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Oral Traditions and the Political History of Oka-Akoko*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Ayodeji Olukoju
Ayodeji Olukoju*
Affiliation:
University of Lagos
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Extract

A dominant trend in Nigerian historiography since the 1970s has been the preoccupation with writing history “from the national perspective.” This appears to be Nigerian historians' attempts to be “relevant” to current efforts at nation-building. “National history,” the object of such endeavors, has been defined by the frontline historian J. F. Ade Ajayi as “a study of the main developments in the whole Nigerian region, and among all the peoples and cultures, as perceived from the perspective of national significance and relevance, and only illustrated from the histories of individual groups and polities.”

While such efforts at writing what amounts to macrohistory are commendable, emphasis on themes of “national significance and relevance” could result in overgeneralization or the deletion of vital details. This likelihood then justifies the writing of microhistory to give macrohistory a sound factual or empirical basis. The need for microhistory has been stressed by a distinguished historian:

the study of microhistory, the study of the histories of the various communities that make up Nigeria is very essential. We need these studies to give us a complete picture of [the] precolonial period of our history. Once we have that as the foundation, the structure we are building, the Nigerian nation, will stand on firm knowledge.… We either know the historical antecedents of the various Nigerian communities and build a virile nation on that knowledge or we continue to run from one crisis to another.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 20 , 1993 , pp. 249 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1993

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Footnotes

*

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my informants, many of whom have died.

References

Notes

1. The Historical Society of Nigeria organized a Workshop on the Teaching of Nigerian History from a National Perspective at the University of Lagos in February 1986.

2. J. F. Ade Ajayi, “Towards a National History of Nigeria,” keynote address delivered at the 1986 Workshop, 1.

3. I.A. Akinjogbin, “Microhistory in the Service of National Development,” keynote address delivered at the opening ceremony of the National Conference of Badagry History and Culture, Badagry, 5-7 February 1990, 3.

4. The major studies on the northeast Yoruba include Akintoye, S. A., “The North Eastern Yoruba Districts and the Benin Kingdom,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria (hereafter JHSN) 4/2 (1969): 539–53Google Scholar; idem, Revolution and Power Politics in Eastern Yorubaland, 1840-1893: Ibadan Expansion and the Rise of the Ekiti Parapo (London, 1971); Obayemi, Ade, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples and their Neighbours Before 1600” in Ajayi, J. F. Ade and Crowder, M., eds., History of West Africa I (2d ed.: London, 1976), 196–263Google Scholar; idem., “The Sokoto Jihad and the ‘O-Kun’ Yoruba: A Review,” JHSN 9/2 (1978): 61-87.

5. For an account of the military history of this community see Olukoju, Ayodeji, “The Siege of Oka, 1878-84: A Study in the Resistance to Nupe Militarism in Northeast Yorubaland” in Falola, T., ed., Warfare, Diplomacy, and Society in Nigeria (Madison, 1992).Google Scholar

6. See Akintoye, “Yoruba Districts.”

7. Mason, Michael, “The Jihad in die South: An Outline of the Nineteenth Century Nupe Hegemony in Northeastern Yorubaland and Afenmai,” JHSN, 5/2 (1970): 193–210.Google Scholar

8. Akomolafe, C. O., “Akoko Under Colonial Rule, 1900-1935,” (M. Phil., University of Ife, 1976)Google Scholar; idem., “The District Head System in Akoko, 1914-1935,” Odù n.s., 18 (1978): 27-44; and idem., “The Establishment of British Administration and its Impact on Owo-Akoko relations,” JHSN 10/1 (December 1979): 65-85.

9. Akintoye, , Revolution and Power Politics, 5.Google Scholar

10. Akintoye, , “Yoruba Districts,” 543.Google Scholar

11. National Archives, Ibadan (NAI), CSO 26 29667 vol. 1 (1934), “Intelligence Report on Akoko District” (by J. H. Beeley), 8.

12. NAI Ondo Prof. 3/1 Annual Report on Ondo Province, 1929 (by E. M. B. Bewley), 14.

13. See Asiwaju, A. I., “Political Motivation and Oral Historical Traditions in Africa: The Case of Yoruba Crowns, 1900-1960,” Africa 46 (1976): 113–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. Awe, Bolanle, “Praise Poems as Historical Data: The Example of the Yoruba Oriki,” Africa 44 (1974): 333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15. Biobaku, S. O., “The Problem of Traditional History with Special Reference to Yoruba Traditions,” JHSN 1 (1956), 43.Google Scholar

16. This subject is discussed in the last section of this paper.

17. Elder Johny Omosola, interviewed at Ewu-Ikanmu, Oka, 14 September 1979.

18. Adewumi, R. Duro, “Succession to Obaship among Oka-Yoruba: A Case Study in Political Conflict” (B.Sc. Original essay, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, June 1977), 12–13.Google Scholar

19. Interviews: the late Prince Joseph Rotoye Orimolade, Ibaka-Oka, 12 September 1979; the late Chief Asemoloye, Chief of Iboje Quarter, 20 September 1979, and Elder J. T. S. Ogidan, Ikese-Oka, 3 September 1979.

20. Interview: The late Louis “Dongo” Adodo, Iwonrin-Oka, 19 September 1979.

21. Interviews: Asara Anota and other elders at Idofin-Oka, 22 September 1979.

22. J. T. S. Ogidan, interview cited.

23. Interviews: J. T. S. Ogidan, Asare Anota, and Louis Adodo, already cited. Also, Pa. Ogunjobi, Iwonrin-Oka, 19 September 1979; the late John Daodu, opan of Iroho-Okia, and four others, 20 September 1979; and Okunola Aminu, the opan of Igede-Okia (and other elders), 20 September 1979. The sheer geographical spread of these informants, who had no opportunity to compare notes or influence one another, gives this tradition credibility.

24. The late Prince Rotoye Orimolade, interview cited.

25. Interview: The late Prince J. A. Ilegbusi, Ibaka, 11 September 1979; Prince Orimolade and Chief Asemoloye, interviews cited; and Elder Amuda Awoyemi, Owaase-Oka, 27 September 1979.

26. In the interviews conducted in 1979 the tradition was echoed by only two informants outside the Obaka chiefdom.

27. Agiri, B. A., “When was Ogbomoso Founded? An Analysis of the Traditions of Origin of an Oyo-Yoruba Town with Special Reference to Problems of Chronology and Feedback,” Transafrican Journal of History 5 (1976), 39.Google Scholar

28. Adewumi, , “Succession,” 12.Google Scholar

29. Ondo State Government of Nigeria, Ogunleye Judicial Commission of Inquiry: Record of Daily Proceedings, Second Sitting, Akure, 16 August, 1979, 13.Google Scholar

30. Adewumi, , “Succession,” 40–49.Google Scholar

31. J. T. S. Ogidan, interview cited.

32. Interviews: the late Thomas Akerele (and others) Iroho-Okia, 20 September 1979.

33. Interviews: the late L. O. Omojola, Agba-Oka, 13 September 1979; the late J. I. Omosola, Ewu-Ikanmu, 17 September 1979; Amuda Awoyemi and Johny Omosola, already cited.

34. Oka traditions collected in 1979 as corroborated by Asabia, D. O. and Adegbesan, J. O., Idoani Past and Present: The Story of One Yoruba Kingdom (Ibadan, 1979), 17.Google Scholar

35. This calculation is based on the suggestion in Alagoa, E. J., “Dating Oral Tradition,” African Notes 4/1 (October 1966): 6–9.Google Scholar

36. Chief I. A. Olukoju, “Oka” (mimeo, n.d.), 5.

37. This discussion and conclusions in this section are based on the analysis of traditions and other sources of information. See Beeley, “Intelligence Report” and Olukoju, Ayodeji O., “A History of Local Government in Akokoland, c. 1900-1962: a Study in Political Integration and Change” (M.A., University of Ibadan, 1982), xxii–xxvi.Google Scholar

38. L. O. Omojola, interview cited.

39. Olukoju, “Oka,” 3.

40. For details see Olukoju, “Siege.”

41. But one informant, J. T. S. Ogidan, contended that it was the Balogun of Ikese who sojourned at Ikare and had seen the elaborate preparations being made to welcome the British and who dashed home to advise his people to submit to and welcome the British. Considering the prestige enjoyed by the Balogun as the overall commander of Oka warriors, this explanation cannot be discounted completely.

42. Adewumi, , “Succession,” 41–44.Google Scholar

43. See Ajayi, J. F. A. and Smith, R. S., Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 1964)Google Scholar; Akintoye, Revolution and Power Politics; and Toyin Falola and Dare Oguntomisin, The Military in Nineteenth-Century Yoruba Politics (Ile-Ife, 1984).Google Scholar

44. For ‘pagan’ administration see Dorward, D. C., “The Development of the British Colonial Administration Among the Tiv,” African Affairs 68 (1969): 316–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45. Louis Adodo, interview cited. A slightly different version was provided by J. T. S. Ogidan, who asserted that Orimolade was chosen because the British could not find “a recognized chief to deal with.

46. Yakubu Braimoh of Ikese-Oka, interviewed in Lagos, March 1991. This could be an allusion to the widely-held view that the Ibaka are crafty tacticians who seek to turn every situation to their own advantage.

47. National Archives, Kaduna (NAK), LOKOPROF Acc 21, Annual Report Kabba Province, Report 76 for Quarter ending 31 December 1914 (by D. Cator).

48. NAK Kabba Provincial Report No. 11 for year ending 31 December 1914, para 22.

49. NAK LOKOPROF Acc 26, Half Yearly Report, Kabba Division 30 June 1918 (by R. Sydney Smith), para. 33.

50. Adewumi, , “Succession,” 43.Google Scholar

51. Elphinstone, K. V., Gazetteer of Ilorin Province (London, 1921), 61.Google Scholar

52. NAK LOKOPROF Acc 26, Annual Report 1918, para 19.

53. Ibid., para. 10.

54. See NAI Ondo Prof 4/1 “Annual Report Owo Division, 1920-21,” where the Olubaka of Oka was reported as using the courts “as a means of disposing summarily of his political enemies.” Colonial officials acknowledged that Akoko chiefs often dealt with their opponents by convicting them on trumped-up charges. See also Olukoju, “Local Government,” chapter 2.

55. NAK SNP 6/3 137/1908 “Record of telephone conversation between the Resident and the Governor,” cited in Ikime, Obaro, “The British in Bauchi, 1901-1908: An Episode in the British Occupation and Control of Northern Nigeria,” JHSN 7/2 (1974); 287.Google Scholar

56. NAK LOKOPROF ACC 25, Annual Report on Kabba, 1918, para 17.

57. It is significant that an Ogban (block) continues to be named after the Asin and not the Olubaka. This is Sim, which is also known as Ogban Asin.

58. NAK LOKOPROF Acc 26, Half Yearly Report, Kabba Division, June 1918, para 33.

59. Ibid.

60. This practice survived into the present century.

61. NAI Owo Div 13/3, Intelligence Record Book (n.d. [1930s?]), 1.