Alaafin Ajagbo who succeeded Obalokun was remarkable for a long reign. He was said to have reigned 140 years and is an exception to the recent rule.He was born a twin and so striking was the resemblance between himself and his brother Ajampati that the one was often mistaken for the other, and very often royal honours were paid to the latter as to his brother.Ajagbo was also a warlike prince: several expeditions were sent out by him. Alaafin Ajagbo had the foresight to organize and build the system of military which gave great contributions to the civilization of the world.Alaafin Ajagbo instituted the military title of Generalissimo of the Yoruba Army, -the Aare Ona Kakanfo. Alaafin Ajagbo developed a system of government which was quoted as having contributed to human civilization and this gave Yoruba's a pride of place in the comity of Nations. He was the first to introduce a military formation that saw the emergence of the Generalissimo of the Yoruba forces. When he appointed his friend Kokorogangan of Iwoye who was a military strategist as the first Aare Ona Kakanfo, that is the Generalissimo of Yoruba Army.He created seventy ranks in the Yoruba military formation; Sixteen in the Upper division and Fifty-four in the Lower Cadre.Alaafin Ajagbo also introduced the Cabinet system in about 1640 into the constitution of the Yoruba. The watershed of this ingenious constitutional device was the introduction of the famous checks and balances that clearly delimited the functional interrelationships between the various agencies of the government.This was one century (100 years) ahead of the British before Robert Walpole started the cabinet system in Britain in 1740 during the Hanoverian dynasty.In external relations, the Alaafin extended the Yoruba territorial frontier outside the border of the present boundary of Nigeria. The influence of Oyo's language and culture extended into the Togo land and far beyond into Dahomey 1698, Oyo controlled coastal trades using the King of Allada to handle European shippers. When Dahomey ravaged Weme, a small state in the North-East of Allada, the kung andhis sons fled to Oyo for refuge.Consequently, Oyo invaded Dahomey in 1730 and subdued Dahomey. There were two other Oyo invasions and bombardments of Dahomey between 1738 and 1747 following which Dahomey capitulated and accepted the suzerainty of Oyo and paid annual tributes of 40 oxen and considerable merchandise to the Alaafin.In diplomacy, art of government and royal court etiquettes, the palace of Oyo became the State House of the Yoruba Nation; the citadel of authentic African culture, where Yoruba Princes and Princesses and Heir apparent from other YorubaStates were groomed and nurtured in the intrinsic values of Yoruba customary usage. Hence, the verified truism in the Yoruba saying that "Ajise bii Oyo laari, Oyo kii se bii eni kokan" - that is Oyo is the pace setter.Indeed, in the middle of the nineteenth century, an American observer, Reverend T. J. Bowen, remarked about the methodof preventing absolutism as devised by the Yoruba, particularly in Oyo area. According to him, "The highest excellence of the best government among white consists in constitutional checks or limits to prevent abuses of power. Strange as it may seem, the Central Africans ( I.e Yoruba people) had studied out this balance of power and reduced it to practice, long before our fathers settled in America-before the Barons of England had exhorted the greater charter from King John."Commenting on the same issue, Professor Saburi Biobaku said: "Oyo, the greatest of the Yoruba States, exercised imperial suzerainty over some neighbouring states and at its apogee in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, maintained a pax in the area which enabled trade to flourish and certain measure of civilization to develop. The Yoruba States craft was best displayed at Oyo.These are remarkable feats performed by the Oyo's as their contributions to world civilization which have remained unsurpassed till today. This is a well documented fact of history dating back to almost four centuries (400 years ) ago. Extract from https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C6514965894

Good Good and impressive