WHY AARE-ONA-KAKANFOs ALWAYS DIE FIGHTING
 |
| Ijaiye Ojutaiye |
 | |
| On the road to Ijaiye |
Yorubyte: There is no Aare-ona-kakanfo (Yoruba war
Generealisimo) that did not die fighting. No wonder people are a bit fearful to
accept the title. The title of the Aare-ona-kakanfo is the highest warrior title in the yoruba tribe of south-west Nigeria in west Africa. There have been only 14 holders of the title in the history of the Yoruba race. The 14 holders were: (1) Kokoro gangan,
(2)oyatope, (3)oyabi, (4)Adeta, (5)Oku, (6)Afonja, (7)Toyeje, (8)Edun, (9)Amepo, (10)Kurunmi, (11)Ojo Aburumaku,
(12)Latoosa, (13)Ladoke Akintola and (14)MKO Abiola.
Even Ojo Aburumaku who had no reason to fight at all, as no
one wanted to fight him, had to foment a civil war by himself in Ogbomosho and
still died fighting. Let me use the story of one of the Aare-ona-kakanfo to
illustrate why they all die fighting.
Ijaiye orile is a small town off moniya in Ibadan, oyo
state, Nigeria. It is the actual origin of the ijaiyes in egba today. The
ijaiyes had to run out of ijaiye to egba after a great war and the curse of the
town. This is what happened:
King Atiba, the Alaafin of Oyo lived to a very old ripe age
and died. He left behind 22 princes and 22 princesses of which Adelu was the
crowned prince. Now, up until the time of king Atiba, anytime a king dies, his
first born son (Aremo) is buried alive along with him! (the first reader to
post the correct reason why the Aremos are buried with the king wins 1,500 naira worth of recharge card).
King Atiba didn’t want prince Adelu buried along with him, so on his death bed,
he called all his chiefs and informed them that he was changing the custom and
that when he dies, prince Adelu should be made king after him. He made all the
chiefs swear on oath that they would uphold his commandment after his death.
All the chiefs swore to uphold Atiba’s wish.
Kurunmi of Ijaiye who was the Aare-ona-Kakanfo (the Yoruba
war generalissimo) was not invited to the occasion because towards the end of
Atiba’s reign, there was a strained relationship between the king and his
Aare-ona-kakanfo.
When the king passed away, Adelu was the aremo. At Atiba’s
burial, Kurunmi was expecting to see Adelu being buried along with his father
but that did not happen. Kurunmi was angry. “It is contrary to the custom”, he
said, “The Aremo must die with his father”. Because of this, when Adelu was
crowned king, and he became the Alaafin of oyo, Kurunmi refused to pay homage
to him, neither did he send a congratulatory message to Oyo. With that, the
opportunity for an open war which Kurunmi was looking for was presented. In
fact, the commoners in Ijaiye composed a song for the time, singing :
Atiba mai ti lo (Atiba don’t go yet awhile)
Duro de Adelu o (Wait for your Adelu pray!)
However, Alaafin Adelu was conciliatory towards Kurunmi who
was his father’s comrade in many wars but the Aare-ona-kakanfo remained
obdurate and insolent.
Issues came to a head when a rich woman named Abu, died
intestate (without a will) at Ijanna town. She had no children nor husband, and by
custom, her property would belong to the state. However, ijanna is a village
tributary to Ijaiye. Because of this, some people in ijanna town were loyal to
the Aare-ona-kakanfo while some were loyal to the new king Adelu. So, some
people sent a message to the Aare Kurunmi to come take the late lady’s
properties while the other group sent a message to the Alaafin as should
rightfully be.
Alaafin Adelu sent people to Ijanna to go bring the
properties. On their way back, Kurunmi ambushed them at Jabata, killed many of
them and took 240 Oyo men as war captives! When news of this got to Alaafin
Adelu, he sent a message to Kurunmi to release the people. Kurunmi responded by
saying the people have been enslaved and are now slaves and can only be
released if they are purchased as slaves! ABOMINATION! No Oyo man had ever been
enslaved before in Yoruba land!
But because Alaafin Adelu didn’t want a fight with the
Aare-ona-Kakanfo, he sent to Kurunmi 1,200 bags of cowries (which represented 5
bags of cowries per person, which was the price for slaves then). However, Aare
Kurunmi refused, saying he would collect nothing less than 10 bags of cowries
per person. That’s a 100% increment for people who shouldn't have been slaves in the first instance. People on
an official duty by the Commander in Chief, Alaafin of Oyo! Aare-ona-kakanfos are always spoiling
for wars. Guess what, Alaafin Adelu, because he was trying to avoid a war,
again sent an extra 1,200 bags of cowries to Aare Kurunmi, this made the 10
bags of cowries per person.
Well, after collecting the money, Aare Kurunmi, a chief
under the Alaafin sent a message to the Alaafin of Oyo that he (Kunrunmi) was no longer
disposed to releasing the captives and the king should NOT be expecting that
the money he has paid would be returned back to the Alaafin! Effrontery!
Many people made entreaties
to Aare Kurunmi, but he would not yield. Ibikunle of Ibadan also spoke to him,
but No!
By this time, the king had had it up to here #touching the
bridge of my nose# but he still wanted to save the Yoruba race a major war, because waging a war against any Aare-ona-Kakanfo is no joke. Kurunmi was indeed a man of valour and courage but the Alaafin was also a man
of almost infinite resources. So the Alaafin sent emissaries to Aare kurunmi
with edan ogboni (the Ogboni efiggy) which symbolizes peace, and gunpowder which
symbolizes war. Kurunmi was meant to pick one. Kurunmi killed all the members
of the emissary except one and he sent the lone messenger back to the Alaafin
with the Ogboni efiggy. The Aare picked the gunpowder, he chose WAR!
Why, you may ask, would the Aare-ona-kakanfo be so obstinate
and war thirsty? You recall that even in contemporary times, Ladoke Akintola
was also very fearless and without being a military man, he faced a battalion
of soldiers all by himself with a gun? Ladoke Akintola held the
Aare-ona-kakanfo title.
Do you also recall that Chief MKO Abiola, against all
entreaties, refused to allow his mandate go, even when his deputy, Kingibe and
all other party members said he should let go? When the whole of Nigeria trembled before Abacha, MKO showed no fear of the despot. MKO Abiola held the
Aare-ona-kakanfo title too.
It is a fact that the major rite that must be performed for
anyone before becoming the Aare-ona-kakanfo is that the person must be given
201 gbenre (incisions), yes, TWO HUNDRED AND ONE, from the fore-head (just
above the bridge of the nose), to the crown of the head, down to the nape of
the neck, continuing down the spinal chord all the way down to the waist. 201
of them. And each incision is rubbed by 201 different herbal concoction that heightens
courage and makes the blood boil easily.
So it was, that on the 10th of April 1860, the Ijaiye war officially commenced.
184 towns and villages were mustered against Ijaiye and Aare
Kurunmi, yet, as we say in local parlance, he showed the Alaafin pepper. The war raged for 2 years until the event at the river of destruction, the Ose river and the issue of the hunch
back and the albino…. Conclusion on how Ijaiye's curse by next week thursday
-Till next week Thursday
Update: see below the concluding part
why-all-aare-ona-kakanfos-die-fighting (oncluding part)
Update: see below the concluding part
why-all-aare-ona-kakanfos-die-fighting (oncluding part)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOtunba, kudos good research work. And how was your trip to Ijaiye Ojutaiye, hope you bring yam come for us. I only have issue you giving us loaded stories in seasonal form. Next Thursday, the post I assume would be titled - Why Aare-ona-kakanfos always die fighting S01E02
ReplyDeleteThe 1,500,00 naira recharge card question:
Deducing from below
"
the Aremo, hastening the death of his father. Independently of the possible succession, the Aremo was quite powerful in his own right. For instance, by custom the Alaafin abstained from leaving the palace, except during the important festivals, which in practice curtailed his power. By contrast, the Aremo often left the palace. This led noted historian S. Johnson to observe: "The father is the king of the palace, and the son the King for the general public".[24] The two councils which checked the Alaafin had a tendency to select a weak Alaafin after the reign of a strong one to keep the office from becoming too powerful.[25]"
1. Aremo might hasten the death of his father, Alaafin, a short-cut we say of getting to the throne of his father fast fast.
2. Alaafin is the king of palace while the Aremo, the 'Alaafin' for the general public, this shows they both enjoyed the father tenure
3. Possiblity of selecting a week Alaafin.
At Lekan Adewale, please confirm tge reciept of your 1, 500 naira recharge.
Delete