Department of History and Heritage Studies

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Folk Songs as Sources of History: An Analysis of Alhaji Odolaye Aremu's Ilorin Dadakuada Music
(Department of History and International Relations, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria, 2023-01) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
Folk Songs as Sources of History: An Analysis of Alhaji Odolaye Aremu’s Ilorin Dadakuada Music By By Ismail Otukoko SALIHU, PhD Department of Religions, History and Heritage Studies, Faculty of Arts, Kwara State University, Malete salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk; ismail.salihu@kwasu.edu.ng Abstract In their endeavours to reconstruct and interpret the past, historians make use of various sources including oral, written, and material evidence. Over the years, they have had to rely on oral literature in order to understand and reconstruct events, particularly in non-literate societies where the art of writing developed very late. Such forms of oral literature as songs (Orin), proverbs (Owe), praise-names (Oriki) and poems (Arofọ) have, therefore, become part and parcel of traditional sources of history. These “oral and recitative” forms have been described as “a chief characteristic” of traditional history among the Yoruba. Hence, palace drummers and ballad singers were among the ‘professional oral historians’ used in traditional Yoruba society to ‘record’, ‘recite’, ‘preserve’ and transmit ‘history’ from generation to generation. Odolaye Arẹmu’s Dadakuada song (Orin) is one form of folk music that combines various forms of Yoruba oral literature (Oriki, Owe, Arofọ, etc.) With these forms, Odolaye did not only entertain and praise but also informs about past and contemporary events. Thus, issues in socio-economic and political life of the society are regularly subjects of Odolaye’s folk music. At both individual and societal levels, therefore, Odolaye’s songs contain historical information that is of importance in writing biography as well as aspects of socio-economic and political history. This paper seeks to identify, analyze, and draw attention to some of the historical values of the songs of the Dadakuada legend, late Alhaji Muhammed Odolaye Arẹmu.
From Traditionalism to Democratic Radicalism: A Re-examination of the Ilorin Talaka Parapo Phenomenon, 1954-1958.
(Department of History & International Studies, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, 2014) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
From “Traditionalism” to “Democratic Radicalism”: A Re-examination of the Ilorin Talaka Parapo Phenomenon, 1954-1958 By Ismail Salihu Otukoko Department of History and Heritage Studies College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete e-mail: salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk Abstract The period of decolonization in Nigeria (1950-1960) was characterized by diverse struggles at various levels. Among the most noticeable developments during the decade are party politics, electoral, political and other forms of struggle for power as well as separatist and minority agitations. Within the defunct Northern Region, the Ilorin emirate was the first to experiment with democratic local government. It therefore had its own fair share of the emergent contestations. In Ilorin town, the headquarters of the Ilorin Emirate, the unfolding of the events associated with the emergent struggles revolved around the colonial reforms aimed at democratizing the local government, which started in the early 1950s. The reforms resulted in a struggle for the control of Ilorin between the hitherto privileged traditional ruling class and the underprivileged class of commoners. Within a period of five years, Ilorin was shaken to its very foundations by the phenomenal rise and fall of a commoners’ movement known as the Ilorin Talaka Parapo (ITP)—a movement that emerged as a champion of “tradition” but ended up as a major “enemy” of Ilorin traditional institutions and their interests. In view of the confusing signals given out by the ITP at its inception coupled with Ilorin’s peculiar circumstance both as a border territory between the North and South of Nigeria and as the only “Fulani Emirate” in Yoruba land, the ethnic conflict framework has dominated analysis of the rise and transformation of the Ilorin Commoners’ movement. Such framework, however, ignores the multi-ethnic composition of Ilorin town itself and of the membership of the Ilorin Talaka Parapo. This paper argues that the ITP was not essentially an anti-Fulani movement by Ilorin Yoruba groups; that the party’s initial commitment to tradition owed much to the local political situation in Ilorin town while its eventual advocacy for democratic radicalism was mainly a product of its transformation from a multi-ethnic based grassroots movement to a vehicle for Yoruba irredentism and ethnic nationalism that dominated the last decade of colonial rule in Nigeria.
Ilorin and the Laderin Heritage: A Comparative Analysis of Some External and Internal Creations of Ilorin's Past
(Department of History and International Relations, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Nigeria, 2014-12) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
Ilorin and the Laderin Heritage: A Comparative Analysis of Some External and Internal Creations of Ilorin’s Past. By SALIHU Ismail Otukoko Department of History and Heritage Studies, College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete E-mail: salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk Abstract Ilorin has been a coveted and contested polity. Indeed, contestation over Ilorin remains a phenomenon that continues to attract attention of all and sundry. Between c.1824 and 1836, the Old Oyo Yoruba violently, albeit abortively, contested the “Fulani” control over Ilorin—a contestation that ended in the military defeat and final collapse of Yoruba Empire. The central role, which Ilorin played in the collapse of Old Oyo and the 19th c. Yoruba civil wars, is identified as a major influence on early local writers of Yoruba and Ilorin history like Samuel Johnson and Samuel Ojo. It is also one of the main reasons for Yoruba irredentism and contest for Ilorin, which have continued until recent times and culminated in abortive attempts by the pan-Yoruba political party, the Action Group and its ally, the Ilorin Talaka Parapo, to transfer Ilorin to the Western Region in the 1950s. Recently, similar contestations culminated in abortive moves for “a Yoruba Oba” (so-called “Onilorin”) of Ilorin. A major feature of nearly all forms of contestation over Ilorin is the recourse to its early “history” and the tendency of contestants and commentators to explore new battle grounds and tactics including the print and electronic media—newspapers, leaflets, home videos and the internet. In all these, the traditional accounts of early Ilorin, especially those based on external sources have been central to such controversies as the so-called “Ilorin’s crisis of identity” and what is here termed “Laderin Heritage” created and imposed on Ilorin by Reverend Samuel Johnson.
Ilorin Emirate: Some Aspects of the Consolidation, Socio-Political and Cultural Integration of a Multi-ethnic Community
(Centre for Ilorin Manuscripts and Culture, Kwara State University, Malete, 2019) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail; Jimba, M. Mahmood
The chapter discusses various aspects of the processes of the establishment, consolidation, socio-political and cultural integration of Ilorin Emirate during the 19th century and the roles played by various historical personalities such as Shaikh Alimi, the early Emirs such Emir Abdulsalami (reigned c.1823-c.1836); Emir Shitta (reigned c.1836-c.1860), and scholars, warriors, chiefs, etc. of the nascent emirate. The processes of inward and outward movement of people brought about by the establishment of the emirate and its initial military successes, and their impact on the phenomenon known as "Ilorin n'ile l'oko" (that is, 'Ilorin both at home [i.e. in the city] and in the villages' are explained. Other aspects of the consolidation and integration of Ilorin discussed are the process of Islamization and the role of Islam and the Ulama' (scholars of the Emirate) and their roles in the day-to-day life of the community and in the unification and socio-political integration of the emirate; Oriki (praise poems and epithets) of Ilorin and the Ilorins; the Ilorin’s hospitality and accommodation of ‘strangers, etc. all of which made Ilorin not only a melting pot of peoples and cultures but also ‘a local Mecca’ for Muslims from within and outside the Nigerian area. Various socio-cultural avenues created by the Ilorin to promote regular social intercourse and continuous harmonious inter-group relations such as games, sports, traditional music and oral performances like Waka and Were, festivals, its unique Ramadan culture, place names, etc. are highlighted.
Ilorin Potsherd Pavements and the Reconstruction of the Culture History of a Frontier City: The Historical Significance of Some Neglected Artifacts
(West African Archaeological Association, 2014) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
Ilorin Potsherd Pavements and the Reconstruction of the Culture History of a Frontier City: The Historical Significance of Some Neglected Artifacts By Ismail S. Otukoko Department of History & Heritage Studies, College of Humanities, Management & Social Sciences, Kwara State University, Malete e-mail: salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk Artefacts are the physical products or traces of human activity. Like objects, they have importance because of their materiality or correctness, and become the subject of retrospective interpretation and ordering. Artefacts are generally regarded as symbolic of some prior aspect of cultural or social activity. (Gronenborn 1996) Abstract Ilorin history, including its cultural history, has relied primarily on oral and written accounts, which are limited in exploring the history of Ilorin before the mid-18th century. Yet, Ilorin is believed to have been founded between the 15th and 16th centuries and to have developed into ‘a very important centre in northern Yoruba land many centuries before 1800’. In view of the limitations of oral and written sources in providing information on pre-19th century Ilorin, series of archaeological reconnaissance surveys were carried out in the city over the last ten years. These efforts have yielded a lot of cultural entities including potsherd pavements, pottery, grinding hollows, and bones in some parts of Ilorin. The potsherd pavements in particular are stylistically in herringbone pattern. These bear striking resemblance to the potsherd pavements of Daima, Lake Chad area, Kabrais districts in Togo, Nupe, Ikeja, Ile-Ife, Wushishi in the Kaduna Valley, and Ibadan among others. Based on the range of potsherds and potsherd pavements recently discovered, this paper, therefore, examines the historical significance of the artifacts with a view to throwing light on the material culture history of Ilorin. The paper argues that the material finds are capable of shedding more light on pre-18th century cultural history of Ilorin, and thus calls for the protection of these materials as they are endangered by human activities and other natural phenomena.
Ilorin: An Introduction to its History and Tradition of Islamic Scholarship.
(Kwara State University Press, 2019) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
The chapter gives an introductory historical background on Ilorin. It identifies and discusses those developments and individuals that contributed to laying the foundations of its tradition of Islamic scholarship, especially during the early 19th century.
Migration, Settlement Pattern and Transformation in Ilorin History
(Fig and Olive Limited, 2016) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
The chapter examines the history of migration, settlement pattern and transformation of Ilorin. The history of migration in particular is analysed under two broad periods, namely the "Pre-Islamic Period" (including the ancient, prehistoric era) up to c.1817, and the "Islamic Period", starting from the settlement of Shaikh Alimiat Ilorin in c.1817 through c.1823 when the emirate was established to the present period. Various sources and accounts on the origin of Ilorin, migration, and developments in Ilorin history are analysed and interpreted.
Opposition Party and the Politics of Opposition: The Collapse of the Ilorin Experiment in Democratization of Local Government, 1950-1960
(Department of History and International Studies, Kogi State University, Saying a, Nigeria, 2012-06) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
Opposition Party and the Politics of Opposition: The Collapse of the Ilorin Experiment in Democratization of Local Government, 1950-1960 By SALIHU Ismail Otukoko College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete E-mail: salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk; ismail.salihu@kwasu.edu.ng Abstract Political parties—whether as incumbents or opposition—are an important institution in any process of democratization and democratic politics. They could make or mar political processes as well as impact positively or negatively on the society. Since the introduction of party politics in Nigeria, struggle between incumbent and opposition parties has been a dominant and recurring phenomenon. The collapse of the First Republic, regarded as the country’s first experiment in nation building, resulted mainly from the conflict between political parties (NPC\NCNC coalition) in power and the opposition (Action Group). A major feature of the conflict was the struggle to acquire or maintain power and all benefits associated with it. This explains the ‘Pull Him\them Down’ syndrome that characterized power relations between the two groups. In the defunct Northern Nigeria, Ilorin emirate was the first to experiment with a “test case” in democratically elected local government through reforms of the Native Authority system. Within a period of less than two years, the experiment collapsed due, among others, to the conflict between the party in power and the opposition party, each of which had a taste of power and lost it during the period between 1952 and 1960. The intense struggle for power pitched the traditional ruling aristocracy against the commoners’ class of emergent wealthy businessmen and eventually not only led to the collapse of the first experiment in democratic local government but also the fall of the Commoners’ Party and the defeat of the motion to transfer Ilorin to the Western Region.
Origin and Settlement Pattern of the People of Aliagan Quarters and their Neighbours
(Fig and Olive Limited, 2016) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
As it is widely acknowledged, Ilorin is a melting pot of peoples and cultures. This is because of the settlement and integration of peoples of diverse origins, both from within and outside the Nigerian geographical area during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The settlement of various groups of people in Ilorin, for different purposes ranging from security, economic to religious and political reasons, occasioned continuous expansion of the initial extent of Ilorin city, the headquarters of the Ilorin Emirate. The progenitors of the Aliagans were among those who could be said to have caused the 'breaking' and hence the 'shifting' of the city wall to facilitate their settlement in the city. The chapter, therefore, examines the origin and settlement pattern of the people of the area of Ajikobi Ward known as "Aliagan" Quarters and their neighbours.
The "O To Ge" Movement in Kwara Politics: From 'Elite Coalitions to 'Elite-Masses Consensus' for Political Change
(Swift Books, 2022) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
The “O To Gẹ” Movement in Kwara Politics: From ‘Elite Coalitions’ to ‘Elite-Masses Consensus’ for Political Change By Ismail Salihu Otukoko Dept. of Religions, History & Heritage Studies, Kwara State University, Malete salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk; ismail.salihu@kwasu.edu.ng Abstract The causal role of elites in the dynamics of change and continuity is among the dominant themes in history. Both classical and neo-elite theorists assigned prominent place to elites and their actions in developments in any given society.However, neo-elite theorists incorporate the masses and emphasise the interdependent relations between them and the elites. In other words, in causal explanation of political changes in modern societies such as democratic transitions and regime changes, the contentions in the ‘New Elite Framework’ is that the elite, though still a critical variable, are not the only determinants of political outcomes. They are rather ‘dependent actors’ whose actions and successes could be limited by the masses’ interests and actions. Against this background, this paper explores the emergence of the Saraki political dynasty in Kwara State and the trajectories of the anti-Saraki struggle that culminated in the “O To Gẹ” movement and a major political change in the politics of Kwara State—a change, which, until 2019, previous ‘coalitions of elites’ had failed to actualise. It argues that, although the struggle against Saraki’s hegemonic dominance had a fairly long history, its success in 2019 was more a result of the ‘consensus’ between the elites and masses—a consensus and success that were aided by a convergence of other intervening factors and interests that united both social classes.
The Baba Isale "Coup" and Its Aftermath: A Historical Analysis of an Intrigue in the Struggle for Supremacy in Colonial Ilorin
(Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Bayero University Kano, 2011-07) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
The 1936 Baba Isale “Coup” and Aftermath: A Historical Analysis of An Intrigue in the Struggle for Supremacy in Colonial Ilorin By Salihu Ismail Otukoko Department of History University of Ilorin “The past history of Ilorin is a record of internal jealousy and intrigue”. (Annual Report, Ilorin Province, 1936, page 22) Introduction Pre-colonial and colonial history of Ilorin was punctuated by various crises and conflicts that have been described as incidents in the struggle for power—political and economic—and supremacy. During the 19th c., there were struggles and contestations between the first Emir Abdul-Salami (c.1823-c.1836) and other group leaders like Afonja, Sholagberu and the Sarkin Gambari Bako. From the 1860s to 1890s, struggles continued between successive Emirs and their Baloguns (ward\war chiefs) led by the “Balogun Agba” (the most senior Balogun and the de facto Commander-in-Chief of the Ilorin army) such as Baloguns Fulani Hina Konu, Gambari Karara and Alanamu Ali Inakoju. Although colonialism put an end to some of the main causes of conflicts, it did not, however, put a final stop to them. Rather, colonial rule introduced new impetus and conditions for both continuity and change in the struggle. Thus colonial Ilorin recorded, among others, such crises as the 1907 “hunters revolts” in and around Ilorin town and this is believed to have been instigated by the Balogun Ajikobi Biala, Magaji Gari Salihu and one Ajai or Ajia Ogidilolu; the 1913 anti-tax riots staged largely by the Oke Imale (“Yoruba”) quarters, the Baba Isale crisis of 1936 and the Ilorin Talaka Parapo phenomenon of the 1950s. The 1936 Baba Isale crisis provides an important incident reflecting continuity and change in the struggle for power, prestige or influence and supremacy in the 20th c. Ilorin. It also represents the last major incident in the contest for Ilorin among members of the traditional ruling aristocracy during the colonial rule.
Traditional Histories and Historical Reconstruction of the Origin and Early History of Ilorin: A Reexamination
(Kwasu Journal of Humanities, 2018) Salihu, Otukoko Ismail
Traditional Histories and Historical Reconstruction: A Reexamination of the Traditions of the Origin and Early History of Ilorin By Ismail S. Otukoko Department of Religions, History & Heritage Studies, College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete E-mail: salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk ; ismail.salihu@kwasu.edu.ng Abstract Since the 1950s when African and Africanist historians began to use oral evidence as a veritable source for historical reconstruction of Africa’s pre-colonial past, traditional histories have continued to occupy a central stage in modern African historiography. In spite of its limitations, no serious historical inquiry into the past of Africa’s non-literate societies would ignore traditional material. The use of traditional accounts of the origin and early history of Ilorin has continued to pose serious challenges to historians and non-historians. Some reasons may be responsible for this including Ilorin’s multiethnic and multicultural configuration; inexhaustive analysis and interpretation of various versions of Ilorin’s traditional history in existing attempts at reconstructing its origin and early history, and the fact that much of Ilorin’s history up to the 1820s has not been reconsidered in the light of historical and archaeological evidence from various parts of the Old Oyo Empire and the entire region within which context the origin and early history of Ilorin is located. This paper adopts a multidisciplinary approach to reexamine the traditional accounts on the ‘origin’ and ‘early’ history of Ilorin and posits that various elements in the traditions suggest different phases in the historical evolution of Ilorin and of the developments before the late 18th century.

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