Part 4 OONI OF IFE AND ALAAFIN OF OYO SUPREMACY CONTEST— History and Facts Why the Ooni is Superior to the Alaafin
Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD September 5, 2025
From the last section we have been able to establish the fact that the Alaafin of Oyo was only a ceremonial or to put it in frank historical term a political figure head among the various Yoruba groups, including his own core-Yoruba popularly known as Oyo during the second half of the 19th century. We also established the fact that the main political power at the time was the City of Ibadan, which was able to check the Fulani drive to the heart of Yorubaland.
Writing on the “Origin and Termination of the Ilorin-Ibadan War” in19th century, John O. George in his short book titled: Historical Notes on the Yoruba Country and its Tribes, and published in 1895 stated thus about Ibadan:
This war was first commenced by the Ibadans who are notorious for disturbing the peace of the Interior Countries; they are kidnappers, plunderers, and delight in the war. Their King at Oyo has no control over them.[i]
While John George might be partially right in above description of Ibadan and their relationship with the Alaafin of Oyo, he was wrong in respect of the origin of the Ibadan-Ilorin wars. Of course, he could be quite excused in that blunder having stated he was short of adequate sources of information at the time of writing.
It is therefore right to say, notwithstanding the subsequent high-handedness of their Ajele (Ibadan Political Representatives) among the Ekiti and Ijesha which led to Kiriji/Oke Mesin war, to Ibadan credit should be given for stopping the Fulani jihadists from overrunning the entire Yorubaland; otherwise the whole Southwest geopolitical zone should have been part of the present Sokoto Caliphate today.
Before that time, the whole of present-day Ekiti State were overrun by Ilorin Emirate before they were driven out by the gallant Ibadan forces. This victory was later consummated at the Friday November 1, 1878 Battle of Jalumi at Ikirun, when Ilorin forces came on a return-match to support the new Ekiti Parapo and their Ijesha allies. So to state the fact correctly, it was not the Alaafin of Oyo that was in charge of the core-Yoruba people but Ibadan.
In fact, the Alaafin of Oyo in spite of the regular homage and nominal submission offered by Ibadan, severally worked against Ibadan out of what could be described as fatuous jealousy. Before the 23rd August 1877 Egba-Ibadan war at Osiele, It was reported that the Awujale of Ijebu Oba Adeniyewo sent emissaries to the Alaafin of Oyo to compel Ibadan his subjects to stop the impending war against Egba people, but the Alaafin deceptively avoided the entreaties because he believed Ibadan should be defeated by the Egba.
And true to his wish, Ibadan was soundly defeated by the Egba in that Battle. Similarly, after the defeat of Ibadan by the Egba, the Are Ona Kakanfo Latosisa of Ibadan, entreated the Awujale of Ijebu to arrange for peace between them and Egba; the Alaafin again stopped him from engaging in the peace effort. This was how John George reported the episode:
The King of Jebu remonstrated with both parties urging them not to fight, and sent to the King of Oyo to use his influence with the Ibadans; but he played deception throughout the negotiations, because the Ibadans are disobedient and troublesome. On 23rd August, a great battle was fought at Osiele between the Egba and Ibadan army, which resulted in the defeat of the Ibadans. Matters went on thus till September 23, 1879, when Chief Latosa sent messages to the Egbas and the Jebus that he wished for peace. But private messengers were sent by the king of Oyo to the Egbas and Jebus not to take heed of the Ibadan Chief’s messages as it is practically deception.[ii]
We earlier noted in the course of our discourse on the processes that eventually led to the consummation of the peace settlement of the Kiriji-Oke Mesin War that the Alaafin of Oyo attempted to sabotage the mission by refusing to give them an accredited royal messenger called Ilari with the symbol of Alaafin’s authority.
It took the peace deputation three attempts before he decided to do the right thing. When he eventually sent one, it was a messenger whose presence customarily indicated the Alaafin’s disapproval of the mission—the Oba-ko-se-tan meaning “The King is not ready”, which raised initial objections by Ibadan warriors. They were however calmly advised by Rev. Samuel Jonson to ignore the title and go ahead with the peace process.
In fact, as Rev. Samuel Johnson later noted, the Alaafin of Oyo was secretly supporting the Ilorin invasion of his people just for the sake of undermining the power and influence of Ibadan; not minding the fact that it was the same Fulani of Ilorin that destroyed his ancestral Oyo City of Katunga which brought him to his present city of refuge. In the words of Johnson:
It was an open secret that the Alafin always had a regular correspondence with Ilorin all through these wars, but his private messenger Alebiosu by name, usually went by the bush paths escorted by hunters.[iii]
He believed that the best way to maintain his authority as Alaafin was the defeat of Ibadan; and to do that they must be kept fighting. This was aptly noted by the Awujale of Ijebu Oba Aboki. As George aptly noted:
King Aboki disliked the double dealing of King Alafin of Oyo who, when asked to use his influence for peace, admitted publicly that he is in favour of peace, but secretly begged that the Ibadans should not be allowed to return home.[iv]
So from the foregoing, it is clear that penultimate the era of the European scramble and partition of Africa which emerged from the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884/5, we had an Alaafin of Oyo who was not only a political weakling fighting for relevance and survival in the face of the domineering power of Ibadan, but a quisling secretly sabotaging the tireless efforts of his people to liberate themselves from Fulani-led Ilorin jihadists.
The question is, could such state of political despair and limbless political authority have created the right of acceding Yorubaland to Great Britain by the Alaafin of Oyo? And if indeed such situation permitted him to do so, one might further ask, under what circumstances? In approaching the foregoing two questions the Berlin Conference of 1884/5 readily comes to mind.
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The Berlin Conference of 1884/85 created three stages of colonization of Africa. These were first, the scramble; second, partition; and third, pacification. Scramble in this respect means the competition for spheres of influence; partition here means to delineate official boundaries of each sphere of influence; and pacification to conquer and suppress those who resisted European colonization.
At that time, what mainly defined a sphere of influence was the hosting of a country’s national flag, often with the consent of the indigenous ruler of the area who in reality did not know that such flag signified his acceptance of European conquest. Thus most African rulers who first accepted European national flags to be hoisted in their domains mainly saw it as a sign of friendship and not an indication of their colonization.
It was in accordance with that tradition of hosting flags as a sign of submission to European colonizing authority that the French who had already occupied Porto Novo in the present Benin Republic, sent emissaries to three Egba leaders: Ogundeja, Onilado, and the Jaguna of Igbein at Abeokuta with gifts and a promise to construct a railway from Poto Novo to Abeokuta, if they accept the French national flag as their protection.
Hearing about the French deputation to Abeokuta was not only shocking to the British administration in the Colony of Lagos given their long history of interactions with the Egba through their educated elements in Lagos, but was seen as a serious threat to the very existence of the Colony of Lagos, since Egba people claim ownership of land up to Ebute Meta area of Lagos Colony. They immediately dispatched educated Egba living in Lagos to intercede for them against the French overtures.
The response of the Egba leaders to their educated elites in Lagos was too memorable to avoid being quoted at length. Said they:
We thank you for the solicitations you have manifested for your fatherland. You have done well in that, though living out of home, you have not forgotten the homeland and its interests. You call yourselves our children, but what have we, your parents, ever received from you? But immediately you heard that others have made us a few presents, you hastened to show us the danger lurking in their gifts. Some of you were born abroad and never made our acquaintance until now, very singular way indeed of showing love and interest towards one’s fatherland. Have you not observed the short weights and the short lengths in the folded cloths? Have you not noticed that the English cloths contain increasingly more chalk than cotton fibres, the liquor diluted, the price of our produce always falling and never rising? What have you done to help us in these things to make our labour more remunerative? Nothing! It strikes us that you only concerned yourselves in competing with the white men to make your own profits out of us. We have been trading with the English for years, and the result is like an operation on the treadmill, always on the move but remaining where we were with a tendency to a backward motion in spite of efforts continually put forth. But no sooner we attempt to try for a profitable trade with another people than you hasten to warn us of the danger that lies therein. We thank you for your anxious care, but neither to the French nor to the English are we giving our country.[v]
The Egba remained so until, following the disastrous defeat of the Ijebu in 1892, when they were forced to accede their territory to the British Colonial Government in Lagos on January 18, 1893 under Governor Gilbert Thomas Carter. So another question is to what legal extent did the so-called Alaafin’s accession of Yorubaland to the British in 1888 apply to the Egba?
Not long after the Egba episode, reports reached the British Colonial Government in Lagos that the same French who attempted friendship with the Egba were on their way to Oyo to meet the Alaafin for the same purpose. It was in order to arrest the French menace that the Governor summoned Rev. Samuel Johnson, a native of Oyo, with whom he quickly drafted a Treaty of Friendship between the British and Alaafin of Oyo, in which all the present Yoruba-speaking areas of present Nigeria were described as being under the Alaafin’s suzerainty.
Before then the Kingdom of Ketu which had often seen the Oyo (Yoruba) as enemies was conquered by the Kingdom of Dahomey. This explains why the bulk of Ketu people are in the present Benin Republic where they are known by the original ethnic identity of “Anago” against “Yoruba”, which is indeed a misnomer of collective identity for the Anago people of present Nigeria.
The Treaty which was termed “Mild Treaty” was personally handed over to Rev. James Johnson to deliver to the Alaafin of Oyo with an accompanying letter dated May 23, 1888, and personally signed by Governor Alfred C. Moloney. The 5th and 6th paragraphs of the letter clearly betrayed not only the actual extent of the Alaafin’s authority but the identity of the real Yoruba in contrast to other non-Yoruba groups:
5. Yoruba-land was comprised traditionally as regards its corners a few years ago of Yoruba proper, Egba, Ketu and Ijebu. Where is Ketu now? And from what direction was it destroyed? 6. Without the entertainment of the least desire to meddle with the government of such kingdoms as Yoruba, Egba, or Ijebu, and with the assurance that not one yard of land is coveted by me, in feeling and sympathy for Yoruba union I desire that Lagos take the place of Ketu as the fourth comer.[vi]
So the question arising from the above clauses is who are the Yoruba proper as so indicated? Did it equally include the same Egba who earlier confronted the French, or the Ijebu who were mentioned as a separate entity? The following is the text of the Treaty:
TREATY BETWEEN ADEYEMI, ALAFIN OF OYO, AND HEAD OF YORUBA-LAND, AND HER MAJESTY, QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
I, Adeyemi, Alafin of Oyo, and Head of Yoruba-land, the four corners of which are and have been from time immemorial known as Egba, Ketu, Jebu, and Oyo, embracing within its area that inhabited by all Yoruba-speaking peoples, being desirous of entering into, and maintaining forever, friendly relations with the subjects of Her Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and of developing the resources of Yoruba by means of legitimate trade with the subjects of Her Majesty and those under her protection or who may hereafter come under her protection, and in gratitude for what the Queen has at so much expense and risk to life done from time to time for my country, have this day at the city of Oyo in the presence of those who have hereunto subscribed their names as witnesses declared my intention of abiding by the following articles :
1. From henceforth there should be peace and friendship between the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen, and those under her protection, and the Alafin of Oyo and King of Yorubaland and his people, and all other peoples over whom he has authority and influence.
2. The subjects of the Queen may always trade freely with the people of Oyo, and the Yoruba-speaking countries in every article they may wish to buy and sell, in all towns, rivers, creeks, waters, markets and places within territories known as Yoruba: and I, Adeyemi, pledge myself to show no favour and to give no privilege to the traders or people of other countries which I do not give or show to those of the Queen.
3. British subjects and others under the Queen’s protection are to have the first consideration in all trade transactions with my peoples.
4. No tolls, duties, fees, imposts, or charges shall be charged or levied upon the person or property of any British subject or other person under Her Majesty’s protection other than and beyond that or those which are customary and reasonable, or may from time to time be agreed upon to be so levied or charged by the Governor of Lagos and myself.
5. I will not allow any disputes that may arise between people frequenting or visiting the markets in my territory to interfere with or stop the markets; and all differences or disputes that may arise other than trade disputes between my peoples and those of other nations and tribes visiting the markets shall be adjusted by me or referred for adjustment and settlement to the decision of an arbitrator appointed by the Governor of Lagos, and the decision and award of such arbitrator shall be finally conclusive.
6. I engage as far as in me lies to bring about new markets between the Oyos and the other Yoruba speaking peoples, to promote the enlargement of existing ones, and to keep open all the roads through my kingdom to the Niger, and towards the coast.
7. It is hereby further agreed that no cession of territory and no other Treaty or Agreement shall be made by me other than the one I have now made without the full understanding and consent of the Governor for the time being of the said Colony of Lagos.
8. In consideration of the faithful observance of the foregoing Articles of the Agreement the Government of Lagos will make unto me a yearly dash to the value of 200 (two hundred) bags of cowries, but such dash may upon breach or neglect of all or any one or more of the provisions of the Agreement and at the discretion of the Governor of the Colony of Lagos be altogether withdrawn or suspended.
9. Provided always that the terms of this Agreement be subject to the approval of Her Majesty.
Signed and sealed at Oyo this 23rd day of July, 1888.
Adeyemi, Alafin of Oyo x (his mark)
In the presence of:
Samuel Johnson, Clerk in Holy Orders.
William Moseri, Scripture Reader.[vii]
It is instructive to note that the preamble to the foregoing Treaty was not only deliberately crafted by Rev. (afterwards) Bishop James Johnson who was an Oyo, to favour his sovereign—the Alaafin of Oyo against other Yoruba sovereigns, but was intended to safeguard British territorial interests against French advance into Yoruba (Oyo) territory.
So, it could be rightly stated that the above Treaty was merely a preemptive ceremonial document aimed principally to ward off French colonial advance and not to legally assert Alaafin of Oyo’s suzerainty over the Ooni of Ife or any other Yoruba king. Governor Alfred C. Moloney of Lagos knew this fact very well, and that explains why it indeed took him nearly two years before its ratification on June 16, 1890.[viii]
The invalidity of the above Treaty is further confirmed by subsequent Treaties by various Yoruba political entities, including the Alaafin of Oyo, with the British. For instance, the first people to seek British protection were the Egbado who were under the Egba, but continued to be harassed by the Kingdom of Dahomey without the Egba being able to protect them.
Based on this circumstance, a prominent Egbado chief named Falola went to Lagos to plead with the Colonial Government to take over their land. Consequently, the British Government in Lagos hoisted their flag at Ilaro and Oke Odan in 1891 to the chagrin of Egba people, but who were however helpless to do anything.[ix]
Following the defeat of Ijebu Ode by the British in 1892, all the once recalcitrant Yoruba Kingdoms became humbled, having seen what the new no-nonsense Governor of Lagos Colony Gilbert Thomas Carter could do; hence when he demanded Treaties of Protection from them, there was no single resistance. On January 18, 1893, the same Egba that protested Egbado’s decision to choose British Protection signed the same Treaty of Protection.[x]
Alafin of Oyo soon followed suit without reference to the “Mild Treaty” of July 23, 1888. Then came Ibadan which put up a little resistance but was informed clearly that the document must be signed whether they like it or not. This was done on August 15, 1893 after the reconstitution of their traditional ruling council
But here again Rev. Samuel Johnson who was obviously in charge of drafting or probably supplying relevant information to the Colonial Government in Lagos seized the privilege he found himself in to undermine the independence of the former adversaries of Ibadan—Ife, Ijesha and Ekiti Parapo by placing them under the control of Ibadan in the Treaty; probably to protect Modakeke from being evicted in accordance with the Treaty of 1886.[xi] This was stated in the first clause of the Treaty:
That the general administration of the internal affairs of the following Yoruba towns, viz.: Iwo, Ede, Osogbo, Ikirun, Ogbomoso, Ejigbo and Iseyin and in all countries in the so-called Ekun Otun, Ekun Osi, is vested in the general government of Ibadan and the local authorities of the said towns act in harmony with and are subject to Ibadan notwithstanding that the Alafin is recognised as the King and Head of Yoruba-land.[xii]
The phrase “in all countries in the so-called Ekun Otun, Ekun Osi” was not only undiplomatic in the language of Treaties but smack of derogatory deportment. Not only that; with the same support of Rev. James Johnson, Ibadan specifically attached an addendum to the signed Treaty expressing their support for the people of Modakeke relying on the same first clause; hence Ife found herself in Oyo District. In the addendum Ibadan claimed that they were not aware of the implication of clause 5 of the 1886 Peace Treaty between them and Ijesha/Ekiti Parapo until they visited Modakeke.
Claiming their right of conquest over the Ijesha and Ekiti Parapo, which of course was invalidated by Kiriji/Oke Mesin war in which they were not victorious, they concluded by stating that: “In the first article of the Treaty the whole of the Ekun Otun and Ekun Osi are put under us, the Ife and Modakeke people form a part of the Ekun Osi. We think they and the Ijesas need being informed of this. We leave the subject to Your Excellency’s wise consideration.”
But against the expectations of the Ibadan, British Colonial administration did not entail the direct administration of Ife or Ijesha/Ekiti Parapo territories by Ibadan Chiefs where they would send Ajele to collect tributes. It was an administration entrusted to a British District Officer who was ethnically blind and treated every subject of the British Queen or King as equal. Moreover, because the average Ibadan citizen who was fanatically glued to Islamic conservatism was not easily attracted to Western education, they saw themselves gradually alienated from colonial administrative machinery.
Thus the once proud Ibadan chiefs under such circumstances became one of the most relegated chiefs in Yorubaland under British Colonial administration, having only a Baale which is equivalent to a Village Head as their traditional ruler. It was in reaction to such relegation that the title of Baale was upgraded and subsequently changed to Olubadan in 1936.
Moreover, not long after, the true traditional status of Ile-Ife was made known to the British Colonial administration which subsequently placed the Ooni of Ife above all the Yoruba Kings, including the Alaafin of Oyo. With such recognition and the equal status of every subject of British Colonial Nigeria, the Ife re-ignited their battle against Modakeke, insisting that they must leave their town in accordance with clause 5 of the 1886 Treaty. By this time, both Ibadan and Alafin of Oyo were helpless before the British Colonial authorities.
Ascending the throne after the death of the war-time Derin Oke Igbo (Ooni DerinOlogbenla) in 1894 with the slogan, “They drove us twice from our home and we must see that they are driven permanently from theirs”, Ooni Adelakan vowed to consummate the clause 5 of the Treaty of 1886 which required the people of Modakeke to vacate their town to the assigned communities and locations.
Oyibo ka dike (The Whiteman is greater than the strong), says a common adage among the Igbo of West Niger (Anioma). That was actually what Ooni Adelakan applied against the people of Modakeke and their Ibadan cohorts. He began by using the instrument of the Colonial administration to remove the two most powerful traditional chiefs of Modakeke— the Balogun and the Otun both war leaders, on charges of disturbing the peace of his kingdom. They were both sent away to Ibadan and kept under the care of the District Officer, the type the Igbo call “Nwa DC.”
Thereafter he found himself being invited to Lagos in regal style by the Colonial Governor in 1903. In fact, his celebrated visit to Lagos in 1903 on the invitation of the Governor, Sir William MacGregor to settle a kingship dispute afforded him the direct opportunity to present his case before the Governor. Of course, by the said visit, the Ooni of Ife became officially accredited as the paramount Head of all Yoruba Oba (Kings) without exception. This was fully conveyed in the February 21, 1903 Gazette of the Colony Lagos at page 104. Reporting that widely celebrated visit, the Gazette stated:
At 10 o’clock, the Oni of Ife waited on the Governor by appointment. His Excellency expressed his great pleasure at seeing the Oni, and hoped that he left his people all well and was, on his way to Lagos, well received by the Resident of Ibadan. The Oni replied that his people were quite well when he left: but that there was much weeping at Ife at his departure. Many people accompanied him as far as the river, and they said that they would wait there until he returned. The Oni added that, out of respect to him as the head of all the great interior Chiefs, the other Chiefs, when they learnt of his departure from Ife, left their palaces and were living outside the walls, and there they would remain until he returned: even the Alafin of Oyo was now living outside the palace.[xiii]
It should be noted that Governor MacGregor not only placed the Ooni of Ife on yearly stipend but paid a return visit to Ile-Ife.
If Ibadan and Modakeke had been using their connection with Rev. (later Bishop) James Johnson to stand against the implementation of the Treaty of 1886, the people of Ife now possessed a much greater power—the British Colonial Government on their side. The main backbone of the Ibadan and Modakeke—Bishop James Johnson being helpless at this time, since the Colonial Government no longer needed the assistance of CMS in its administration, Ibadan and Modakeke became sheep without shepherd in their battle against the Ife.
On March 27, 1909, the people of Modakeke were ordered by the Colonial Government under Sir Walter Egerton to quit their town and move to the locations assigned to them by the Treaty of 1886 that ended the Kiriji/Oke Mesin war. Thus, the people of Ife finally got their judgment in accordance with clause 5 of the 1888 Treaty. In the words of Bishop James Johnson:
The Modakekes saw that a higher power was now behind the Ifes and that they would have no redress. Thus it came to pass that on the 27th day of March, 1909, twenty-three years after the imposition of the Treaty, the town was broken up. Those of them who were descended from the Owus removed to their ancestral homes to Owu Ipole, between Ife and Ijebu, others to Gbangan, some to Oduabon, others to Ede; the bulk of the people, however, with the Ogunsua or Bale of Modakeke removed to a place called Odekomu somewhere midway between Ede, Ife and the Ijesas, about ten miles from Ife, just beyond the river Sasa which after the war was made the boundary of Ife territory.[xiv]
Although, the people of Modakeke were later recalled by Ooni Adeniluyi Ajagun in 1922, the significance of the victory of Ife over them was a profound lesson in the analogous contest for power between the temporal and the spiritual. John Wyndham had described the Ooni of Ife as the religious head of the Yoruba,[xv] a taxonomy that encompasses all the components of human existence within the holistic dialectics of traditional African society.
In other words, while the temporal and spiritual components constitute the fundamental power-base of the African traditional leadership, the spiritual takes precedence over the temporal, especially when such leadership is exercised through an unbroken direct ancestral link to the eponymous progenitor of the people.
This is where the Ooni of Ife as the Arole Oodua has no equal among all the Kings in Yorubaland, the Alaafin of Oyo not excluded. It therefore means that whoever insults the Arole Oodua insults Oduduwa; whoever contests power and authority with the Arole Oodua contests with Oduduwa; and whoever fights the Arole Oodua fights Oduduwa.
The Ooni of Ife represents two esoteric forces in Afa (Ifa) divination cosmology as defined among the Igbo and Igala—the one that defines his status and roles named “Ote-Ose”; and the one that defines his power and authority named Ote-Odii.”
“Ete-Ose” , the Igbo would say, “Nke afulu na anya” (That which we see with our own eyes), defined here as something undisputedly clear and well understood, underscores the status of the Ooni of Ife as the head of Yoruba Kings which cannot be challenged or disputed, because the facts are clear. On the other hand, “Ete-Odii”, the Igbo would again say “Ife di omimi” (That which is too deep to understand), stands for something deep beyond ordinary human understanding; something mysterious and; something which only the spirits and the clairvoyant can discern. That is the power inherent in the person of Ooni of Ife.
It takes only those who understand the dialectics of this power defined as Ote-Odii to understand what happened to Chief Samuel Akintola after humiliating the Ooni of Ife, Oba Sir Adesoji Aderemi and; what happened to the Eleko of Eko Oba Rilwan Akiolu after snubbing the current Ooni of Ife in public. One is yet to confirm if his sacred ancestral staff of office carted away from his palace by hoodlums has been located.
The iconic novelist Professor Chinua Achebe informs us in his equally iconic novel— Things Fall Apart— about the little Nza (a little bird) “who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi [to a wrestling contest].[xvi]
End of discussion!
Dr. Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe is the Odogwu (Traditional Generalissimo) of Ibusa, Delta Sate & President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria (ICAC-GEN). He was formerly Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He lives in exile in Manila, Republic of the Philippines.
Email: Nwaezeigwe.Genocideafrica@gmail.com
Visit our: https://icac-gen.org to understand the core reason of my struggles and exile in Republic of the Philippines.
[i] J. O. George, Historical Notes on the Yoruba Country and Its Tribes Lagos, K. Kaufmann, Lime, Baden, 1895, 5
[ii] George, Historical Notes on the Yoruba Country and Its Tribes Lagos, K. Kaufmann, Lime, Baden, 1895, 6
[iii] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 601
[iv] George, Historical Notes on the Yoruba Country and Its Tribes Lagos, K. Kaufmann, Lime, Baden, 1895, 14
[v] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 571-2
[vi] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 573
[vii] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 574
[viii] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 574
[ix] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 606
[x] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 651-2
[xi][xi] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 652-5
[xii] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 653
[xiii] Colony of Lagos Annual Report for 1903, Gazette of the Government of Colony of Lagos, February 21, 1903, 104
[xiv] Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 647-8
[xv] John Wyndham, Myths of Ife, 12
[xvi] Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart London: Heinemann, 1958, 22