In response to the popular claim that the Fula Muhammedans sacked the Yoruba heartland and captured Ilorin, Okikiola Bashorun ‘Gaa Olanrewaju responded:

“The Fula Muhammedans never captured any Yoruba land. Who were they, the Fula Muhammedans, that the all powerful Ibadan army could not face during the day that they had to attack at night? Stop quoting nonsense from Ilorin Mesi Jamba Muhammedan traitors, playing war chess game on our ancestral homeland. Brother, seek for authentic history and not some revisionist garbage online.

Ibadan warriors fought on different war fronts, and they won every battle against ilorin; they smoke the Jamma soldiers up openly in broad daylight and not in the dead of the night. We dragged them down from their “jihadist” horses � and beheaded most of their soldiers in cold blood. Their leader and the Yoruba balogun who colluded with them were captured and were executed at the order of the Yoruba court in Oyo under Alaafin.

Again, stop promoting Ilorin Mesi Jamba falsehood. No Fula Mohammedan ever sacked the Old Oyo Kingdom. Here is the thing, Oyo Ile was destroyed due to the death of my great ancestor, Iba Osorun Gaa. Consequently, all kingdoms under Old Oyo broke away because the rulers of the smaller kingdoms under Oyo didn’t fear the Alaafin; they only feared Iba Osorun Gaa. Afonja and others wanted the throne; the whole thing degenerated into a small scale civil war. And against this backdrop, Oyo Ile was destroyed. In fact, my ancestor Ojo (son of Iba Osorun Gaa) once captured Ilorin from Afonja (the traitor and the destroyer of the yoruba imperial kingdom). Ojo could have occupied the throne, as the Alaafin, and reunited all the break away kingdoms under the Influence of the imperial kingdom of Oyo, but the Oyo Mesi (the council of nobels) were not ready for the reunification. Ojo gallantly climbed his � and left.”

Okikiola Bashorun is right that the Fula Muhammedans never captured any Yoruba land. A quick summary of what happened is this: the Yoruba Muhammedans left the Yoruba heartland and migrated to Ilorin for religious reasons. And from Ilorin, they launched attack against the Yoruba heartland.

The Yoruba traditionalists came together in Ibadan, defended the Yoruba heartland, and defeated the Yoruba Muhammedans and their Jamma soldiers in Osogbo.

The defeated Yoruba Muhammedans retreated to Ilorin where they made a Fula cleric, Alimi, their leader.

The question now is: is Okikiola Bashorun Gaa right about the role of Bashorun Gaa in the Old Oyo kingdom or is he another revisionist?