulgence in hquor (2) his failure to lead them to victory as a Balogun. A Balogun who has won no victory has a small chance with the Ibadans. The Balogun received the message with much indig- nation ; he was determined not to die but to fight it out. When his determination was known, the people were also determined to meet him ; already his quarter of the town was being deserted, for they had begun to seize people about his quarters. Private messages were sent quickly to his brothers. " You know the consequences : will you allow your father's house to be wiped off at Ibadan ? " They knew very well that when the people assailed a house, it is to level it with the ground, and make it a dunghill, and the family—such as remain alive—dispersed for ever: no member thereof ever to hold a pubHc position in the town, for fear of his rising to power hereafter and taking revenge on the children of the perpetrators. The Balogun's brothers stayed their hands and held a consul- tation in the family, the elders thus addressing the Balogun's sons : " We must all die sooner or later, and the death of a man advanced in life, with numerous grown-up children, is no early death. Which is better, for such a man who has already made his name and has nothing more to achieve to anticipate the inevitable by a short period at most, and the house remain, or for the said man with his house, family and posterity to be wiped off at once and for ever ? Your father was not the first heir to our father's house, let him not be the last: and so it will be if the citizens lay violent hands on him, and ye yourselves will not escape. It is left for you his children to save your own Uves and the honour, dignity and fame of your father's house." The rest was left with his sons. No one could be accused of parricide for no one could say positively who did it, or how it was done, The Balogun himself scarcely knew what was going on, for he had now a plausible excuse for drowning his grief in liquor ! Rumour says his sons persuaded him to take the fatal cup himself. Others say they took advantage of a time he was the worse for liquor and discharged fire-arms on him, which threw him off his seat but otherwise had no effect on him, and in his inebriate condition he muttered, " Who is throwing stones at me ? " Warriors like him with system fortified against bullets can hardly be hurt by a musket. Then, it is said that they had recourse to clubs with which he was clubbed to death. However it be, he was dead, and report was conveyed to the infuriated mob assembled at the market ready for action. Some one was sent to verify the fact, and when it was confirmed, information was conveyed to the principal war chiefs that the Balogun was dead. The mob dispersed. Lamentations were duly set up, funeral dirges sung, and he was buried with full miUtary honours as befits a Balogun of Ibadan, and his next brother Ola was appointed head of the house of Orowiisi. § 3. The Return of Governor Carter to Lagos The Governor's mission to the interior was a complete success from every point of view, and he deserved all the ovation given him with one accord by the Colony. He had a right royal progress through the town from one end to another. The whole of the streets along which he was to pass from Ebute Ero, the northern landing place to Government House, were decorated with flags and bunting, with palms and triumphal arches ; they were also lined with troops—Hausas and the Con- stabulary—the mass of the crowd was hke a moving sea of humanity shouting welcome at the top of their voices. Mr. Ademuyiwa Haastrup, a prominent citizen, on a markedly big and powerful horse and in a gorgeous native robe, kept on cantering backwards and forwards round the Governor all the way along. The Governor was visibly affected at the sight of these signs of joyful appreciation of his efforts, and the success attending what he had accompUshed. The work was so thoroughly well done that from that time to this the roads have been completely opened from one end to the other, and never has there been any obstruction to trade, and all this without firing a shot ! As a matter of course (as things were at Lagos in those days) a banquet by the " eUte of Lagos " followed a few days after at which His Excellency was the principal guest ; and he recounted amidst plaudits the principal incidents of his mission from beginning to end. If Governor Carter did nothing more for the Colony, his name will be entitled to an undying fame in the Yoruba country. But we have to place also to his credit the initiation of the system of good roads which now stretches all over the country, being much developed by Governor Egerton. Carter's first road was from Ijebu Ode to Ejirin where the weekly caravan was the thickest, next the Epe road, then the Ibadan Ijebu road. These were the roads most used for the principal markets. He built a proper Government House at Lagos. Then he started the railway between Lagos and Ibadan, which, under Governor Egerton, was continued to Kano.^ All this with the small revenue of Lagos at the time. Two traits in Governor Carter impressed the chiefs and people of this country. One was the unfailing deference usually paid to native rulers, and the non-encroachment upon their rights. The result of this was the almost entire absence of bullying and belittling by subordinate officers which generally brought about disorganization of Native Governments, and other evils consequent thereupon. The other was the Governor's intuitive and almost unerring judgment of character and his sense of justice. The country was ^ Carter's successor was Governor M'Callum whose term was only 12 months spent chiefly over the question of our northern boundary with the French. He secured to the Yoruba country the ancient Yoruba cities to the N.W. of ancient Oyo. Next to him was Governor MacGregor under whom the system of sanitation was perfected. Under Egerton his successor the work of his prede- cessors was far advanced in roads and bridges, and filling swamps by dredgers, and further started on his own initiative the opening of the bar by which ocean hners might enter Lagos harbour. prosperous in those days. Several causes might have contributed to this but the mass of the people set it down to the fair rule and government of Governor Carter. § 4. Local Opinions About the War As was inevitable, opinions were freely exchanged and con- jectures made in those days as to what would have happened had the British Government not interfered in the interior wars, but had left the native states to fight out their own battles. Naturally opinion was divided. Some thought the Ibadans would have been driven from Kiriji, for the Ekitiparapos were all animated with a determination to break their yoke for ever ; they were fighting for life, home and liberty. Against this the Ibadans maintained that the force which could dislodge them from Kiriji would also be able to conquer Ibadan itself, for if they were unable to hold their ground where they were with all the provincial towns on their side, neither would they be able to do so at home with these towns hostile or neutral, and all their Ekiti fighting slaves escaped; therefore in holding their own there they were not merely fighting to maintain honour and prestige, but also they were doing it with all the desperation of men guarding hearth and home. As to determination therefore, both sides were even. But to the unbiassed observer the prospects of the Ibadans seemed much better for the following reasons :— (i) If the Eldtis could have driven them, they had the best chance of doing so when they were furnished with thousands of rifles, and the roads being closed, the Ibadans had not even ammunition for their old flint-lock guns. When they used to fire into the Ibadan camp with fatal results and these could not reply: when the Ibadans had to go against them in the battle- field crawhng on the ground, seeking cover till they were near enough to spring upon them with swords, cutlasses, and the butt end of their Dane guns, capturing men and rifles. But latterly when the Ijebus were compelled by circumstances to open their roads for traffic and the Ibadans were able to acquire a few scores of rifles, their chances became more even, and the Ekitis were no longer able to assume the offensive. It was only a matter of time ; the Ibadans would eventually have increased their stock of rifles, and then the Ekitis would have had no chance against them, (2) The Ibadans moreover were inspired with hopes of a future success by the following circumstance derived from experience. In all their previous wars, whenever in a difficult campaign, while holding their foes in check they were able to send out a detachment for a subsidiary punitive expedition which proved successful, victory ultimately rested with them. So it was in the case of Iwawun during the Ijaye war, of Ibokun during the Ilesa war, etc. The victory at He Ife showed it would be the same in the Kiriji campaign. (3) The next ground of hope was of a more solid nature. Ogedemgbe was the only leader in whom the Ekitiparapos relied to hold their different sections together ; he had to expose himself in every battle as any of the meanest soldiers in order to get his countrymen to follow him. His body was covered with scars from wounds. It was not unlikely that the Ibadans, having acquired rifles, a stray bullet might one day put him out of action, and with him the hopes of the Ekitis would be extinguished. The Ibadans on the other hand could count upon scores of men wilHng and able to take the lead. In fact they attributed their non-success to the disobedience to the voice of their national oracle which bestowed the office of Balogim on Akintola, but which the Are was not inclined to follow, consequently the fall of their own leader was not likely to have a bad effect upon them but probably just the contrary ; and the Ekitiparapos driven from the field, the Ilorins were not likely to remain any longer to continue the struggle, as they were unable to take the field against a strong army without an infantry support. § 5. Constitution of the Ibadan Town Council We consider it important to note how the titles were distributed at this time at Ibadan, because these men formed the Town Council and were officially responsible for the Agreement which practically made not only Ibadan but also all Yoruba country a British Protectorate. Bale.—There were two aspirants to the title of Bale, and each was backed by the two most powerful junior war chiefs, viz. : (i) Osuntoki the Maye, backed by Akintola, and (2) Fijabi, the Abese, backed by Sumonu Apampa. The latter was determined to carry out his wish at all cost : he eventually succeeded, and Fijabi was elected Bale. A special messenger was thereupon sent to Oyo to place his name before the King. An Ilari was sent by His Majesty to confer the title of Bale on him. The act was known as placing the leaves of title upon his head because it is the plum leaves (Ewe lyey^) that are used on these occasions, " lyeye " from the root ye, to live, which rendered the act to mean, " May you live long." Bale Fijabi now appointed his rival to the post of honour. The title of Otun Bale was conferred on Osuntoki the Maye, and that of Osi Bale on Fajinmi the Agbakin. The titles of the war chiefs are the most important at Ibadan. That of Balogun happily was indisputable, the National Oracle had declared it for Akintola after the death of Ogboriefgn : the late Balogun it was generally understood held it in trust for him while the late war continued. Akintola now by common consent came to his own as the Balogun of Ibadan. There were two aspirants to the next position of Otun Balogun, viz., Kongi the grandson of Ogunmgla, and the brave Babalola the son of the late Ajayi Ogboriefon. Kongi based his claim upon the fact that his grandfather was the Otun to Akintola's father when Balogun, and so it was right that he be the Otun to Akintola as Balogun. But the bravery of Babalola could not be overlooked ; he too was the son of the hero of the Jalumi war and was second to none. Babalola therefore obtained the title of Otun. That of Osi was offered to Kongi, but he sulkily declined to have it; he was told either to accept it or receive none at all and was reminded of the cowardice displayed by him at Erin when Enimowu was captured by the Ilorins. Moreover, Sumgnu Apampa laid claim to the very title of Osi. His father was the Osi of Akintola's father as Balogun, and so also he would be the Osi to Balogun Akintola. Although in every respect he was deserving of it, yet to accede to Apampa's request would mean to degrade the house of Ogunmgla further, which they did not think it right to do, for the heroes of that house were equal to any albeit the head of the house was a cowardly youth. And to Apampa they said that they sympathized with him, he was worthy of it, but as he had been yielded to and had obtained his wish in the matter of the Bal§ Fijabi, he must not press his claim in this instance. So Kongi was made the Osi Balogun and to Apampa was given the title of Asipa. The principal titles were as follows, civil and military:— Name. Fijabi Tiile. Bale Name. Akintola Title. Balogun Osuntoki Otun Bale Babalgla Otun Balogun Fajinmi Osi Bale Kongi Osi Balogun Mosaderin .. Ekerin Bale Sumgnu Apampa Asipa Bamgbegbin Areagoro Bale Suberu Ekerin Balogun Salakg Are Alasa Ogungbesan Ekarun Balogun Lanlatu lyalode Akintunde Ekefa Balogun Olaifa Asaj u Ogundepo .. Seriki Obisesan Agbakin Mgsanya Otun Seriki Tanpe Maye Aina Fagbemi Osi Seriki Enimowu Abgse Dada Ojo .. Ek§rin Seriki Eweje Sarumi