Part 2 — Chapter 7

Chapter VII THE RISE OF THE FULANIS TO POWER § I. The Spread of Anarchy and Fall of Afonja An interregnum folloNved the last reign but for how long, it is not known ; after which Majotu was placed on the throne. The whole country was at this time in the greatest disorder, wars and rumours of war being the order of the day. The tocsin of war resounded from every quarter, and the new King found himself incapable of coping with the situation. The Epos, imitating the Kakanfo at Ilorin organized a military band which they called Ogo Were (i.e. the Jackals) at the head of which was the Aresa but with what object in view, it was not known. The Kakanfo received the news with mixed feelings of jealousy and suspicion ; he sent and enquire.d of Toyeje the Bale of Ogbomoso his Otun i.e. commander of his right, what he understood by that movement. Toyeje could not say. War was in consequence declared against the Epcs, and several towns in that province were taken, only Ogbahagbkha and Iwo amongst the principal towns escaped. Ilobu and Ejigbo amongst the Ibglos were also taken, and the Ogo Were suppressed. Afonja was now the sole power in the kingdom ; the King and the capital were left to manage their own affairs by themselves. The Jamas were increasing in number and in rapacity, to the utter distress and ruin of the country. When there was no war in hand they usually scattered themselves all over the land plunder- ing the people and committing outrages. They would enter any house, make it their headquarters, from which they would pillage the neighbourhood and surrounding districts. They fed upon the cattle of the house and led the rest away at their leisure and pleasure. Knowing the consequences to themselves and to the town if they were to attack these marauders, the country folk became rather disinclined to rear up any cattle or poultry to feed these thieves ; every one helped himself and family to whatever remained of their livestock, so that at one time there was not a single livestock to be found in country towns. To further illustrate the gross licences of these Jamas, slaves who had deserted their masters often returned to the same town, and even to the very house as a Jama, making their former 197 master's house their headquarters for their rapine : masters who were kind to them formerly were now repaid by protection against the rapacities of their comrades ; unkind ones were now treated with heartless revenge. These fellows were not regarded now as slaves bat as the Kakanfo's servants. Thoughtful men were now apprehensive of the evils to the nation which the unrestrained licences of these Jamas portended, but no one was bold enough to remonstrate with the Kakanfo, or even to appeal to him against their rapacities. Fagbohun the chief of Jabata alone had the courage to do so by virtue of his office as the commander of the left wing of the Kakanfo's arm}-, and he incurred his displeasure for his boldness. In order to get Fagbohun into his grasp, Afonja summoned all the provincial Bales to him at Ilorin, but Fagbohun having got wind of his intention escaped back to his town. But Afonja perceived his error when it was too late. Haughty and passionate, his very egotism was the cause of his fall. Fortune had carried him to such a high pitch of glory, he thought his fall was impossible ; besides, he had unlimited confidence in his Jamas, and was not aware ot their growing disaffection and dis- loyalty towards himself. He thought he could put them down whenever he liked, and was sometimes very severe with any act of insubordination, openly threatening them with suppression and annihilation. This threat only served to increase their disaffection. Too late, he saw what Fagbohun had warned him against. He failed completely to check their ambition, rapine and lawlessness. His threats and warnings were not heeded. Long impunity had increased their boldness. At last, the Kakanfo was resolved to give effect to his threats and to disband the Jamas, but he miscalculated his own strength. By the death of his brother Agbonrin, and his head slave Lasipa he had lost his mainstay for these were men of power. He had offended all the powerful chiefs in the kingdom including his former friend and ally Solagberu of Oke Suna, and his priest AUmi by his high-handedness, lofty airs and haughty spirit. Fearing lest these Jamas should attack him suddenly if he were to delay their destruction, he sent a private message to the Onikoyi and other powerful chiefs in the country inviting them to make their appearance in Ilorin suddenly, and to assist him in annihilating these Jamas. But the secret was divulged to the Jamas, and they, losing no time, being headed by Alimi the priest, rose up against him before he could obtain help from abroad. Solagberu being a Yoruba, professed neutrality. The Kakanfo was closely besieged in his quarters, but he fought with his characteristic bravery. When he found himself overwhelmed by numbers, he despatched Bugare his head slave to solicit the aid of Solagberu ; but Solagberu treacherously detained him, saying, " Your Master has hitherto looked down upon us as his menials, and why does he now require our aid ? " This treachery, he lived to regret. The great Kakanfo was disappointed on all sides. As neither Bugare nor Solagberu made an appearance, he could not hold out till the Onikoyi's arrival ; he was compelled to fight within the walls of his house ; but when the house was set on fire, he rushed out again into the streets surrounded by his faithful few. The insurgents surrounded them, charged again and again, but could not break their ranks, Afonja himself in the midst of them was fighting most desperately, surrounded by the corpses of some of his faithful attendants. Seeing the day was lost, some of his followers became disheartened and deserted him., but the rest chose to die with him. He fell indeed like a hero. So covered was he with darts that his body was supported in an erect position upon the shafts of spears and arrows showered upon him. So much dread had his personality inspired that these treacher- ous Jamas whom he had so often led to victory could not believe he was really dead ; they continued to shower darts upon him long after he had ceased fighting. They were afraid to approach his body as if he would suddenly spring up and shake himself for the conflict afresh ; not till one of them, bolder than the rest cautiously went near and placed an arrow in his hand and they saw he could no longer grasp it, that they believed he was really dead ! His corpse was taken up and burnt to ashes. The crafty AUmi his treacherous friend took his helpless children and family under his own protection, a leging that it was a mis- understanding that led to the civil fight between himself and his old friend, in which the latter unhappily lost his life. His house was rebuilt, and the remnant of his people were permitted to occupy it, but the government of the town passed over to the conqueror. His family, however, are highly respected at Ilgrin to this day. Thus passed away one who will always be remembered in the annals of the Yoruba country as the leader of the revolution which ended in the dismemberment of the Yoruba country. The late Afonja was a native of Ilorin. The city was built by his great grandfather, Laderin, whose posterity bore rule in her in succession to the fourth generation. Laderin the founder, was succeeded by Pasin, his son, a valiant chiet who opposed the renowned Gaha when he was in the zenith of his glory. Fearing his rising power, Gahk drove him out of Ilorin and he escaped to Ol^. He sent an army after him there which reduced the town and Pasin was taken and slain. Alagbin the son of Pasin succeeded his father, and in turn handed the government to his vaUant son Afonja with whom the rule ended. Ilorin is sometimes spoken of as Afonja's Ilorin. This is because he was the most renowned of her rulers, and not only so, but also because it was he who made it into the large city it now is. There were several towns and villages around at no very great distance from Ilorin e.g. Kanla, Oke Suna, Ganma, Elehinjare, Idofian, Oke Oyi, Ibare, Igbon, Iresa etc. Most of them this restless warrior captured one by one and resettled them around Ilorin so as to make it into what it has become. The able-bodied men he enrolled among his soldiers, and several women and children he sold into slavery, in order to have wherewith to maintain and supply arms to his war boys. He was not actually of the royal family although often reckoned as such, but his mother was said to have been a home born slave of the palace, and he was brought up among the children of the royal family, hence the Ibamu facial mark across the face seen in his descendants to this day. Ilorin now passed into the hands of foreigners, the Fulanis who had been invited there as friends and allies. These being far more astute than the Yorubas, having studied their weak points and observed their misrule, planned to grasp the whole kingdom into their own hands by playing one chief against another and weakening the whole. Their more generous treatment of fallen foes and artful method of conciliating a power they could not openly crush, marked them out as a superior people in the art of government. § 2. The First Attempt to Recover Ilorin from the Fulanis The Battle of Ogele The tragic end of Afonja the Kakanfo by the hands of his Jamas had long been anticipated by thoughtful men who depre- cated their formation, and had predicted the worst for the nation when slaves became masters. The death of the Kakanfo struck the whole nation with such awe and bewilderment that it took the people nearly a whole year to bring them to their right mind. Seeing that the fate of the whole nation was trembling in the balance as it were, all the people united to avenge the death of Afonja, while in the meantime, the crafty Fulani had been strengthening himself for the conflict. He had studied the Yorubas and knew how to circumvent them. Toyeje the Bale of Ogbomosg and commander of the late Kakanfo's right, was promoted to the post of Kakanfo, and the whole nation was united under his standard to expel the Fulanis from Ilorin. They encamped at a place called Ogele, where they were met by the Fulani horse aided by the powerful Yoruba Moslem Chief Solagberu of Oke Suna. Another fatal mistake of Sglagberu's. A sanguinary battle was fought in which the Fulanis were victorious. They routed the Yorubas and followed up their victory, which resulted in the desertion or destruction of a great many towns in the Ibolo province. The only important towns left in that part were Ofa, Igbona, Ilemona, Erin, and a few others. The refugees could only carry away such of their personal effects which could be snatched away in a hasty flight, as the Fulani horse kept hovering in their rear. They found temporary refuge in any walled town where a powerful chief happened to be, there, it may be, to await another siege by the conqueror. The distress caused by this calamity cannot be described. Aged people who could not be carried away were left to perish. The doleful lamentations of parents who had lost their children, and of thousands of widows and orphans were heartrending. Bereft of every thing, without money, or anything that could be converted into money in such hasty and sudden flight, they were reduced to abject misery and poverty among strangers, and could only support life by doing menial work by procuring firewood or leaves for sale and such like. A people who until recently lived in what for them was affluence and plenty, are now oppressed with want and misery brought about by the want of foresight, and the vaulting ambition of their rulers. § 3. The Second Attempt to Expel the Fulanis and Recover Ilorin The Mugbamugba War After a short respite the Yorubas again rallied and resolving to rid the country of these hordes of marauders the Jamas, made an alliance with Monjia, the King of Rabbah, that he may help them to extirpate the pests. The war took place somewhere between March and April at the time when the locust fruit was ripe for harvest. The country was already devastated by the late wars, many towns were left desolate, and consequently there were no farms for foraging. What food there was in the Ilorin farms were soon eaten up, and both the besiegers and the besieged were without provisions and had to live on the locust fruit (igba). Hence the war was termed Mugbamugba. The Yorubas were again unsuccessful in this expedition. They had not yet learnt how to cope with cavalry and the Fulanis were expert horsemen. From successive defeats the Yorubas lost all courage, and victories one after another made the Ilorins more confident, so that in the open fields they gained easy victories over the Yorubas ; and when they were protected within walled towns they reduced them by long sieges and famine. On this occasion, the Ilorins attacked the alUes to advantage. They hid their horses in the rear of the allied armies and while a party of horsemen engaged them in front the main body of the cavalry suddenly bore down upon them from the rear and routed them. Monjia fled precipitately to his own country, leaving the Yorubas at the mercy of the victors. The Ilorins followed up their victory and swept away all the towns in the direction of ^ia, Erin, Igbona etc. The Olofa with Asegbe his favourite and wise Ilari escaped to Ikoyi. § 4. The Battle of Pamo Alimi the Moslem priest, who was at the head of the foreigners at Ilorin died after the last war and was succeeded by his son Abudusalami, who became the first King, or Emir, of Ilorin. Ilorin now passes definitely into the hands of the Fulanis as rulers, and affords a home for the Gambaris (Hausas) from whom the Jamas were reciuited. The late Alimi was much respected at Ilorin from his arrival there as a mere priest. At fiist he had no intention of making Ilorin his home much less to embark upon a career of conquest ; and indeed when Afonja and his Jamas commenced their excesses he was prepared to return to his own country from disgust, but the eldeis of the Yorubas prayed him to stay and act as a check on Afonja for there was no one else to whom he would defer and there was no telling how far he would go without someone to put the fear of God into him. The Kakanfo and the people of Ilorin pre- vailed upon him to send for his family and make Ilorin his home. Alimi was a pure Fulani by birth and his wife also a Fulani lady. They lived together for a considerable time without any issue. The wife then consulted a Moslem priest as to her state of childlessness, and she was told to give out of her abundance to a distinguished Moslem priest a slave as an alms to the glory of of God, and she was sure to have children. Having considered this matter over, she came to the conclusion within herself that she knew of no distinguished Moslem priest greater than her own husband, and therefore she gave to her husband one of her maidens as " an alms to the glory of God." This maiden as Ahmi's secondary wife became the mother of Abudusalami and Shitta his two eldest sons. The Fulani lady herself subsequently gave birth to a son named Sumonu, who was nick-named Beribepo (one who cuts off head and post). Alimi afterwards took to himself a third wife by whom he also had a son, and, therefore at his death he left four sons to inherit his property. As will be seen below however, no advantage in the matter of government accrued to the son of the real wife (who was a pure white Fulani) above those of the slave wife who were coloured. Hence in the third generation, the chief rulers of Ilorin have become black. The power of the Fulanis was now very great, and they aimed at nothing short of the subversion of the whole Yoruba country, and the short sighted Yoruba war-chiefs were playing the game for them by their mutual jealousy of one another. One expedition followed after another and the result was the devastation and depopulation of the country. Far seeing men had predicted all this, if the various Yoruba families did not unite and expel the foreigners ; but jealousy and rivalry among the chiefs prevented unity of purpose. Allegiance was no longer paid to the King, not even in the capital. Intestine wars not only weakened the country, but offered it an easy prey to the common enemy. Thus Toyeje the Kakanfo at Ogbomosg had a difference with Adegun the Onikoyi which at length broke out into an open war, each of them being now independent, and neither would submit to the other. The Kakanfo formed an alliance with the Oluiwo of Iwo, the Timi of Ede and Solagberu of Ilorin, and besieged the Onikoyi in his city of Ikoyi. Solagberu had his own personal grievance to vent because the Onikoyi did not do homage to him or pay him tribute ; so he came with all the Ilorin forces at his command. Abudusalami the Emir alone remained at home. The combined forces encamped at a place called Pamo. The conflict was very fierce, and Ikoyi, hemmed in on all sides, was nearly taken, when Asegbe the Olofa's Ilari, who was then with his master, a refugee at Ikoyi, saved the city by wise and judicious measures. He told his master and it also came to the Onikoyi's hearing that if he could be allowed to use his wisdom without being forbidden or thwarted, he could save the city. The besieged who were prepared to agree to any terms in order to obtain peace accepted the offer, although reluctantly, as Asegbe kept his plans to himself. He sent a private messenger to Abudusalami the Emir of Ilgrin in the name of the Onikoja, that he was besieged in his city, for the sole reason that he declared himself for the Emir of Ilorin. The Emir again questioned the messenger " Is it true the Onikoyi declared for me? " " Quite true, your Majesty," was his reply. " Then the siege must be raised," said the Emir. Orders were now sent to recall Solagberu with all the Ilorin forces, but he refused to obey orders. Again and again peremptory orders were sent, with the same result. The fifth and last message was to the Princes and other chiefs, to the effect that whoever would prove himself loyal should return home at once by the order of the Emir. The Ilorin army now left the camp, leaving Solagberu alone behind together with the aUies. The next effort of the Emir of Ilorin was to raise the siege at all cost, and hence he sent his army to reinforce Ikoyi. These Ilorin troops entered Ikoyi, but for ten days did nothing but help themselves to every thing they could lay hands on, eating and drinking to excess. On the eleventh day they asked to be conducted to the scene of action. Then they joined battle, and completely routed the Kakanfo's army. Solagberu fled back to his quarters at Ilorin, and the Yorubas were dispersed. Solag- beru's feelings towards Abudusalami, can better be imagined than described. The men of note who fell in this war were,— The Timi of Ede, the king of Erin, the Chief Aina-Abutu-Sogun, and Ay ope. Although Solagberu was allowed to remain in his quarters, yet the disaffection between him and the Emir of Ilorin was very great, and every incident served but to heighten it. . It grew from jealousy and illwill to opposition and resentment, and at length into a civil war. The Emir's party besieged Oke Sun a, desperate battles were fought, but the besieged held out for a long time until they were reduced by famine. They were hard put to it in order to sustain life, living on frogs, lizards, barks of trees, etc., till no green thing could be found at Oke Suna, Solagberu had cause to remember with regret his tieachery towards his friend Afonja, in his hour of need, at the hands of these very Jamas. At last, Oke Suna was reduced and Solagberu slain. Abudusalami the Fulani Emir having now no rival in any Yoruba King or Chief, the Onikoyi having declared for him, the Kakanfo's army shattered, and Solagberu slain, resolved upon subverting the whole kingdom, and making himself the King of the Yoruba country. The remaining Yoruba towns spared were placed under tribute. He was aided in his enterprise by the Jamas whose tyrannies and oppression greatly exceeded those which they practised in the days of Afonja, which were so galling to the Yorubas : formerly it was only the livestock that were freely taken away, but now, they entered houses and led away women and young persons at their pleasure. It was Hterally enslaving the people ! To such a wretched and miserable condition were the people reduced, especially in the provinces.