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War · 1877–1886

The Kiriji war

For three decades Ibadan ruled the Ekiti, Ijesha, Igbomina and Akoko towns through resident agents, the ajele, whose seizures and abuses impoverished the east.

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Overview

For three decades Ibadan ruled the Ekiti, Ijesha, Igbomina and Akoko towns through resident agents, the ajele, whose seizures and abuses impoverished the east. In 1877, as Aare Latosisa went to war with the Egba and Ijebu over the roads to the coast, Prince Fabunmi of Okemesi, insulted by an ajele’s men, killed the ajele and his household and called the eastern warlords together. The Ekitiparapo, the Ekiti Confederacy, was born, armed with breech-loading rifles bought by the Ekitiparapo Society in Lagos. In 1879 the Ijesha general Ogedengbe took command. For seven years the two armies faced each other from fortified hilltop camps near Imesi-Ile and Igbajo; the name Kiriji comes from the boom of the new guns. Latosisa died in camp in 1885, and in 1886 British mediation broke up the camps. Peace was sealed in 1893.[1],[2],[3]High confidence

Who took part

What happened

  1. 1877 · Okemesi

    Fabunmi’s revolt

    At the Erinle shrine in Okemesi, an ajele’s men seize the palm wine for Prince Fabunmi’s feast. Fabunmi goes to the ajele’s compound and kills him and most of his household. Ibadan officials are killed across the Ekiti and Ijesha country, and Fabunmi summons the eastern war leaders to throw off Ibadan.[1]

  2. August 1878 · Igbajo

    Igbajo burned

    The Confederates attack Igbajo, an Ibadan ally, burn it, and besiege Ikirun until Ibadan relieves it.[1]

  3. 1879 · Kiriji camp, Imesi-Ile

    Ogedengbe takes command

    The Ijesha general Ogedengbe joins at Imesi-Ile, and Fabunmi yields the command to him. Long-range rifles from Lagos give the camp its name: Kiriji, the sound of the guns.[1]

  4. 31 August 1885 · Igbajo camp

    Latosisa dies in camp

    Aare Latosisa, Ibadan’s commander, dies at the Igbajo camp. Ibadan’s morale collapses and both sides are weary of war.[1]

  5. 23 September 1886 · Imesi-Ile

    Peace proclaimed

    With the missionaries Samuel Johnson and Charles Phillips as envoys, the Lagos commissioners Higgins and Smith proclaim peace between the camps. Ogedengbe and Ibadan’s Balogun Osungbekun swear eternal friendship. Ilorin alone fights on, at Offa, and the last troubles end in 1893.[2],[1]

Kingdoms involved

Sources

Every claim carries a confidence level: high (well attested), medium (one source or approximate) or disputed (sources disagree).

  1. Wikipedia contributors. Kiriji War
  2. Akintoye, S. A. (1971). Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland, 1840–1893: Ibadan Expansion and the Rise of Ekitiparapo. Longman, London (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  3. Johnson, Samuel. (1921). The History of the Yorubas. Routledge, London (CMS Lagos)