Ilorin is a huge city because of the influx of Muslims from Yoruba cities of the Oyo, Ijesha, Igbomina and etc. Some of my ancestors must have sought refuge there in the past and their descendants are now Ilorin because my paternal ancestors were Muslims and Ijesha Muslims relocated to Ilorin in huge numbers.

It started when the Alaafin Aole became despotic. He asked his Aare Ona Kakanfo to attack a certain town because the Baale of that town once caught and flogged him when he was a young prince dealing in slaves. Later, on becoming the Alaafin, he decided to punish the Baale, so he let the Aare Ona Kakanfo loose on the town as an obligatory expedition for Aare Afonja who was the Kakanfo. Afonja found out that the town in question is the origin of the first Kakanfo and that one had placed a curse on any Kakanfo that attacks the town. It led to bad blood between the Alaafin and the Aare ona Kakanfo. Afonja himself was a prince who contested for the throne but lost to later become the Kakanfo. He chose Ilorin as his headquarters as the Kakanfo does not stay in the capital. The rivalry between the Kakanfo and the Alaafin heightened. It came to a head when the Basorun, head of the Oyomesi council in Oyo ile, the Onikoyi, head of the royal guards and the Aare ona Kakanfo Afonja joined forces against the Alaafin and surrounded the capital. Thus cornered, the Alaafin had no choice than to commit suicide, making the second time the imperial army would be used to achieve such an aim. The first time was when a civil war broke out between the supporters of Alaafin Abiodun and that of Bashorun Gaa when the latter tried to remove Alaafin Abiodun as the fifth Alaafin he would remove, it is said that Alaafin Abiodun would have been removed like the four others before him if the Aare Ona Kakanfo Oyabi had not marched on the capital to save the Oba, leading to the routing of Gaa.

In thesame way, the Onikoyi, Basorun and the Aare Ona Kakanfo surrounded Oyo ile and Alaafin Aole had to commit suicide but not before placing the legendary Aole curse on his detractors.

Aare Ona kakanfo Afonja retired to Ilorin and placed the Igbomina and Osun division under tribute. He asked a Fulani onion merchant and Islamic preacher to relocate to ogbomosho with him and that one obliged. Later as is normal with Muslims, he started to become uncontrollable, so the Aare asked him to leave but his students who were mainly Yoruba Muslims refused and turned it into a street fight in which the Aare was slain, the other Yoruba did not come to his support as he himself had withdrawn support to the Alaafin but the Yoruba turned against Muslims across the land which led to Muslims fleeing in large numbers to Ilorin, swelling the city’s population including royal Muslims and commoners. From there they ganged up and started planning jihads with support from Sokoto. All initial efforts of Sokoto with the subdued Nupe to compromise the Yoruba and Bariba failed, their successes started when Yoruba Muslims established a state in Ilorin. it was Ilorin that burned down the Old Oyo ile.

Thus Alaafin Aole lost out in the struggle with Aare Afonja but Ilorin did not become fully independent until after more than 30 years after three Alaafins during the reign of Alaafin Majotu. The Dahomey declared independence from Oyo when the Alaafin refused their terms in 1826 and defeated an Oyo punitive force, the Egba declared independence and etc. It was the season and the Ilorin declared independence as well as a Muslim city just like Iwo in Osun state was once. Ilorin once surrounded Oyo ile but did not destroy the city. They sent to Sokoto for a flag but were not accomodated at first since it was not a Fulani but a Yoruba jihad. Later the Fulani jihadists started cooperating with them. It was Ilorin in alliance with the Fulani that burnt down Old Oyo known as Katunga, then they pushed down South into Ijesha territory led by one Mallam Abdulsalam but were stopped in their tracks in the Pole wars which means Down! in the Ijesha dialect.

After the establishment of Ibadan, Ijaiye and Ogbomosho and after the rise of Ibadan, Ilorin was checked. Ibadan defeated them in Osogbo, drove them back and tried to take Ilorin but the Aare Ona Kakanfo Edun of Gbongan was said to have messed it up. Ilorin was not taken but were later allied with Ibadan then later the Fulani allied with the Ijesha via Ilorin during the Kiriji war.

So as the other Yoruba groups fought for their independence from Oyo, Ilorin did same and they were not the only one to adopt Islam, Iwo also did but allied with Ibadan throughout the Kiriji war while Ilorin allied with both parties at different times. North of Ilorin in Niger state are Yoruba towns with Obas and they are surrounded by the Igbomina. So even if Ilorin will like to be separate from the Yoruba, their land will be completely surrounded by other Yoruba and Bariba.

But actually when the British arrived in Ilorin in the 1890s, the chief who signed the protection agreement with them was a Mallam, the Balogun Ajikobi, a descendant of Alaafin Abiodun. However after parts of Yoruba land were put in the North arbitrarily, the NPC manipulated things to appoint another person as Ilorin chief, a Yoruba man with recognised Hausa and not Fulani ancestry. It must be noted that all Ilorin people are Yoruba and the NPC did not love anyone more than the other but they had to do something to spite the Yoruba who were their opponents as the APC under President Buhari did when they stopped Mr James Faleke from becoming Kogi governor. Not that the Ebira were favoured.
The last Afonja descendant to be Oba in Ilorin was Oba Moma who committed suicide in 1895 after he realised that his Baloguns were going to upend him for trying to smoothen relations with Ibadan and Britain. He set his palace on fire and died together with his slave, Ogundojere. So the Afonja family had returned to reckoning as at 1895. The British saw the last Afonja descendant as a great man and ally, so a WW 1 Gun carrier was named after him. However, with him removed from the scene, the onus fell on the Balogun Ajikobi, a descendant of the Alaafin Abiodun to put Ilorin under British protection, not on the Balogun Fulani or Balogun Gambari whom the Ilorin people saw as not adequately representative of them to sign the protection agreement on their behalf.
The principal chiefs in Ilorin are the Balogun Ajikobi, Magaji Aare, Balogun Gambari, Balogun Alanamu, Balogun Fulani, and Baba Isale , all of whom without exception are ethnic Yorubas.

However, in Ilorin, Lagos, Ibadan, Ilesha and etc, there are families who claim descent from Hausa, Bariba, Tapa, Fulani and etc. Just like in Kano, you have whole quarters claiming descent from Yoruba. That is all a result of centuries of trading with and dealing with each other and it does not change the ethnic affiliation of those individuals from that of their primary constituency.


What the Ajikobi family need to do now is to go to court to retrieve their right to produce Ilorin chiefs. Try and lose first. People who do not try have already lost.

Hausa Sarkis were deposed on their land by Fulanis. So installing a Yoruba as Emir of Ilorin because of his part Hausa ancestry does not add up. It is better to restore the Ajikobi despite that it is still Ilorin Afonja.
Afonja was not a traitor, he did in the Northern parts of the empire what the Ibadan later did in the South and what Dahomey did on the coast.

This is the facebook version of this post with links to references in the comments.



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