By Adewale Adeoye
Today Monday September 23 marks anniversary of the end of the Yoruba civil war.
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It ended on September 23, 1886 after more than 16 years of fierce battle fought day and night, on the ground and in the water, on the high and low places, on mountains, valleys and plain fields.
In the afternoon of September 23, the warring sides, Ibadan and Ekiti Parapo signed a truce in Lagos.
One man stood out in this whole campaign for peace on the path of war trodden.
His name was Ogedengbe.
He was a man of principle who devoted his lifetime to military exploits, war tactics, the procurement of arms, the design of war weapons and also the diligent pursuit of beautiful women.
Ogedengbe was said to be a tall, handsome man with the eyes of an owl, shifting from one corner to the other and the sight of which awed his foes and friends alike.
Ogedengbe had earlier enlisted in the Ibadan military academy in 1800s where he had years of training as a young Ijesa boy who loved and sought adventures.
He had his training in military intelligence, decoy, military spirituality, infantry and the art of unarmed combat.
Fate was to place a huge responsibility on him in later years.
When the Kiriji war started, Ekiti had no standing army and was expected to face a large and organized Ibadan military machine, perhaps one of the best ever seen in Africa with about 150,000 soldiers, a prosperous economy, a sound experience of warfare backed with a retinue of military weapons including those imported from Europe. Ibadan was so sophisticated that the British had to delay incursion to the Yorubaland for fear of defeat and even humiliation.
KIRIJI
The fist battle was disastrous for Ekiti. The people nicknamed the battle “Ogun Jalumi” what the English would call the Battle of Waterloo. Ekiti had little experience in naval war and her soldiers ended up beaten and destroyed by Ibadan naval platoons.
Ekiti had to reorganise. The Fabunmi, probably in the rank of a Brigadier and Faboro, probably of the rank of a Brigadier held series of meetings and made plans. But Ibadan was too gracious in battle and dreadful in retreat.
This prompted Ekiti to write a letter to Ogedengbe to come and lead the battle.
Ogedengbe’s own grandson told me in his Ilesa palace recently that the letter was written on a stretch of sand placed on a thick animal skin and planted at the back of a horse. He said immediately Ogedengbe saw the letter, he read it and was troubled. It meant he had to lead his own people against Ibadan who had given him all the military training.
The first recruitment drive saw 10,000 Ekiti enlisted within months. The first Military High Command meeting was held at Otun-Ekiti in the palace of Oore. Oore presided over the meeting of the Generals.
The Ekiti were trained in covert camps. The military intelligence headquarters was located at Ilara-Mokin. Experts were sought under General Ogedengbe who organised the training of the soldiers with emphasis on discipline, swift and desicive actions. Ogedengbe first considered Guerilla tactics but after weighing the options, chose conventional confrontation.
The second battle saw Ekiti infantry soldiers dealing a deadly blow to Ibadan. Ekiti had also hurriedly organized a naval force which was absent initially.
Ogedengbe took full charge of the military command, teaching young men in war tactics, decoy, ambush and night attacks.
The soldiers were camped in different parts of Yorubaland, hills and valleys. They were thought about which plants they could eat at the front in the absence of food and which plants could be used for medicine. The study of animals was part of the military training for it was through the movement and composure of some animals that military tactics were derived:
The sudden silent of crickets, an indication that the enemy was nearby;
The vigorous race of antelops and sudden strides, an indication that the enemy was still far away;
When the buffaloes run with head downcast, the enemy is far and encamping;
When a bevy of birds fly in zig zag direction, the enemy is on a deadly mission
When the birds fly low and then suddenly rise in a wave upwards, the enemy is heavily armed
The sudden surge of a cobra an indication that the enemy is far away, the riotous surge and crying of monkeys, an indication that the enemy is in large numbers.
Ogedengbe became the physical and the spiritual head of the war; he fought with discipline and the diligence of a surgeon.
Though with a smaller army compared with Ibadan, he was nevertheless provided a ferocious fighting force that became dreadful for the Ibadan soldiers.
There were reports that Ogedengbe war exploits took him to Benin city, Dahomey and Ghana where he provided military training for locals.
Each city he beheld, he had a bevy of ladies to the extent that across West Africa, the number of his children remain unknow.
But Chief Ogedengbe, son if the legend, told me there were 24 of his children that enlisted in the Nigerian Army. He was also one of them.
At the pick of his career, the Queen of England invited him for a State visit which he declined on the excuse that he was busy with state matters. The King of England then sent his picture frame a copy of which I saw the last time I visited Ogedengbe at Ilesa.
I saw some of the weapons imported by Ogedengbe from Hambourg in Western Germany. Unfortunately many of the weapons of war were taken away by Bababangida to what they called “National Museum” including Ogedengbe’s military uniforms and many locally manufactured.
There were reports that a certain ballistic expert from Okemesi manufactured bombs and lethal weapons during the war.
At Ilesa, I saw the military cell built by Ogedengbe where he kept court-martialled military commanders; I also say his grave.
Little has been done to bring out the thick and thin of the Ekiti Parapo war, there are still many grounds uncovered.
For instance there is no finality as to the cause of the war.
While some argue that it was largely due to the belligerence of Ibadan soldiers, few had taken the time to probe beyond the surface. In my encounter with the great grandson of General Latoosa who led the Ibadan Army, his account was that a Yoruba Are Onkakanfo had consulted the Ifa oracle on the future of Yoruba Nation around 1790.
He said the Ifa oracle had told the custodians of the Yoruba nation that a certain group of “Afin”, Albino were coming to take Yoruba land by force. The albino should be understood to mean white people.
He said on this note, the soldiers that dominated Ibadan in later years, reviewed that was foretold years back, and decided to launch a campaign to build a formidable pan Yoruba Army to resist the invaders.
This he admitted was not done with informed consultation with the other Yoruba confederation. What ever is the case,certain facts are obvious:
· Only a great nation could have fought such a long-lasting war.
· The war was fought without borrowing and without malnutrition of the people.
· There were no reports of women and children killed on both sides, no famine, no IDPs, a delighful act of civilisation
· Both sides even organized moments of cease-fires
· Peace will always come at the end of war.
…The taking over of Yorubaland by the British would have been avoided if the Yoruba were united with its army of over 500,000 if put together. The British take over was enhanced by lack of unity, lack of wisdom in locating the lowest common factor of public needs, recalcitrant and belligerent leaders, driven by hate and lack of deep knowledge in placing public interests beyond that of the individual and above all undue focus on fighting themselves instead of fighting the common enemy-These factors remain till date.
Ogedengbe, agbogungboro, ajikan kan lojuogun– Rest in eternal peace.
