For students of history when it was an important subject in primary and secondary school’s curriculum, they were taught about the Kanem Bornu Empire, Benin Empire and the Oyo Empire.
Under Oyo Empire, they were taught about the Aare Ona Kakanfo, which was the staff of office of a war General whose primary duty was to fight and defend the Yoruba interest from aggression.
Since 1960’s during pre-independence era and after up to last year, only two Yoruba’s had held the position in the 556 years of Aare Ona Kakanfo title. They were Chief Ladoke Akintola, Premier of Western Region who reigned as the 13th Aare Ona Kakanfo in the 60s before he was assassinated in the Major Chukwuma Nzeoku’s coup and business mogul late Chief MKO Abiola who died in 1997 in mysterious circumstances in the course of fighting for his June 12 mandate.
Since the death of Abiola as the 14th Aare Ona Kakanfo the post has been in limbo until October 16, 2017, when the Alafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, pronounced Gani Adams the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo-designate.
Although they were pockets of discordant tunes after the pronouncement of Adams as the Aare Ona Kakanfo based on his eligibility, the National Coordinator of Odua People’s Congress (OPC), was crowned the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo in Durbar stadium in Ibadan, Oyo state, on Saturday January 17, 2018.
He vowed to use his position to foster unity, peace and security of the Yoruba race and solicited for support of all Yoruba worldwide. He also pledged to work with all traditional rulers and leaders of Yoruba to project their culture to the rest of the world as well as to institute an Aare Ona Kakanfo Foundation to document and preserve all the traditional artifacts and virtues of all the previous holders of the title.
The crowning of Adams as the Aare Ona Kakanfo is coming 30 years after the same Alafin of Oyo crowned the late Bashorun MKO Abiola as the 14th Aare Ona Kakanfo. Similarly, his installation, which has now received the blessing of prominent Yorubas after the criticisms that earlier trailed his choice by the Alafin of Oyo has thrown limelight on how fate has put smile on the man Gani Adams who admitted that he came from a humble and low background.
The Man Gani Adams
Adams was born on April 30, 1970 in Akoko North West of Ondo state and had his secondary education at the popular Ansarudeen Secondary School in Isolo, Lagos. Although his activism dates back to 1993 when he played an active part in the struggle for the actualization of the June 12 mandate of Abiola, his name began to ring a bell in the South-West in particular when he liaised with nine people including Dr. Frederick Fasehun to form the OPC in 1994 whose agenda was to protect the Yoruba race.
OPC then grew to become a force and unofficial security agency in the South-West and participated wholly in mobilizing the people and youths to protest the annulment of June 12. Indeed the soaring popularity of the OPC attracted a clampdown from the military and Dr. Frederick was arrested and detained severally. His detention led to the appointment of Adams as the National Coordinator of the group in 1999.
It is also worthy of note that the OPC under Adams had a bad image of being perpetrators of violence, jungle justice and the instigators of mayhem across Lagos. For instance, reports were common on how the group would torture and kill persons not only suspected to be robbers but those that have either wronged their members or erroneously labeled criminals. This development gave Gani Adams a bad image, which led to the then government hunting him. Even during the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the OPC leader had several conflicts with security agencies which led to his incarceration a couple of times.
For most residents of Mushin, a Lagos suburb, where Adams grew up, his rise to fame has confounded them having known him to be a carpenter before his in road into political struggle and activism through OPC. Adams who literarily hijacked OPC from Dr.Fasehun succeeded in making the Yoruba militant group a household name and a reliable vigilante group across Lagos and other South Western states.
In 2002, the OPC leader set up the Olokun festival Foundation to promote the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba race. Since then the annual Olokun festival has become an important tourist event that attracts Yorubas worldwide. He also set up the Oodua Progressives Union, OPU, to sustain Yoruba identity. He said Yoruba people all over the world must have a sense of belonging and identify with their roots all the time. Today, the OPU like OPC is said to have presence in 74 countries.
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To many people, his coronation as Aare Ona Kakanfo the 15th in history is a twist of fate and a tortuous journey from a militant youth leader to a socio-political activist of national repute and now a Yoruba war General.
According to Ade Oladipo, a traditional ruler, Adams who succeeds late business mogul, Chief Abiola, as Aare Ona Kakanfo who holds 52 chieftaincy titles is worthy of the title. He said he was a human rights activist involved in the struggle for the return of Nigeria to democracy after several years of military rule and has defended the rights of the underprivileged and the Yorubas.
Adams is known to be the real sponsor of the Olokun Festival Foundation, a non-governmental organization, NGO dedicated to the promotion of the Yoruba culture and tradition. The Next Edition gathered that the Adam’s NGO currently supports Yoruba festivals like Eledumere festival, Ijora Lagos, Ajagunmale festival Lekki, Lagos, Osun Osogbo festival, Olokun Festival, Olumo festival, Oro festival, among others.
History of Aare Ona Kakanfo
According to history, the creation of the title of Aare Ona Kakanfo was the direct consequence of the ideas of a former ruler of Old Oyo Empire, Alaafin Ajagbo, who reigned in the 1600s. His predecessors, from Ajaka, who succeeded Sango (the god of thunder), to Aganju, Kori, Oluaso, Onigbogi, Eguguojo, and Orompoto to Abipa and Obalokun, all suffered incessant attacks by neighbouring states.
Aare-Ona-Kakanfo Ajagbo we gathered had a twin brother, Ajampati, and like the Biblical Jacob and Esau, Ajagbo was an outdoorsman, while Ajampati preferred the comforts of the royal court. As a result, Ajagbo, as a prince was part of many military expeditions to fend off invaders, and grew up a warrior, all the while nurturing ideas on how best to deal with military aggression against his kingdom-state. One of the direct results of his ideas when he became Alaafin was the creation of the office and title of Aare Ona Kakanfo, meaning Field Marshal, or Generalissimo of the Alaafin’s armies.
After creating the Kakanfo title, he invested the holder the command of all his forces, outside Oyo town. For the defence of the Alaafin and Oyo town and environs, Ajagbo is said to have created a metropolitan force which he placed under the command of the Bashorun.
The installation rites of the Aare Ona Kakanfo are tedious and frightening. The procedures and conventions instituted by Ajagbo and nurtured by succeeding Alaafins were said to be partly responsible for the mystiques surrounding the office and title.
We learnt that during installation, the major rite that must be performed is the administering of two hundred and one (201) incisions on the Kakanfo-designate. The incision is called gbere, in Yoruba, chiefly tiny cuts made with a razor, from the forehead backwards to the waist. Each of the 201 incisions is rubbed with 201 different herbal preparations expected to take the courage and bravery of the Kakanfo to super-human levels. After the incisions, the Kakanfo is “crowned” with a specially-made head-dress, that only him wears. It is, in Yoruba, called the Ojijiko. After installation, the Kakanfo leaves Oyo, the Alaafin’s city for his own domain; it is forbidden that the Kakanfo and the Alaafin live together in the same town.
Although it could not be confirmed whether this ritual of incisions was carried out on Adams during his installation as required by the ancient tradition, but the only known coronation which climaxed the ceremony was the new Aare Kakanfo breaking 14 calabashes symbolizing past Aare Kakanfo.
A check list of the past holders of the title are- 1. Kokoro Gangan of Iwoye 2. Oyapote of Iwoye 3. Oyabi of Ajase 4. Adeta of Jabata 5. Oku of Jabata 6. Afonja of Ilorin 7. Toyeje of Ogbomoso 8. Edun of Gbogun 9. Amepo of Abemo 10. Kurunmi of Ijaye 11.Ojo Aburumaku of Ogbomoso 12. Obadoke Latoosa of Ibadan 13.Ladoke Akintola of Ogbomoso 14. Moshood Abiola of Abeokuta.
The Myth About Are Kakanfo
Indeed, the title of the Aare Kakanfo has been engulfed in the age long Myth that holders end up being consumed by the office most times in mysterious ways. Of the 14 holders of the title previously before Gani Adams, the first 12, from Kokoro Gangan of Iwoye to Momodu Obadoke Latoosa of Ibadan, were reportedly military commanders. Of these, three had waged wars in the interest of the Yoruba people . These were Kurunmi of Ijaye, Afonja of Ilorin, and Obadoke Latoosa of Ibadan. The succeeding two, Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola were civilians.
Whereas the 12 died during war, Akintola was assassinated in a coup in 1966, while Abiola died in mysterious circumstance in the course of his June 12 mandate struggle.
However, with the installation of Adams as the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo, the people are already setting agenda for him. Archbishop Emeritus Ayo Ladigbolu wants Adams to tackle the issues of peaceful co-existence among diverse etnic nationalities, religious tolerance, national re-orientation, South-West re-orientation and the re-invigoration of the pride of place of Yoruba language and culture.
He stressed that the modern day Kakanfo does not need bows and arrows, guns and daggers, but requires courage, boldness, bravery, focus, application of native intelligence to national and international issues and the brilliance and adaptability to respond to the myriad challenges facing the nation and the world currently.