| How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by ImadeUReadThis: 7:49am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Ilorin was a small town in the Oyo Empire by the beginning of the 19th century. Afonja, Baale of Ilorin, who also held the title of Are Ona Kakanfo of the Oyo Empire, rebelled against his king, the Alafin of Oyo, in 1817. (There is no space here for the reasons for his rebellion). In order to sustain his rebellion, he was desperate to build a large and powerful army. To that end, he did a number of desperate things.
First, he invited the people of nearby villages to move to Ilorin and turn Ilorin into a large town. Many people so moved, but most refused.
Secondly, he reached out to many prominent friends all over the Oyo country, and invited them to come and live in Ilorin. Some accepted his invitation and came. Among these was a rich trader named Solagberu from Kuwo. Another was a man named Alimi, a Fulani man who had long lived in the Oyo country peddling charms from town to town. Afonja employed Alimi to make charms for him and his army.
Thirdly, Afonja decided to exploit a religious situation that was causing trouble in the country at the time. A Jihad movement had started in Hausaland in the north in 1804, generating wars and stormy Islamic evangelism there. It was started and led by an immigrant people called Fulani. The Fulani immigrants were few among the large Hausa nation, but very many of the Hausa who were already Muslims sided with the Fulani – and thus made it possible for the Fulani to defeat the ancient Hausa kings and make themselves rulers over Hausaland.
Some of the violent Jihadist preachers trickled south into the Oyo country. Everywhere they came, they were causing a lot of commotion by preaching violent and disrespectful sermons against the Oyo kings and chiefs, and against Yoruba culture in general. Yoruba people, with their tradition of religious tolerance, were alarmed; and angry crowds began to attack the preachers. Afonja decided to exploit the situation by issuing a general invitation to the Muslims to flee to him in Ilorin, promising to give them protection there. Thousands of frightened Muslims fled to Ilorin, and Afonja trained many of them for his army. (Afonja himself did not intend to convert to Islam, and he never did).
Fourthly, most rich Oyo families had Hausa, Nupe and Fulani slaves - used mostly in farming, trading, livestock rearing, etc. Most were Muslims.
Afonja decided to exploit this also. He issued a proclamation saying that if any slaves ran away from their owners and came to him in Ilorin, he would give them freedom and protection there. Large numbers of slaves, mostly Hausa, fled to Afonja, and he trained some of them for his army.
Afonja thus had his large town and large army. Most of his army’s commanders and soldiers were Oyo Muslims. A few of the soldiers were Muslim Hausa – all slaves recently set free by Afonja. But many of his Hausa soldiers were unruly. He warned or threatened them repeatedly, but with no result. When he at last decided to discipline them, they mutinied. Afonja was killed in the mutiny - in 1823.
Meanwhile, while Alimi had been making charms for the army, he had become a friend to many of the Oyo commanders who were Muslims, and these hadmade him Imam (Islamic teacher and preacher) for the Muslim community in the army. After Afonja›s death, the same friends gradually made their Imam the ruler of Ilorin. They also created some officers among the Hausa soldiers - for instance, Balogun Gambari. The powerful men doing all these things were Oyo.
That then is how Oyo people made a Fulani man the ruler of Ilorin. When Alimi died, his elder son, Abdulsalam, was elevated to his father’s position by his father›s powerful Oyo Muslim friends. Adulsalam had lived in the Jihad in Hausaland and had only recently come to live with his father in Ilorin. He knew that the Jihad had made the Fulani the rulers of Ilorin - with a Fulani Sultanate based in Sokoto and quasi-independent Fulani Emirs in the separate Hausa kingdoms. So, after he was made ruler of Ilorin, he sent to Hausaland to announce that he had established an Emirate in Ilorin and to ask that his Emirate should be accepted as part of the Fulani Sultanate.
In this way, Ilorin became a Fulani Emirate, ruled by a Fulani family.
Ilorin was, in population, still an Oyo town - probably over 95% Oyo in population. And Ilorin was never conquered or even invaded by any Fulani army. Those influential Oyo men who made Alimi and his son the rulers of Ilorin did so out of fervour for their Islamic faith.
When the news of the happenings in Ilorin spread all over the Oyo country, people were shocked to hear that Ilorin people had made the family of an obscure Fulani charm peddler their rulers. Therefore, people formed armies to go and subdue Ilorin and flush out the Fulani impostors. None of these invasions of Ilorin succeeded. The invading armies were poorly organized, and, moreover, the old Afonja army defending Ilorin was just too powerful. In fact, in the end, the Ilorin people, in order to ensure perfect protection for their fervently Muslim town, decided to go out and conquer most of Yorubaland (all the way to the sea coast), and make all of it a Muslim empire ruled from Ilorin.
Their army marched out in about 1838, conquering town after town towards the south, and causing mammoth streams of refugees. Till today, most Yoruba people still call this Ilorin invasion a Fulani invasion of Yorubaland. But it was not a Fulani invasion at all; it was an attempt by the predominantly Yoruba Muslim people of Ilorin to conquer and Islamize the rest of Yorubaland.
The victorious Ilorin march southwards ended suddenly in 1840. The refugees who had gathered in the Egba village of Ibadan had quickly become a large town. Their army marched out and met the Ilorin army in Oshogbo in 1840, and totally destroyed them, capturing many of their commanders. From then on, the power of Ilorin was more or less over, and Ilorin never dared again to face the Ibadan army in battle.
In the following years, Ibadan became the most powerful state in Yorubaland, and established control over the Oshun valley, Ife, Ijesa, Ekiti, Akoko, Igbomina and parts of Iyagba. Ilorin continued to be ambitious to control some territory in its immediate neighbourhood – in nearby Igbomina and Ibolo (especially Offa); but they feared Ibadan. In 1877, the Ekiti, Ijesa, Igbomina and Akoko revolted against Ibadan’s rule, and the Kiriji War started, keeping all these peoples and Ibadan busy until 1893. Ilorin took advantage of this and established some feeble control over parts of Igbomina and Ibolo.
However, at home in Ilorin itself, a proper Emirate could not develop. The powerful Yoruba war chiefs wanted to re-establish the traditional Yoruba political system whereby the chiefs in a kingdom select their king. The Emirs resisted. By 1895, the chiefs were winning the contest grandly – a situation which forced the Emir Momoh to commit suicide after setting his palace on fire. The victorious chiefs then installed Sulaiman as Emir. This was the situation when the forces of the British Royal Niger Company came and conquered Ilorin in 1897.
In the years that followed, it was the British that established Ilorin as a full-fledged emirate, making the Ilorin Emir like the Emirs of Hausaland. The Emir then took advantage of that to establish all sorts of Emirate-type control over Ibolo and northern Igbomina.
In short, Ilorin was never conquered (was never even invaded) by the Fulani. Ilorin is more than 90% Yoruba in population. The Igbomina, Ibolo, and Ekiti of Kwara, because they have hated the imposture of the Ilorin Emirs since the beginning of British rule, tend to be usually cool towards Ilorin. Rather it was the treasonable ambition of Afonja and the Yoruba Muslim converts who handed Ilorin to the Fulanis.
Today, the same group are at the forefront fighting to ensure that all Yoruba land falls to Sokoto. 13 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by sarrki(m): 7:51am On Jan 05, 2018 |
ImadeUReadThis:
Ilorin was a small town in the Oyo Empire by the beginning of the 19th century. Afonja, Baale of Ilorin, who also held the title of Are Ona Kakanfo of the Oyo Empire, rebelled against his king, the Alafin of Oyo, in 1817. (There is no space here for the reasons for his rebellion). In order to sustain his rebellion, he was desperate to build a large and powerful army. To that end, he did a number of desperate things.
First, he invited the people of nearby villages to move to Ilorin and turn Ilorin into a large town. Many people so moved, but most refused.
Secondly, he reached out to many prominent friends all over the Oyo country, and invited them to come and live in Ilorin. Some accepted his invitation and came. Among these was a rich trader named Solagberu from Kuwo. Another was a man named Alimi, a Fulani man who had long lived in the Oyo country peddling charms from town to town. Afonja employed Alimi to make charms for him and his army.
Thirdly, Afonja decided to exploit a religious situation that was causing trouble in the country at the time. A Jihad movement had started in Hausaland in the north in 1804, generating wars and stormy Islamic evangelism there. It was started and led by an immigrant people called Fulani. The Fulani immigrants were few among the large Hausa nation, but very many of the Hausa who were already Muslims sided with the Fulani – and thus made it possible for the Fulani to defeat the ancient Hausa kings and make themselves rulers over Hausaland.
Some of the violent Jihadist preachers trickled south into the Oyo country. Everywhere they came, they were causing a lot of commotion by preaching violent and disrespectful sermons against the Oyo kings and chiefs, and against Yoruba culture in general. Yoruba people, with their tradition of religious tolerance, were alarmed; and angry crowds began to attack the preachers. Afonja decided to exploit the situation by issuing a general invitation to the Muslims to flee to him in Ilorin, promising to give them protection there. Thousands of frightened Muslims fled to Ilorin, and Afonja trained many of them for his army. (Afonja himself did not intend to convert to Islam, and he never did).
Fourthly, most rich Oyo families had Hausa, Nupe and Fulani slaves - used mostly in farming, trading, livestock rearing, etc. Most were Muslims.
Afonja decided to exploit this also. He issued a proclamation saying that if any slaves ran away from their owners and came to him in Ilorin, he would give them freedom and protection there. Large numbers of slaves, mostly Hausa, fled to Afonja, and he trained some of them for his army.
Afonja thus had his large town and large army. Most of his army’s commanders and soldiers were Oyo Muslims. A few of the soldiers were Muslim Hausa – all slaves recently set free by Afonja. But many of his Hausa soldiers were unruly. He warned or threatened them repeatedly, but with no result. When he at last decided to discipline them, they mutinied. Afonja was killed in the mutiny - in 1823.
Meanwhile, while Alimi had been making charms for the army, he had become a friend to many of the Oyo commanders who were Muslims, and these hadmade him Imam (Islamic teacher and preacher) for the Muslim community in the army. After Afonja›s death, the same friends gradually made their Imam the ruler of Ilorin. They also created some officers among the Hausa soldiers - for instance, Balogun Gambari. The powerful men doing all these things were Oyo.
That then is how Oyo people made a Fulani man the ruler of Ilorin. When Alimi died, his elder son, Abdulsalam, was elevated to his father’s position by his father›s powerful Oyo Muslim friends. Adulsalam had lived in the Jihad in Hausaland and had only recently come to live with his father in Ilorin. He knew that the Jihad had made the Fulani the rulers of Ilorin - with a Fulani Sultanate based in Sokoto and quasi-independent Fulani Emirs in the separate Hausa kingdoms. So, after he was made ruler of Ilorin, he sent to Hausaland to announce that he had established an Emirate in Ilorin and to ask that his Emirate should be accepted as part of the Fulani Sultanate.
In this way, Ilorin became a Fulani Emirate, ruled by a Fulani family.
Ilorin was, in population, still an Oyo town - probably over 95% Oyo in population. And Ilorin was never conquered or even invaded by any Fulani army. Those influential Oyo men who made Alimi and his son the rulers of Ilorin did so out of fervour for their Islamic faith.
When the news of the happenings in Ilorin spread all over the Oyo country, people were shocked to hear that Ilorin people had made the family of an obscure Fulani charm peddler their rulers. Therefore, people formed armies to go and subdue Ilorin and flush out the Fulani impostors. None of these invasions of Ilorin succeeded. The invading armies were poorly organized, and, moreover, the old Afonja army defending Ilorin was just too powerful. In fact, in the end, the Ilorin people, in order to ensure perfect protection for their fervently Muslim town, decided to go out and conquer most of Yorubaland (all the way to the sea coast), and make all of it a Muslim empire ruled from Ilorin.
Their army marched out in about 1838, conquering town after town towards the south, and causing mammoth streams of refugees. Till today, most Yoruba people still call this Ilorin invasion a Fulani invasion of Yorubaland. But it was not a Fulani invasion at all; it was an attempt by the predominantly Yoruba Muslim people of Ilorin to conquer and Islamize the rest of Yorubaland.
The victorious Ilorin march southwards ended suddenly in 1840. The refugees who had gathered in the Egba village of Ibadan had quickly become a large town. Their army marched out and met the Ilorin army in Oshogbo in 1840, and totally destroyed them, capturing many of their commanders. From then on, the power of Ilorin was more or less over, and Ilorin never dared again to face the Ibadan army in battle.
In the following years, Ibadan became the most powerful state in Yorubaland, and established control over the Oshun valley, Ife, Ijesa, Ekiti, Akoko, Igbomina and parts of Iyagba. Ilorin continued to be ambitious to control some territory in its immediate neighbourhood – in nearby Igbomina and Ibolo (especially Offa); but they feared Ibadan. In 1877, the Ekiti, Ijesa, Igbomina and Akoko revolted against Ibadan’s rule, and the Kiriji War started, keeping all these peoples and Ibadan busy until 1893. Ilorin took advantage of this and established some feeble control over parts of Igbomina and Ibolo.
However, at home in Ilorin itself, a proper Emirate could not develop. The powerful Yoruba war chiefs wanted to re-establish the traditional Yoruba political system whereby the chiefs in a kingdom select their king. The Emirs resisted. By 1895, the chiefs were winning the contest grandly – a situation which forced the Emir Momoh to commit suicide after setting his palace on fire. The victorious chiefs then installed Sulaiman as Emir. This was the situation when the forces of the British Royal Niger Company came and conquered Ilorin in 1897.
In the years that followed, it was the British that established Ilorin as a full-fledged emirate, making the Ilorin Emir like the Emirs of Hausaland. The Emir then took advantage of that to establish all sorts of Emirate-type control over Ibolo and northern Igbomina.
In short, Ilorin was never conquered (was never even invaded) by the Fulani. Ilorin is more than 90% Yoruba in population. The Igbomina, Ibolo, and Ekiti of Kwara, because they have hated the imposture of the Ilorin Emirs since the beginning of British rule, tend to be usually cool towards Ilorin. Rather it was the treasonable ambition of Afonja and the Yoruba Muslim converts who handed Ilorin to the Fulanis.
Today, the same group are at the forefront fighting to ensure that all Yoruba land falls to Sokoto.
Like I know Pdp bigots are same with Igbos remnants They are all over the place We know their antics 8 Likes 5 Shares |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by ImadeUReadThis: 7:59am On Jan 05, 2018 |
sarrki:
Like I know
Pdp bigots are same with Igbos remnants
They are all over the place
We know their antics Afonja descendant 21 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by okway: 8:01am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Flat heads and their disgusting obsession with Yorubas and religion. Flat heads are very nasty people. 13 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by sarrki(m): 8:01am On Jan 05, 2018 |
ImadeUReadThis:
Afonja descendant Rather be that than Igbos that is a terrorist group 4 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by okway: 8:04am On Jan 05, 2018 |
3 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by bluke(m): 8:12am On Jan 05, 2018 |
do you want to islamise the whole south west  the ibadan pple are still there to fight you off. The write up was not detailed, you did not mention what led to dispute between Afonja and Aole, (this would give a clear picture) you did not mention lugards role in ilorin and the northern emirate. i dont eat eat half baked bread 2 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Nobody: 8:24am On Jan 05, 2018 |
ImadeUReadThis:
Ilorin was a small town in the Oyo Empire by the beginning of the 19th century. ...... ... ......
Without peer reviewed references this is nothing.  1 Like |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by ImadeUReadThis: 8:25am On Jan 05, 2018 |
TheCabal:
Without peer reviewed references this is nothing.
Do you know your history? When you have forgotten your heritage in place to bowing to sokoto. 10 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by ImadeUReadThis: 8:31am On Jan 05, 2018 |
It happened in the Middle East, Egypt and Turkey where once proud Christian populations dumped their religion and heritage and embraced Islam and from there made Arabs their rulers.
Yorubas should take note of the Yoruba Muslim problem.
It has taken a spike over the past decade with prominent Yoruba Muslims like the current Minister of Communications and Ishaq Akintola leading a radical movement on campuses through the Muslim Student Society.
There is a very clear and apparent danger in future that the Yoruba Muslim will pick up his sword to fight his fellow Yoruba non-Muslim for Sokoto.
There is a reason why almost all Yoruba Kings are Muslim.
Its just a matter of time. 12 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by EternalTruths: 8:35am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Very True & Factual. 8 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by RadicalTrump: 9:02am On Jan 05, 2018 |
ImadeUread dS u re a nightmare to Zombies nd head slammers 6 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by orisa37: 9:16am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Fair, but, we want a Ruling Family System, like in other Yorubaland, to replace the Emirate System in Ilorin. 2 Likes |
|
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by EternalTruths: 9:22am On Jan 05, 2018 |
BudeYahooCom:
Ewedu muslims are ready to kill yoruba christians for their abooki masters.
No wonder the ewedurudeens killed and raped many yoruba christians on new year's day in kwara, destroying churches and chanting Allahu akbar.
The ewedu Foools will still come around and claim IPOB is dividing them after killing themselves. 
I spit on yoruba muslims! So they attacked their brothers in Kwara this new year. Yoruba Christians are still ignoring the fact 7 Likes |
|
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by EternalTruths: 9:32am On Jan 05, 2018 |
BudeYahooCom:
The ewedu muslims killed, raped and destroyed churches of their yoruba 'brothers' in Kwara on New year eve but they are trying to hide it because of IPOB. I'm sure dirty sarrki was among them.
No wonder Bishop David Oyedepo who is originally from Kwara ran away from his state. It is finished. 5 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Guestlander: 9:32am On Jan 05, 2018 |
ImadeUReadThis:
It happened in the Middle East, Egypt and Turkey where once proud Christian populations dumped their religion and heritage and embraced Islam and from there made Arabs their rulers.
Yorubas should take note of the Yoruba Muslim problem.
It has taken a spike over the past decade with prominent Yoruba Muslims like the current Minister of Communications and Ishaq Akintola leading a radical movement on campuses through the Muslim Student Society.
There is a very clear and apparent danger in future that the Yoruba Muslim will pick up his sword to fight his fellow Yoruba non-Muslim for Sokoto.
There is a reason why almost all Yoruba Kings are Muslim.
Its just a matter of time. Yoruba does not have a Muslim problem. What we have is a bunch of unintelligent rabble rousers trying to create a problem where there's none. You lie by saying most Yoruba kings are Muslims but the point is; have you ever had a situation in Yorubaland where anyone king or not says you cannot practice your own religion? We love the religious tolerance we have in Yorubaland and we will defend that with everything at our disposal. People who think they might cause bloodshed in Yorubaland in order to achieve their secessionist agenda or for whatever motive will fail. 3 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Cooly100: 10:10am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Guestlander:
Yoruba does not have a Muslim problem. What we have is a bunch of unintelligent rabble rousers trying to create a problem where there's none.
You lie by saying most Yoruba kings are Muslims but the point is; have you ever had a situation in Yorubaland where anyone king or not says you cannot practice your own religion?
We love the religious tolerance we have in Yorubaland and we will defend that with everything at our disposal.
People who think they might cause bloodshed in Yorubaland in order to achieve their secessionist agenda or for whatever motive will fail.
Like the Afonja and now MURIC leader Ishaq, abi? 10 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by SaintNemesis(f): 10:44am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Someone shared the history of Ilorin people to educate us, what I expected of you or any other person with a contrary claim, is to go and do a research to affirm or refute this claim. But rather than do that you are calling PDP and Ipob remnants. Please take time off the internet and find peace because from all indication you are tormented somehow. Free yourself of hate, it only poisons the spirit... I will use this medium to send you a gift of love, peace and light..GOD bless and fill you with peace as you receive my gift. sarrki:
Like I know
Pdp bigots are same with Igbos remnants
They are all over the place
We know their antics 10 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by SaintNemesis(f): 10:54am On Jan 05, 2018 |
You are no better than those you abuse. Please stop the hate. Hate poisons the spirit. Those who dwell in hate are at the lowest level of consciousness. You are first a human before you are a Christian or Muslim. Even Jesus Christ taught you to pray for those who persecute you. Love is the only true religion, Love sees everyone as an extension of yourself. GOD is love, learn to be more GODly.. BudeYahooCom:
Ewedu muslims are ready to kill yoruba christians for their abooki masters.
No wonder the ewedurudeens killed and raped many yoruba christians on new year's day in kwara, destroying churches and chanting Allahu akbar.
The ewedu Foools will still come around and claim IPOB is dividing them after killing themselves.
I spit on yoruba muslims! 2 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by BudeYahooCom: 10:58am On Jan 05, 2018 |
SaintNemesis:
You are no better than those you abuse. Please stop the hate. Hate poisons the spirit. Those who dwell in hate are at the lowest level of consciousness. You are first a human before you are a Christian or Muslim. Even Jesus Christ taught you to pray for those who persecute you. Love is the only true religion, Love sees everyone as an extension of yourself. GOD is love, learn to be more GODly.. Concentrate on preaching to the hateful ewedu muslim scumbags. I'm only reactionary to their bilefest on the Biafran nation. 8 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by BolaAdeyemo: 11:52am On Jan 05, 2018 |
Most people think that we Yorubas do not have Religious Issues but we do,I am a Christian and I have many Muslim Relatives,the hatred these Muslim harbour against us Christians is Humongous but our people like to cover it up and act like all is well
Take the case of that Phooking Muric president Ishaq something as a case Study,with the way he is Reacting to Every News more the Emir is Quite Alarming, Somebody like that can wipe out We Yoruba Christians just to get a pat on the back from Northerners
WE YORUBA CHRISTIANS should be careful 9 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Nobody: 12:22pm On Jan 05, 2018 |
ImadeUReadThis:
Do you know your history?
When you have forgotten your heritage in place to bowing to sokoto.
where are your references?  |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Nobody: 12:48pm On Jan 05, 2018 |
Our muslims brothers is what the north will use to destroy our land.
We yoruba christians need to act now before is to late 7 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Konquest: 12:48am On Mar 26, 2018 |
ImadeUReadThis:
Ilorin was a small town in the Oyo Empire by the beginning of the 19th century. Afonja, Baale of Ilorin, who also held the title of Are Ona Kakanfo of the Oyo Empire, rebelled against his king, the Alafin of Oyo, in 1817. (There is no space here for the reasons for his rebellion). In order to sustain his rebellion, he was desperate to build a large and powerful army. To that end, he did a number of desperate things.
First, he invited the people of nearby villages to move to Ilorin and turn Ilorin into a large town. Many people so moved, but most refused.
Secondly, he reached out to many prominent friends all over the Oyo country, and invited them to come and live in Ilorin. Some accepted his invitation and came. Among these was a rich trader named Solagberu from Kuwo. Another was a man named Alimi, a Fulani man who had long lived in the Oyo country peddling charms from town to town. Afonja employed Alimi to make charms for him and his army.
Thirdly, Afonja decided to exploit a religious situation that was causing trouble in the country at the time. A Jihad movement had started in Hausaland in the north in 1804, generating wars and stormy Islamic evangelism there. It was started and led by an immigrant people called Fulani. The Fulani immigrants were few among the large Hausa nation, but very many of the Hausa who were already Muslims sided with the Fulani – and thus made it possible for the Fulani to defeat the ancient Hausa kings and make themselves rulers over Hausaland.
Some of the violent Jihadist preachers trickled south into the Oyo country. Everywhere they came, they were causing a lot of commotion by preaching violent and disrespectful sermons against the Oyo kings and chiefs, and against Yoruba culture in general. Yoruba people, with their tradition of religious tolerance, were alarmed; and angry crowds began to attack the preachers. Afonja decided to exploit the situation by issuing a general invitation to the Muslims to flee to him in Ilorin, promising to give them protection there. Thousands of frightened Muslims fled to Ilorin, and Afonja trained many of them for his army. (Afonja himself did not intend to convert to Islam, and he never did).
Fourthly, most rich Oyo families had Hausa, Nupe and Fulani slaves - used mostly in farming, trading, livestock rearing, etc. Most were Muslims.
Afonja decided to exploit this also. He issued a proclamation saying that if any slaves ran away from their owners and came to him in Ilorin, he would give them freedom and protection there. Large numbers of slaves, mostly Hausa, fled to Afonja, and he trained some of them for his army.
Afonja thus had his large town and large army. Most of his army’s commanders and soldiers were Oyo Muslims. A few of the soldiers were Muslim Hausa – all slaves recently set free by Afonja. But many of his Hausa soldiers were unruly. He warned or threatened them repeatedly, but with no result. When he at last decided to discipline them, they mutinied. Afonja was killed in the mutiny - in 1823.
Meanwhile, while Alimi had been making charms for the army, he had become a friend to many of the Oyo commanders who were Muslims, and these hadmade him Imam (Islamic teacher and preacher) for the Muslim community in the army. After Afonja›s death, the same friends gradually made their Imam the ruler of Ilorin. They also created some officers among the Hausa soldiers - for instance, Balogun Gambari. The powerful men doing all these things were Oyo.
That then is how Oyo people made a Fulani man the ruler of Ilorin. When Alimi died, his elder son, Abdulsalam, was elevated to his father’s position by his father›s powerful Oyo Muslim friends. Adulsalam had lived in the Jihad in Hausaland and had only recently come to live with his father in Ilorin. He knew that the Jihad had made the Fulani the rulers of Ilorin - with a Fulani Sultanate based in Sokoto and quasi-independent Fulani Emirs in the separate Hausa kingdoms. So, after he was made ruler of Ilorin, he sent to Hausaland to announce that he had established an Emirate in Ilorin and to ask that his Emirate should be accepted as part of the Fulani Sultanate.
In this way, Ilorin became a Fulani Emirate, ruled by a Fulani family.
Ilorin was, in population, still an Oyo town - probably over 95% Oyo in population. And Ilorin was never conquered or even invaded by any Fulani army. Those influential Oyo men who made Alimi and his son the rulers of Ilorin did so out of fervour for their Islamic faith.
When the news of the happenings in Ilorin spread all over the Oyo country, people were shocked to hear that Ilorin people had made the family of an obscure Fulani charm peddler their rulers. Therefore, people formed armies to go and subdue Ilorin and flush out the Fulani impostors. None of these invasions of Ilorin succeeded. The invading armies were poorly organized, and, moreover, the old Afonja army defending Ilorin was just too powerful. In fact, in the end, the Ilorin people, in order to ensure perfect protection for their fervently Muslim town, decided to go out and conquer most of Yorubaland (all the way to the sea coast), and make all of it a Muslim empire ruled from Ilorin.
Their army marched out in about 1838, conquering town after town towards the south, and causing mammoth streams of refugees. Till today, most Yoruba people still call this Ilorin invasion a Fulani invasion of Yorubaland. But it was not a Fulani invasion at all; it was an attempt by the predominantly Yoruba Muslim people of Ilorin to conquer and Islamize the rest of Yorubaland.
The victorious Ilorin march southwards ended suddenly in 1840. The refugees who had gathered in the Egba village of Ibadan had quickly become a large town. Their army marched out and met the Ilorin army in Oshogbo in 1840, and totally destroyed them, capturing many of their commanders. From then on, the power of Ilorin was more or less over, and Ilorin never dared again to face the Ibadan army in battle.
In the following years, Ibadan became the most powerful state in Yorubaland, and established control over the Oshun valley, Ife, Ijesa, Ekiti, Akoko, Igbomina and parts of Iyagba. Ilorin continued to be ambitious to control some territory in its immediate neighbourhood – in nearby Igbomina and Ibolo (especially Offa); but they feared Ibadan. In 1877, the Ekiti, Ijesa, Igbomina and Akoko revolted against Ibadan’s rule, and the Kiriji War started, keeping all these peoples and Ibadan busy until 1893. Ilorin took advantage of this and established some feeble control over parts of Igbomina and Ibolo.
However, at home in Ilorin itself, a proper Emirate could not develop. The powerful Yoruba war chiefs wanted to re-establish the traditional Yoruba political system whereby the chiefs in a kingdom select their king. The Emirs resisted. By 1895, the chiefs were winning the contest grandly – a situation which forced the Emir Momoh to commit suicide after setting his palace on fire. The victorious chiefs then installed Sulaiman as Emir. This was the situation when the forces of the British Royal Niger Company came and conquered Ilorin in 1897.
In the years that followed, it was the British that established Ilorin as a full-fledged emirate, making the Ilorin Emir like the Emirs of Hausaland. The Emir then took advantage of that to establish all sorts of Emirate-type control over Ibolo and northern Igbomina.
In short, Ilorin was never conquered (was never even invaded) by the Fulani. Ilorin is more than 90% Yoruba in population. The Igbomina, Ibolo, and Ekiti of Kwara, because they have hated the imposture of the Ilorin Emirs since the beginning of British rule, tend to be usually cool towards Ilorin. Rather it was the treasonable ambition of Afonja and the Yoruba Muslim converts who handed Ilorin to the Fulanis.
Today, the same group are at the forefront fighting to ensure that all Yoruba land falls to Sokoto.
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| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Konquest: 12:51am On Mar 26, 2018 |
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| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by ImadeUReadThis: 8:58am On Nov 25, 2018 |
[s] Guestlander:
Yoruba does not have a Muslim problem. What we have is a bunch of unintelligent rabble rousers trying to create a problem where there's none.
You lie by saying most Yoruba kings are Muslims but the point is; have you ever had a situation in Yorubaland where anyone king or not says you cannot practice your own religion?
We love the religious tolerance we have in Yorubaland and we will defend that with everything at our disposal.
People who think they might cause bloodshed in Yorubaland in order to achieve their secessionist agenda or for whatever motive will fail.
[/s] What just happened at that Ibadan Secondary school with Yoruba Muslims demnding their wards wear hijab 3 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by SluttanSlayer: 11:47am On Jun 25, 2019 |
Bump |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Akiara: 12:08pm On Jun 25, 2019 |
2 Likes |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by AfonjaConehead: 12:17pm On Jun 25, 2019 |
"AFONJA,Baale of Ilorin''.... BAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAA......... Ben Johnson.. BUHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.... |
| Re: How Yoruba Muslims Sacked Old Oyo And Will Do Same For All Odua by Cajal(m): 12:26pm On Jun 25, 2019 |
ImadeUReadThis:
It happened in the Middle East, Egypt and Turkey where once proud Christian populations dumped their religion and heritage and embraced Islam and from there made Arabs their rulers.
Yorubas should take note of the Yoruba Muslim problem.
It has taken a spike over the past decade with prominent Yoruba Muslims like the current Minister of Communications and Ishaq Akintola leading a radical movement on campuses through the Muslim Student Society.
There is a very clear and apparent danger in future that the Yoruba Muslim will pick up his sword to fight his fellow Yoruba non-Muslim for Sokoto.
There is a reason why almost all Yoruba Kings are Muslim
Its just a matter of time. u and religion bigotry Devote ur time and energy for what will benefit u and ur people This is no other things other than fanaticism God go save u Why are u attempting to think for God Almighty If u are truly a believer ..pray for God Almighty to take control The south west are the most tolerant in terms of religion.. But unfortunately the same cannot be said of the Nndigbos and Hausa -fulanis Proudly Afonja |
