The Ọ̀yọ́ war commander whose revolt broke the empire, the Fulani scholar whose community he armed, and how Ìlọrin passed from a Yoruba town under a Yoruba general to an emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Àfọ̀njá na Àrẹ̀ Ọ̀nà Kakanfò, di field commander of di Ọ̀yọ́ provincial army, and na him lead di mutiny wey end Aláàfin Awólẹ̀'s reign and scatter di unity of di empire together with am. Afta dat, e make Ìlọrin, wey be im own base, stand on im own, and to fit hold am, e give arms and shelter to Muslim pipo and enslaved Hausa pipo wey dey run commot from Ọ̀yọ́ households. Inside ten years, dat same force come kill am and Ìlọrin come turn to emirate under di Sokoto Caliphate, under di pikin-pikin of di Fulani scholar wey e invite come. Dis sequence of events na di turning point for nineteenth-century Yoruba history, and na im also make Yoruba history writing get plenty hot argument pass, because Ọ̀yọ́ tradition dey remember Àfọ̀njá as di man wey destroy di country, while for oda ways wey dem take view am, dem see am as rebel wey stand against king wey try to kill am.
Di Kakanfò na di supreme field commander of di Ọ̀yọ́ army, position wey person wey no be royal family dey hold, and as tradition take be, di person must stay outside di capital. Dem expect di person wey hold am to win or die: tradition put am say di person no must return if e lose battle. To put military power for hand of provincial figure wey no fit become king and wey no dey stay under di Aláàfin eye work well as long as di centre still strong. Wen di centre come weak, na im bring out di exact crisis of 1796. Johnson list di pipo wey hold di title and note say Látóòsà of Ìbàdàn na di last person to hold am for di nineteenth-century sequence .
Dem give Àfọ̀njá's dates as roughly around 1750s reach somewhere between 1813 and 1824, and di date wey e die get real disagreement inside di sources; look below. E come from di lineage wey hold di Yoruba bàálẹ̀-ship for Ìlọrin: na im great-grandfather Laderin dem believe say found di town, followed by Pasin, wey Bàṣọ̀run Gàhá drive go exile and kill, den Alugbin, and den Àfọ̀njá . Dat inheritance dey important, because Ìlọrin na im own town before e come turn im military base.
E drag di Ọ̀yọ́ throne against Awólẹ̀ for 1789 and lose with small margin, and afta dat dem make am Kakanfò; one account tok say e demand and take di title afta di death of Ọ̀yábí, di Kakanfò wey help Abíọ́dún destroy Gàhá . Di relationship with Awólẹ̀ don spoil from di start.
Di final break happen, according to Johnson account, wen Awólẹ̀ command di army make dem attack Ìwẹ̀rẹ̀, command wey di chiefs see say dem plan am to destroy dem, since di town get reputation say nobody fit conquer am and e still dey connected to one former Aláàfin maternal line . Àfọ̀njá, wey join hand with Bàṣọ̀run Àṣàmú and di Ọ̀wọ̀ta of Ọ̀yọ́, turn di army against di royal group, surround di capital, and send di empty covered calabash wey, according to custom and constitution, mean say di king must die . Awólẹ̀ place im curse and take poison, and Àfọ̀njá na one of di pipo wey di curse mention specifically.
Àfọ̀njá come hold Ìlọrin as independent power and oda provinces follow suit, wey be di point wen di empire stop to dey function as one single state.
To fit hold Ìlọrin against Ọ̀yọ́, Àfọ̀njá need manpower wey e no get, and e find am wen e open di town door. E offer freedom and protection give Muslims and enslaved pipo wey dey face persecution for Ọ̀yọ́ country if dem come Ìlọrin . For practice, dis one mean Hausa pipo wey dey inside slavery for Ọ̀yọ́ households, wey many of dem be Muslim, wey come get place to run go and commander wey go give dem weapons. Di military reason clear and di social consequence clear too: e create armed group inside Ìlọrin wey get dia own religious identity and zero loyalty to Ọ̀yọ́ institutions.
E invite Ṣẹ́hù Àlímì make e be dia religious leader, wey im name also dey appear as Shaykh Sálih and Salih Janta, one Fulani Islamic scholar wey don dey preach for Ọ̀yọ́ country and face opposition for there . Àlímì come Ìlọrin with im followers and im own household, and Johnson account and di Ìlọrin accounts agree say di way e take enter town change di balance of power for di town. Along with am, Àfọ̀njá invite Ṣọlágbérù, one rich Yoruba Muslim, wey settle for Òkè Sùnà for outskirts with converts wey come from different communities . So Òkè Sùnà come be Yoruba Muslim quarter wey dey different from di Fulani and Hausa side, and dat difference come dey very important.
Di armed group take di name jamaa, from Arabic and Hausa word for community, and dem distinguish di members clearly . Àfọ̀njá no fit control dem. Accounts describe how dem dey raid and loot, and wen Àfọ̀njá try to scatter dem, dem move first: attack im compound, and kill am . Accounts tok say dem use plenty arrows and spears kill am and say dem burn im body . Wen dem beg Ṣọlágbérù for help, e no come, and di explanation wey tradition give na say as Muslim chief, e no go fight Muslims for person wey never convert . Later on, Àlímì son come kill Ṣọlágbérù himself.
Different sources give di death of Àfọ̀njá's as around 1813, around 1823, and early 1824 . Di difference no small at all and di material wey dey here no fit resolve am. Popular Nigerian sources dey state one or di oda of dis dates with confidence without showing say oda ones dey. Dis work record di disagreement instead of choosing one. Di order of events dey clear and sure: revolt against Awólẹ̀ for 1796, Ìlọrin's independence, opening of di town and arrival of Àlímì and Ṣọlágbérù, losing control of di jamaa, and di killing of Àfọ̀njá's, wey di emirate come follow.
Ṣẹ́hù Àlímì die around 1820 . Im son Abdulsalami, wey dem also dey call Abd al-Salam, Ìlọrin's Muslims hail am as di first Emir, e pledge allegiance give di Sokoto Caliphate, and e rule reach 1842; dem put di emirate under di authority of Gwandu instead of Sokoto directly . Im brother Shitta succeed am, wey rule reach 1860 . Di throne remain for di hand of Àlímì pikin-pikin dem.
Ìlọrin as emirate come turn the northern military pressure on Yorubaland for the rest of that century. Dem forces burn Ọ̀yọ́-Ilé, the old imperial capital, wey force people to leave am completely and move go New Ọ̀yọ́ under Àtìbà . Ìlọrin cavalry, wey operate for open savanna where horse dey effective, push the Ọ̀yọ́ population go south enter forest, and the refugee resettlement wey follow create or expand Ìbàdàn, Ìjàyè, Abẹ́òkúta and New Ọ̀yọ́ well well. The whole nineteenth-century Yoruba political map na wetin follow from this.
Dem stop the Ìlọrin advance for Òsogbo, where force wey Ìbàdàn lead defeat Ìlọrin army, wey people conventionally date to the 1830s or early 1840s. That battle set the southern limit of Sokoto expansion and na the reason why Ìlọrin na the frontier instead of the midpoint of Islamic political authority for Yorubaland .
For the Ọ̀yọ́ tradition wey Johnson record, Àfọ̀njá na the traitor wey im ambition destroy the country, and Awólẹ̀'s curse na the frame. Na one community verdict be that, wey person from that community record, and e get huge influence because na Johnson book be the schoolbook.
The other side of the matter get record and person suppose talk am. According to the accounts wey dey, Awólẹ̀ send the army go mission wey the chiefs believe say na to kill dem, wey be wetin the Ọ̀yọ́ constitution rejection mechanism dey there to answer. Àfọ̀njá use constitutional instrument, wey be the calabash, no be new thing wey im invent. The decision wey im later take to give weapons to enslaved people wey run away na military strategy wey commanders dey use when dem dey lose, and for real sense, na emancipation e be, wey be the reason why e fit gather army at all.
Wetin clear well well na the outcome. Àfọ̀njá lose control of the instrument, dem kill am with am, and the town wey im family don hold for four generations komot permanently from Yoruba dynastic hands enter emirate wey come fight war with Yorubaland for seventy years. Im na person of consequence pass person wey dem go just blame or vindicate, and the Yoruba argument about am na really argument about the Ọ̀yọ́ constitution and about the place of Islam for Yoruba politics, wey dem dey do through biography.
The fall of Ọ̀yọ́, the Ilọrin and Sokoto dimension, the Ọ̀wu war, the rise of Ìbàdàn, the Sixteen Years War at Kiriji, and the political map they left behind.
The CMS mission and Crowther, how and why Yoruba people converted to two world religions, the British annexation, indirect rule and what it did to kingship, and the making of "Yoruba" as one identity.
The town that replaced Ọ̀yọ́ as the dominant Yoruba power, the achieved-title constitution that let a farmer or an Ifá priest rise to command it, and the men who did.
The career of the Oyo imperial general whose rebellion at Ilorin accelerated the disintegration of the empire and led to the creation of the Ilorin Emirate.
How an Ọ̀yọ́ military outpost passed from Àfọ̀njá to a Fulani emirate inside the Sokoto Caliphate, what the sources actually establish about that sequence, and the four positions people hold about Ìlọrin's identity today.
The rulers of Ọ̀yọ́ from the height of the empire to its collapse and refounding, including Bàṣọ̀run Gàhá who ruled through them, the curse of Aláàfin Awólẹ̀, and the move to New Ọ̀yọ́ under Àtìbà.