Emirate Political System in The Pre-Colonial Northern Nigeria: A Case of Ilorin (1823-1900)

Abstract

Ilorin belongs geographically to Yoruba land. Politically too, the town was part of the vast Oyo Empire in the early years of its existence long before the advent of Afonja. Ilorin continued to be within the sphere of influence of Oyo until Aareona Kakanfo Afonja had a fall out with the powers that be in Oyo. Afonja, the Oyo Generalissimo had no option than to seek the assistance of Sheikh Alim al-Salih, the popular Muslim cleric who was already well known in the metropolis of Oyo, Iseyin and the other important Yoruba towns under Oyo. Due to the power tussle between successive Alafins of Oyo and Afonja, the latter requested for and got military assistance from the Muslim cleric. The aim of this paper is therefore to assess the consequences of Afonja’s act of rebellion against the Old Oyo. The alliance that made it possible for Afonja to throw off Oyo’s yoke was to turn against the Aare Ona Kakanfo, as the general was to eventually lose his life with the balance of power problem that accompanied Sheikh al-Salih’s death. With Afonja’s death, Ilorin soon found itself within the orbit of Sokoto Caliphate as Adulsalami the cleric’s first son became the town’s sovereign. Without the alliance of Afonja on one hand and Sheikh al-Salih and his Jamaa (Muslim group) on the other hand, Ilorin might never had become an Emirate under the Sokoto Caliphate. Among the objectives of this study is to trace the trajectory of Ilorin’s political development that eventually resulted in the entrenchment of Emirate style Islamic system of government. Historical method of research is adopted and the study relies on secondary sources