A professor of Legal History at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Akinkunmi Alao, has revealed how the British in the 17th century employed a combination of forceful conquest, deceit, and manipulative diplomatic treaties to suppress and weaken the indigenous power structures of Yorubaland, thereby achieving trade access and indirect rule.
Prof. Alao, however, lauded the resistance of some of the Yoruba traditional rulers, especially Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Adeyemi Alowolodu 1, whose local army fought against the subjugation of the imperialists, leading to the 1895 Pepe War (Ogun Pepe), which eventually questioned and curtailed the incursion of the colonialists into the sovereignty of Yoruba states.
Alao gave the exposition on Thursday at the Federal Surveying School, Oyo Town, venue of the Ogun Pepe Memorialisation lecture in commemoration of the bravery of the then Alaafin Alowolodu 1, as well as the sad events of the British invasion of Oyo that left two-thirds of the town ruined through the sporadic gunshots from the gunboats of the British Royal Navy.
According to him, “Since 1895, Oyo has been subjected to various forms of executive intimidation, deprivation, denial of national recognition, and political victimisation. Therefore, celebration of the physical intimidation, not only of the political establishment in Oyo but of the entire people and society, serves as a clarion call, for the first time, to awaken the people’s awareness to critically evaluate the long history of injustice they have faced critically”.
Titled: “The Flag Follows the Trade: Gunboat Diplomacy and the Subjugation of Yorubaland, 1895 – 1914”, Alao said that the British imperialists capitalised on the internecine war between the Ijaye and Ibadan in which the Ekiti, Ijesa, Ijebu, and Ife formed a confederation to resist Ibadan, thus leading to the Kiriji War, and as a form of intervention, surreptitiously established its agents of traders, missionaries and colonial officials to destroy the independence of Yorubaland.
Among the discussants at the 130-year memorable event conceived by His Imperial Majesty, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, the Alaafin of Oyo, were: Prof. Sekinat Kola Adepoju, Prof. Adeniyi Gbadegesin, Prof. Ladun Oloruntoba, and Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo. The organisers, led by Dr. James Adesokan Ojebode (Founder, Atiba University, Oyo), included: Arch Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu, Professor Sunday Olawale Okeniyi (Vice Chancellor, Atiba University), Princess Folasade Adeyemi (a.k.a. Arewa), Mr. Segun Oke, Hon. Wale Ogunsola, Gbemisola Faleti, and some traditional chiefs.
In the lecture, Alao said, “After the Kiriji War (1877-1893), the fragility of Yorubaland was glaring. The restraints imposed by the centres of power had been removed. However, the Alaafin of Oyo still maintained a certain amount of suzerainty over Northern Yorubaland, including the Ibadan Chiefs, the Ijebu Kingdom (which guarded the trade routes to the coast), the Egba in Abeokuta, and the emerging Lagos influence. It was therefore based on this realisation that the British, by the advice and representations of traders and missionaries, recognised the need to deal directly with the Alaafin, who was considered the sovereign lord of all Yoruba. The shift from the slave trade to the commodity trade in palm oil and kernels opened up commercial interest in Yorubaland.
“The eventual penetration, domination and colonisation of Yorubaland were carried out by various but coordinated moves. The first was the diplomatic mask, which was made up of the infamous treaties of friendship and commerce. These perfidious documents were meant to gain a legal and moral foothold by establishing a legal framework for British intervention. By their nature, these treaties were often signed under duress, with misconceptions by Yoruba signatories about the long-term implications of ceding their territories and sovereignty.
“The second modality for British occupation of Yorubaland was an iron fist through the instrumentality of the Gatling gunboats of the British Royal Navy. These gunboats unleashed maximum destruction on recalcitrant territories and demonstrated the amount of evil the British were capable of to secure an unfair advantage in African situations”.
Recalling the real cause of the Pepe War, which was a resistance to the oppression and intimidation of the British imperialists, Pro. Alao said that “the immediate cause was Alaafin Adeyemi I’s refusal to submit to British authority in a matter of local jurisprudence concerning a royal messenger named Bakare, who served in the court of the Aseyin of Iseyin. He was accused of adultery with one of the king’s wives, and according to customary practice, he must be castrated as punishment. Captain Bower saw this traditional punishment as an affront to British authority and therefore demanded that the Alaafin hand over both Bakare and the official who carried out the punishment, Kudeefu, to him. The Alaafin refused Bower’s demands and instead ordered Bakare’s execution and protected Kudeefu to firmly assert his own sovereignty and judicial authority.
“This open repudiation of the assumed powers of the Resident to order Yoruba kings around was considered a frontal assault on the newly acquired authority of the British administrators. In response to the Alaafin’s defiance, Captain Lister Bower led a troop of sixty armed soldiers to invade Oyo. The people of Oyo resisted fiercely. The conflict is named “Ogun Pepe,” or the Pepe War, after the onomatopoeic “pepe! pepe!” sound of the British gunfire. During this confrontation, it is said that the Alaafin was wounded but that he escaped to avoid arrest and other untoward consequences. After six days of fighting, a truce was mediated, and the Alaafin was able to return to his palace. This event is remembered as a key symbol of Yoruba resistance to colonial domination.
“My final thoughts would be that period from the subtle threat to the Alaafin in 1895 to the conclusion of treaties by 1893 is a compact, dramatic story of how a regional powerhouse was systematically pacified not through a single great war, but through a calculated blend of diplomatic pressure and the ever-present, looming threat of naval annihilation”, the professor said.
