The Afonja Syndrome

At the start of the 19th Century, Ilorin was a border town North-East of the Oyo Empire with mainly Yoruba population and an immigrant population described as comprised of “Hausa-Fulani or slaves” (Wikipedia). The town was the headquarters of a powerful Oyo general, Afonja who rebelled against the Alafin of Oyo and helped to bring about the collapse of the Oyo Empire. Afonja was assisted by Salih Janta (aka Alimi) a Fulani immigrant and Islamic scholar who settled in Ilorin under Afonja’s auspices. In 1824, Afonja was assassinated and Alimi’s son, Abdusalami became Emir of Ilorin. Under the Emir, Ilorin continued to seek Southward expansion as a de facto part of the Sokoto Caliphate but was halted by the growing power of Ibadan.

An article in Vanguard of October 22, 2000 (and online on www.ilorin.info) and numerous history books provide more detail. Afonja was Are Ona Kakanfo (generalissimo) to the Alafin of Oyo Empire and Ilorin was a military outpost from where the Oyo army carried out expeditions on behalf of Alafin. It was Oyo (indeed perhaps Yoruba) tradition to keep its military on the frontiers both to defend the mainland and to prevent a coup against the King. Alimi travelled to Ilorin as a nomad and became a spiritual/political adviser to Afonja (and later teacher to Afonja’s children!) and encouraged his rebellion against Oyo leading to Afonja’s betrayal of, and secession from Oyo to form what he hoped would be his independent kingdom!

Afonja may have acted differently if he had studied and applied insights from recent history! He might have deduced useful learnings from the destruction of the Hausa kingdoms!!! As Professor Larry Diamond of Stanford University wrote in “Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria: The Failure of the First Republic”, “…the Fulani, as they conquered the Hausa, (first gradually through infiltration over centuries, then decisively in an Islamic holy war (jihad) beginning in 1804)…closely related to the Hausa-Fulani are the Nupe, whom the Fulani also conquered…” H. A. S Johnston in “The Fulani Empire of Sokoto” wrote in Chapter 13 on “The Jihad in Nupe and Ilorin” that “there are many similarities between the processes by which the Fulani established their power in Nupe and those which led to the creation of the Ilorin Emirate. The only important difference is that the Nupes, being much less numerous than the Yorubas were completely absorbed into the Empire whereas in Ilorin the Fulanis succeeded in detaching and assimilating only one of the many states of Yorubaland”. If Afonja was familiar with Fulani political and military strategy, perhaps he may not have been doomed to become a victim thereof!

Upon Afonja’s assassination, Alimi’s son Abdusalami became Emir of Ilorin with military support from his Fulani kinsmen thus commencing since 1824 Fulani ruler-ship of Ilorin. By 1895, the Ilorin Yoruba indigenes had had enough-they revolted, rose against the incumbent Emir burnt his palace and killed him. The Fulani dynasty in Ilorin was in trouble, but was rescued by the British colonial administration (while the British were our imperial masters at that time, the global overlord today is America!!!) which re-instated de facto Fulani colonization of the town.

The elements of this tragedy are familiar! A powerful Yoruba “general” impelled by large ambitions turns his back on the collective and looks Northward to realise personal designs for power and territory; his Macbethian instincts are exploited by cunning Fulani political/religious expansionists who come as ally, but turn out to be the general’s nemesis-at the point the ambitious general hopes to celebrate his new kingdom, he loses his life and his ally’s descendants inherit the throne. Religion and piety are in the mix as Alimi clothed his strategy of infiltration and conquest in the garb of Islamic spiritual counsellor and political adviser. It was too late before Afonja and his court realized their foolishness! Having handed his “household” and “children” over to Alimi and later his son Abdusalami to teach, his descendants are brainwashed and dominated and they become a new underclass while erstwhile immigrants became their overlords. The excessive ambitions of the “clever” general result in a calamity of generational proportions for his people!

There must have been some intelligent people in Afonja’s Ilorin-friends, co-generals, chiefs, relatives, family members or the town’s intelligentsia-who may have wondered about the risks involved in Afonja’s strategy, but they kept quiet hoping their leader knew what he was doing! Some may have kept quiet out of ignorance, fear, naivety, greed or expediency; others may have hoped to become “ministers” in Afonja’s new “government”; while some just wanted to keep the privileges and patronage they enjoyed; some were mere sycophants typically found in any powerful man’s court; others may have been taken in by Alimi’s disguise; several may have been traders or businessmen who traded with Afonja or Alimi and wished to preserve their commercial license; most simply didn’t read the history books!!! Some just did not want to be unpopular in the anti-Oyo distemper of the times! Whatever their motivations, as his tragic death and the contemporary condition of the Ilorin people vividly illustrates, Afonja was blinded by power and ambition and did not know what he was doing!!!

Afonja’s rebellion at Oyo Empire’s northern frontier contributed to the collapse of that great and flourishing ancient empire, but unlike its 19th century equivalent, contemporary Yorubaland’s power and riches resides on the Southern coast!