OONI/ALAAFIN SUPREMACY CONTEST – THE FACTS OF HISTORY

OONI/ALAAFIN SUPREMACY CONTEST – THE FACTS OF HISTORY AS PER 1888 TREATY AND 1903  FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GAZETTE BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL RULER SETTLES THE MATTER

By Elder Adeyemi Sijuwade

It is quite unfortunate that this issue has to rear its ugly head again.

With the death of Alaafin Oba Lamidi  Adeyemi 111 who came to the throne with the mindset of revenge of the perceived enemies of his Father Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi 11 who was deposed from the throne and banished to Ilesa , Osun State before his subsequent demise in Lagos .

It’s on record that the young Lamidi Adeyemi was the son that was detailed by the family to be attending to his Father’s comfort and needs at home and this subsequently affected his education which was limited to ordinary West Africa School Certificate with which he worked at the Lagos City Council and later at  Royal Exchange  Insurance Company before ascending to the throne of Alaafin of OYO Kingdom.

Fact check to history as per the copy of the  Signing Of The Treaty Of 3RD JULY 1888 Between  Her Majesty The Queen Of England & Ireland  and  The Alaafin Of Oyo  and Head Of Yorubas.

With this fact, it was incontrovertible that Alaafin was the Political Head in Charge Of Yoruba Administration even after the Fulani Feudalist had sacked the OYO Empire and took over the control of the Headquarters of the Empire  of Oyo Ile now in present day Kwara State, North Central of Nigeria .

The safety flight of Alaafin Of  OYO with the remnants of his defeated Armies now migrated Southwards and were made to settle in  about 3 Settlements before finally finding a safety abode in AGO OYO now renamed OYO and taken as the OYO of the Old History .

The wrangling between the Late ASIPA OF OYO CHIEF AMUDA OLORUNKOSEBI  AND LATE ALAAFIN LAMIDI ADEYEMI 111 speaks volume of the claims of ASIPA as the rightful Land Owner of the present  OYO.

Please note that the CHIEFTANCY TITLE OF ASIPA has been Approved And Gazetted by the OYO STATE GOVERNMENT as 2ND CLASS OBA with STAFF OF OFFICE  and no longer a Chief under the Alaafin Of Oyo .

What now becomes the relevance of ASIPA TITLE among the OYOMESI will now become subject of debate in the modern day history .

For ease of reference, the crisis between AKARIGBO OF REMO AND ELEPE OF EPE that started in 1899  (11 Years After The Treaty) on the matter of Beaded Crown between AKARIGBO AND ELEPE brought to  fore the Paramount Position and Supremacy of the OONI OF IFE in YORUBA LAND .

At the explosion of the Civil  Strife   Between the AKARIGBO  AND ELEPE which led to  serious Bloodshed, Loss of Life and Carnages, the cause of the strife was the issue of ELEPE OF EPE wearing Beaded Crown without the Authority Of AKARIGBO OF REMO .

After a prolonged  Riot that led to destructions of lives and properties, the then British Government intervened in the matter.

The then Government contacted the ALAAFIN OF OYO for his intervention but ALAAFIN politely told the Government that the OONI OF IFE was their Father and he was the only one vested with the Authority on the Beaded Crown for all the YORUBA OBAS .

The GOVENOR  then personally visited the OONI OF IFE for his intervention to settle the matter and requested for his presence in Lagos.

The IFE PALACE told the GOVERNOR that it was a TABOO for OONI to leave ILE IFE  but the GOVERNOR insisted that he has the mandate of the KING OF ENGLAND to prevail on OONI to help resolve the  BEADED CROWN  issue.

The details of what the Government provided to meet the demand of OONI is in the records at the National Archives.

With no dissenting voice from any OBA in the Western Region including the OBA OF BENIN who attested to the SUPREMACY OF OONI, the  INQUIRY was held at LAGOS CITY HALL on the 1ST APRIL 1901 and it was stated by the OONI OF IFE that ELEPE OF EPE had no right to the Beaded Crown and that AKARIGBO OF REMO was right in his actions to demand for removal of the Crown from ELEPE.

The OONI OF IFE consequently presented the List Of Yoruba Obas who are entitled to the Beaded Crown and what Traditional Materials to be presented before being given the Crown .

The Government Gazette of 28TH FEBRUARY 1903 has put to rest the issue of the most Paramount  Ruler in Yoruba Land.

It was on the strength of the above that there was no contest between the OONI And ALAAFIN  through out the Colonial Rule . Constitution Of the First Council Of Obas Meeting in Oyo in 1934 in which the OONI OF IFE was the CHAIRMAN of the meeting with 4 other OBAS and the Governor in attendance .

The Attendance List is as follows –

(1) OONI OF IFE .

(2) ALAAFIN OF OYO .

(3) OBA OF BENIN

(4) ALAKE OF ABEOKUTA. (Now ALAKE of Egba Land).

(5) AWUJALE OF IJEBU ODE. (Now AWUJALE of Ijebu Land).

The  venue of the meeting was subsequently rotated at the domains of the OBAS listed above and in all the meetings, OONI OF IFE presided over all. Records available at the National Archives attest to this fact.

Please note that the Immemorial Advertorial included with this write up was to show to the readers that the then  8TH OBANIKORO OF LAGOS  – AJAYI BEMBE (1897 – 1906) was the INTERPRETER BETWEEN THE OONI OF IFE AND THE GOVERNMENT.

It was further stated in the reports that were Gazetted that all YORUBA OBAS vacated their PALACES  and Sleeping Outside The Walls Of Their Palaces  on  hearing the News that OONI was on his way to Lagos and remains there until his return back home and it was even stated that the ALAAFIN OF OYO was outside his Palace  for the duration.

That Late Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111 fought tooth and nail to regain the throne back to his family line with just one King Ruling after the deposition of his Father for which he deserved a BIG APPLAUSE .

He tried desperately to rewrite the History of the formation of the Council of Obas and Chiefs but he never succeeded .

Despite ganging  up with few other Obas like Soun Of Ogbomosho, Olubadan Of Ibadan, Owa Of  Ilesa in leading a revolt calling for the Rotation Of Chairmanship Position of OYO State Council Of Obas  from its Permanent Position Of OONI OF IFE, he never succeed.

However, at the Creation Of Osun State and with the exit of OONI from OYO State to Newly created OSUN State, the opportunity finally presented itself for ALAAFIN to be the Chairman Of OYO State Council Of Obas & Chiefs .

Having forgotten the earlier unwholesome alliance with the Obas mentioned above for Rotational Chairmanship, he occupied the office.

Unfortunately, after the expiration of his 2years tenure and Olubadan Of Ibadan was to occupy the seat as per their previous agreement before the exit of OONI, the ALAAFIIN reneged on the agreement and resigned from the Council because he couldn’t stand seeing OLUBADAN or SOUN who were promoted from BAALE in 1977 to OBA to be presiding over meetings where he will be present .

With all of the above and other records available at the National Archives,   readers are free to their opinions and to change the Gazette on this issue or legal option can be resorted to.

Whilst the majority of YORUBA LEADERS are still trying to reposition YORUBAS to its Old Glory of History which made OONI ADESOJI ADEREMI  and  CHIEF OBAFEMI  AWOLOWO  to fight for the reclamation of the rights of the Yorubas in Kogi and Kwara State .

Please note that at the creations of States in 1967 in which Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the VICE CHAIRMAN FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL , he influenced the Creation Of CENTRAL WESTERN STATE with ILORIN as the CAPITAL and COLONEL DAVID BAMIGBOYE as the GOVERNOR .

Unfortunately, due to the shenanigans of some  Influential  Fulanis  wearing the toga of Religions with few Uncultured Yorubas playing on their intelligence , they demanded for a change of name and it was subsequently renamed KWARA State – the name of a small River that serves Pastoralist Herdsmen

Whilst the rest is now History but there was one loud and visible gain for it in that the  OLOFA OF OFFA Was Able To Have His CROWN AND SHOES  BACK WITH THE SAME TREATMENT FOR OTHER YORUBA OBAS ANYTIME THERE IS A MEETING OF TRADITIONAL RULERS WHERE EMIR OF ILORIN WILL BE PRESENT “

May the Almighty God continue to Bless The Soul Of the LATE  BRIGADIER DAVID BAMIGBOYE for putting an end to that SLAVISH BEHAVIOR .

I have a Culled Article On How Oloofa Of Offa Got His Crown & Shoes Back Written By A Concerned Yoruba Man .

The vengeance of the  ALAAFIN AOLE On APOMU TOWN  around  1759 was what led to the Beginning  Of The End Of OYO EMPIRE with the refusal of AARE ONAKAKANFO  AFONJA in taking  further directives from Alaafin .

It would be recalled that the Young PRINCE AOLE has his youthful working career in APOMU, IKIRE & ORILE OWU AXIS trading in Woods & Planks .

He was reported to be involved in a shady deals in the selling and buying that would have earned him a jail sentence but just a punishment of 12 Strokes of Cain  at the Order Of Kabiyesi ALAPOMU OF APOMU, the rest are in the History Books for more details .

Thank you all and God Bless .

Elder Adeyemi Sijuwade

Abuja .

10TH APRIL 2025 .

2027: PDP governors reject coalition with LP, SDP

South-East youths shunning military recruitment, Army reveals

BREAKING: Another 47 killed in fresh Plateau attacks