THE CITY STATE OF IBADAN Texts and Contexts edited by DELE LAYIWOLA UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY THE CITY STATE OF IBADAN Texts and Contexts UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Igba Iwa Calabash of destiny K in iu n O n ib u d o Lion : the Master of Camps H O N LYING RESPLEDENTLY IN THE GRASS) Oro Irvingia gabonensis Igbin sruil CREEPING OF THE TRUNK OF THE ORO TREE Ikarahun Igbin ^ shells ^ ON THE GROUND I fa d iv in ation Open I fa pclu BOARD WITH ODU CORPUS O F OSEMEJI odu osc meji WITH WHICH IBADAN W A S F O U N D E D Leaves of Ewe akoko Bignoniaccac ati iycyc and Spondias membin Agogo Gong Won ku fi aaja kede llu (PUBLICITY MEDIA) bi ar’ayc ba ji agogo ni won fi n kc si ra won ORIKJ IBADAN DERIVED PET NAME Ibadan omo ajorosun Ibadan omo aj’orosun omo ajc'gbin to omo ajc'gbin yo omo afi ikarahun fo'rimu omo afi ikarahun fo’rimu BY I .ATE Cl IIEFJ.A. AYORINDE. DLITT (I IONS) IFF.. MFR, M B E JP UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY The City State o f Ibadan Texts and Contexts edited by ‘Dele Layiwola The Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY © Institute o f African Studies, 2015 ISBN 978 978 921 111 1 cased ISBN 978 978 921 112 8 soft No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying , recording, or otherwise without the expressed written consent of the the copyright owner. Published in Nigeria by the Institute of African Studies University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria In collaboration with BookBuildcrs • Editions Africa 2 Awosilca Avenue, Bodija, Ibadan email: bookbuildcrsafrica@yahoo.com mobile: 0805 662 9266; 0809 920 9106 Printed in Ibadan Oluben Printers, Okc-Ado mobile: 0805 522 0209 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY In memory o f those good souls who either directly or indirectly helped to shape this publication Cornelius Oyeleke Adcpegba, 1941-2002 Fcstus O Akintola, 1946-2013 John Adeycmi Abokede Ayorinde, 1907-1998 Barbara Best Barber, 1914-2012 Adeola Olapeju Kolawole, 1963-2002 Solomon Abidemi Layiwola, 1925-2004 Oyinadc Ogunba, 1938-2008 Chief Moses Itanola Okunola, 1925-2012 Timipreyc Brenda Zisinghan, 1963—2008 v UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY C O N T E N T S Foreword Chief M. I. Okunola .............................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... xv Introduction .................................................................................................................................... xvii (Chapter 1: Ibadan: Its Beginnings to the Close of the 20th Century. The Performing Arts and the Changing Identity o f an African Subgroup ‘Dele Laviwola..............................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Economic History of Ibadan, 1830-1930 Rasbted O lan iyi............................................................................................................19 Chapter 3: Administration and Management of Local Government in Ibadan from 1954-1979 Torioli A. O jeu v .........................................................................................................49 Chapter 4: Housing Situation in Ibadan at the Close of the 20th Century: Challenges for the 21st Century Tunde Agbola & CO. Olatubara .............................................................................83 Chapter 5: Water Situation in Ibadan City F.O.Akintola .......................................................................................................109 Chapter 6: Transport in Ibadan Adesoji Adesanya.......................................................................................................117 Chapter 7: Contemporary Hausa-Yoruba Relations in Ibadan Isaac Qlawak Albert...................................................................................................135 Chapter 8: 'Hie Igbo in Ibadan: Migration, Integration and Challenges E^ebunwa E. Ntvokoeba ..........................................................................................153 Chapter 9: Ben Emvonwu’s Risen Christ as a Religious Icon at the University of Ibadan Peju Layiwola..............................................................................................................169 VII UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY G ' M I M S Chapter 10: Rams anil the Man: War, Culture anil Mimesis in Animal Sports Ayobami Adtduntan ............................................................................................191 Chapter 11: Administration anil Management ol Health, education and Community Development Services in Ibadan: 1951 - 19"'; ToriofoA. O jtw o .....................................................................................................203 Chapter 12: Christian Missionary Enterprise in Ibadan: 1851-2(HH» .S'. Ademohi A jayi.......................................................................................................21" Chaptcr 13: Trends in Traditional Religious Worship in Ibadan. 1951 - 2010 0 .0 . A dtkola ........................................................................................................... 233 Chapter I I: 'Hie Imamatc in Ibadan Ismithed A. Jimob .....................................................................................................253 Chapter 15: Evolution of Central Mosques in Ibadan - Future Implications on Religious and Traditional Leadership Ttrinnsiju A. G. O fad im ji.....................................................................................253 Chapter 16: Traditional Medical Associations in Ibadanlnnd between 1982 and 2002 Aibinuola Osunuo/e..................................................................................................279 Chapter 17: Ibadan 1960: Creativity and the Collective Impromptu Dele lutyiwola ........................................................................................................... 289 Chapter IS: Cultural Radio Mast - University of Ibadan and its Outreach in the Arts and literature, 1960-1966 \Mhtf bourn................................................................................................................299 Chapter 19: Ibadan 1960 Martin banbam .................................................................................. - .313 Appendix 1: Baalcs and Olubadans Who Reigned in Ibadanland................................ 323 last of Contributors ...................................................................................................................... 325 In d ex ..................................................................................................................................................327 VIII UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY C h a p t e r o n e Ibadan: Its Beginnings to the Close of the 20th Century The Performing Arts and the Changing Identity of an African Subgroup Dele Layiwola Background 'F lic etym ology o f the nam e o f W est A frica’s largest city, Ibadan derives from the com pound w ord Eba-Oda/i. ' l l i i s m eans ‘savannah fringe’. U p until 1837, before the collapse o f old O yo ,1 an Egba village occupied th e present site o f Ibadan. From about the 1820s, however, when internal strife and external aggression laid siege on the in tegrity o f the great Y oruba em pire, m igrants trickled into the fringes o f the southern savannah zone. A round this period , the Span ish and Portuguese colonies o f South Am erica had gained independence and there w ere dem ands for m ore slaves from the coast o f W est A frica to w ork on their p lantations.1 2 W ith the Fulani firm ly entrenched in Ilorin, w hich had hitherto served as the gatew ay to the ready supply o f slaves from the northern savannah zones, ready access was interrupted. T he Yoruba peop le thereby turned on them selves to m eet the 1 Sec Robert Smith, "The Alafin in Exile: A Study o f the Igboho Period in Oyo History”, Journal o fA frican History, 1965, 5 (1): 57. 2 Bolanlc Awe, “ Ibadan, Its Early Beginnings”, in P.C. Lloyd, A.L. Mabogunjc and Bolanle Awe, editors, TU G ty o f Ibadan (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1967), p. 11 - 25.; also sec Bolanlc Awe, "The Rise of Ibadan as a Yoruba Power in the Nineteenth Century,” Unpublished D.Phil thesis, Oxford University, 1963, p. 70. 1 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY - The City State o f I badan: Texts c r Contexts dem and for m ore slaves. T he Yoruba sub-group exclusively near the coast were the Ijebu people, and they usually undertook the brokerage in the trans-Atlantic trade. T h is sub-group dropped the hint to their neighbours about the increase in the dem and for slaves. T heir hinterland neighbour, the Ifc people, took the cue and allied them selves w ith the Ijebu to attack O wu. T he O w u w ar w as not as d irect as it w ould ord inarily appear, but there w ere antecedents w hereby the O w u seem ed to h ave offended both the Ife and Ijebu on m atters relating to the trading post a t A pom u.34 It w as not d ifficu lt for the Ifc people to rally the O yo m igrants, w ho had fled the scourge o f the Fulani from northern Y orubaland , and the Egba people as allies to do batdc against the form idable O w u K ingdom . It took consistent efforts and considerab le resources to bring O w u to its knees. Sam uel Johnson affirm ed that th is becam e a decisive period in Y oruba history. A series o f in tra­ ethn ic feuds w ere to further destabilize southern Yorubaland. T h is led to the m ushroom ing o f arm y cam ps o f w hich Ibadan becam e a grand beneficiary. For the first tim e, gunpow der becam e an accessor)- for w a r and for slave raiding. * T h e allied forces, either for reasons o f centrality and accessibility, o r for the strategic nature o f the h ills , chose Ibadan, an erstw hile Egba setdem ent as their cam p. T h is happened betw een 1828 and 1829. G radually, other so ld iers from Ile-Ife, Ijebu and O yo setded at Ibadan. Bolanle A w e established that Oyo leaders like O/uyole and O/upoyi, as w ell as Labosinde from Ile-Ife setded w ith their m en around M apo and Oja'ba, som e Ijebu so ldiers setded at Isalc Ijebu and the Egba w arriors a t Iyeosa.5 T he heterogeneity o f the new tow n becam e both a source o f rem arkable strength as w e ll as inherent w eakness. T hough an am algam o f subcultures were cohabiting and grow ing as a variegated ethnos, there w as alw ays a sem inal struggle for suprem acy. T he belligerent nature o f the setders d id not help m atters. But it w as sufficient that each group founded a setdem ent and hom e base by choice rather than by coercion. W hat finally put paid to this riva lry w as 3 Samuel Johnson, The History o f the Yorubas, (Lagos: CSS Bookshops, 1921, Reprinted 1937), p. 2 0 6 -2 0 7 . 4 Ibid, p.210. 5 Awe, 1967, p. 14. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Dele Layimla: Ibadan from its Beginnings to t/e Close o f the 20th Century. . . 3 th e m ass exodus o f people from the northern fringes o f the O yo Em pire. The em igrants found a hom e in Ibadan and gradually overw helm ed the population o f the other sub-groups. It therefore m eant that these O vo groups, from a hitherto flourishing em pire brought, w holesale, their cu lture and m ores into their new environm ent. A critical look in to the early h istory o f O vo itse lf reveals that like m ost flourish ing and estab lished em pires, there were set patterns to life and the grandeur o f econom ic and m ilitary pow er gave rise to cerem onial and court traditions. It w as from this and the ritualized aspects o f cu lture that the vibrant developm ent o f theatrical instincts and gestural em bellishm ents developed. Cultural settlements and developments It w as reported that an Ifa divination w as perform ed w hen som e traditional religious leaders arrived to sanctify Ibadan w ith sacrifices on the O luyole hills. T he resulting odu w as "O se Me/?\ T h is sign becam e the guard ian Odu o f the new city. T he c ity patriarch , Lagclu , and six diviner-priests w ere present on that first occasion. T h e sam e odu sign then appeared again on three critical occasions in the life o f the city. A ccording to Bolaji Idowu,6 these w ere when: • T he populace sought d ivine b lessings on the new settlem ent for prosperity. Then , the Oke Ibadan (or the sp irit o f Ibadan) was instituted as a totem o f worship. • T he oracle w as consulted on how to preserve the grow ing population and the em erging prosperity. • A siege w as laid on Ibadan and its expansion and security w as threatened. O se M eji (m eaning double v ictory) appeared again to reassure the inhabitants o f a s low but steady and persistent grow th , as in the m ovem ent o f snails. It seem s, this is w hy the snail o r its shell becam e the m ascot o f the c ity ’s coat of arm s. A close study o f O se M eji reveals that under the m ajor them atic and m etrical divisions, the sign is concerned w ith (a) survival (b) w ealth (c) fertility 6 Bolaji Idowu, “Religion in Ibadan: Traditional Religion and Christianity” in Bolanle A w e .e ta l, p. 2 3 5 -2 4 7 . UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 4 The City State o f lbailan: Texts & Contexts and (d) victor)-. T hese arc consistent w ith the prcoccupadons identified w ith the founders o f the c ity in its early stages. T h e cu ltural im portance o f this po in t is that Ibadan, in sp ite o f the pure serendip ity connected w ith its locauon and founding, is still a trad idonal and sp iritual hom e to its inhabitants. It show s that a ll care w as taken as to its establishm ent and , contrary to the m anner o f setdem ent, noth ing w as g iven up to chance. A ny Y oruba setdem ent, thus inaugurated by solid trad iuon, is often assured o f its safety and stability. T he city w as soon to attract settlers from the four w inds, expanding by leaps and bounds. 'H ie cu ltural idealism o f the founding fathers w as balanced by the em pirical arrangem ent o f its m igrant settlers. A w ar cam p back then, w as conven ient and central to the rest o f the Yoruba people. M oreover, it proved to be a crucial location betw een the forest and savannah belts, a su itab le m ercantilist base and a centre for the exchange o f cultural links. T he m ore contem porary areas o f the c ity lie to the w est and north o f the range o f h ills first traversed by the founding fathers. Som e o f the hills are Oke Sapati, Oke Ohtokun, O ke Sent, O ke A re, O ke Foko, OkeM apo, Oke A do, Oke Bo/a, etc. H ie setdem ent patterns arc m arked out b y the variation in architectural patterns and , to som e extent, the social and econom ic stratification w ith in the spraw ling city. M abogunjc noted that the earlier crop o f im m igrants in to Ibadan from about 1900 w ere from neighbouring Y oruba com m unities — Ijcbu, Egba and Ijcsha.7 8 T h ey w ere m ostly traders w ho settled in parts o f the w estern sector known as A munigun, Agbeni, Idikan, Oke-Padi and O ke Foko. T hough the housing units were bu ilt w ith in com pounds w ith central courtyards in the traditional fashion, these w ere m odified in to rectangular structures w ith iso lated units subtending a courtyard. T he new structures w ere inhabited by on ly th e different im m igrant fam ilies, w ho shared conveniences such as kitchens, bathroom s, toilets and wells. It also show s that the units w ere built for com m ercial purposes. Some o f them were let to o ther im m igrants arriv ing at d ifferent periods. M any o f the im m igrant quarters contrasted w ith the ‘native’ build ings, because they w ere o f 7 Wandc Abimbola, “Osc Meji” in Ifa Divination Poetry, (New York: Nok Publishers, 1977), p. 1 4 2 -1 49 . 8 A. L. Mabogunjc, “The Morphology of Ibadan” in P.C. Lloyd, A .L Mabogunjc and Bolanlc Awe, op.cit. p. 35 - 56. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY De/e Layiaola: Ibadan from its Beginnings to the Close o f tbe 20th Century. . . 5 higher standards, p lastered w ith cem ent, and som etim es built w ith stones, even though the walls o r m ounds m ight have been built w ith clay. An influx o f settlers w as noticeable w ith the arrival o f the ra ilw ay in 1901. A new suburb grew w ith the arrival o f I^agosia/ts and descendants o f freed slaves w ho had settled in Lagos, 'l l i i s area, slightly north o f the railw ay term inus, becam e known as E kolcdo o r ‘Lagos setdem ent’. T he railw ay network also brought settlers w ho w ere o rig inally from w hat later becam e known as the m id­ w est, southeastern and eastern N igeria. T he Hausa from the N orth w ere granted a parcel o f land which w as christened Sabo, an abbreviation o f Sabongari. Sabo is o ften translated as new tow n o r strangers’ quarters. T h is is an indication that the area is a quarter for settlers, (m ore properly, strangers). A djacent to this, the N upc w ere settled in a portion o f Nlokola cponym ously referred to as A go Tapa, which translates as N upc ham lets. M abogunjc rightly observed that the different appearances, as well as the architecture o f the H ausa quarters were so im perm anent as to suggest that they considered them selves sojourners rather than perm anent settlers in the city. T hese settlem ents w ere about a m ile and a h a lf north o f the ra ilw ay term inus. 'H ie aforegoing dcscripuon o f Ibadan presents the picture o f a c ity w ith an identity that is neither clear-cut nor easily negotiated. T lie original founders o f Ibadan, early in the 18th century, w ere led by L agelu , from the D egelu fam ily o f Ilc-Ifc. He and his g roup described those that they found on the site as brigands or ruffians.’' T he so journ at the first site w as short-lived because Lagclu ’s children disrespected an ancestra l m asquerade, egungun. Lagelu and his follow ers then regrouped and settled a t E/ejele hill. In the 19th century, Ibadan becam e a w a r cam p and its central position attracted settlers from a ll over Yorubaland. In the 20th century, it turned out that many m ore settlers cam e from a ll over N igeria and p itched their tents at d ifferent locations around the original city. N ow Ibadan has becom e so m etropolitan that besides Lagos, N igeria’s form er cap ital c ity , there is scarcely any o ther c ity in N igeria w ith the sam e scope o f a post-colonial aggregation o f nom adic 9 9 Chief M. I. Okunola, “Ibadan and Some of Her Landmarks", Being an address given at the Nigerian Field Society, Ibadan Branch, on Tuesday, 4th March 1997. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 6 The G ty State o f Ibadan: Texts & Contexts identities.1" T he im plication o f this is that Ibadan has alw ays been a land o f m ulufarious c itizen sh ip s- O vo, E gba, Ife, Ijcbu, Ijcsha. Ekiti, H ausa, N upc, Igbo, Edo, U rhobo, Itsekiri, E fik , etc. A s the cityscape changes, so its nationalities and identities grow w ith unsurpassable robustness. As w ith a ll post-co lon ial concepts o f identity, every im m igrant is an Ibadan m an o r wom an. 'H ie (sub) ethnic difference disappears as soon as each individual or g roup has settled down. T h is probably contributed to the c ity ’s ab ility to attract to itse lf N igeria’s prem ier university, an array o f publish ing houses, A frica ’s first television station in 1959 and a host o f o ther m issionary inspired centres. T h is is why it w as often referred to in the 1960s as N igeria’s cu ltural capital. It is clear th at Ibadan ’s cu ltural d iversity is m atched by a certain notion o f perform ance: the ‘perform ance o f personhood’, o f ‘citizensh ip ’ and of*history’. 'H ie fact d ia t a m yriad o f sub-groups first cam e together in response to the d isp lacem ent o f group boundaries, occasioned by w ar and m igration , turned the beneficiary c ity in to a cu ltural panoply. It becam e a po litical as w ell as a cultural laboratory for the ‘perform ance o f c itizensh ip ’ through avocation and in theatrical perform ance. T h is warrants a m ore detailed investigation as a theory o f cu ltural perform ance. T h e p e r fo rm in g a r ts in Ib ad an The Y oruba people, generally speaking, have alw ays derived this aspect o f culture from the trans-m igrant concept that the liv ing and d ie dead stand as a continuum , w hereby a change in perceptual identity* is likened to the change o f physio logical cloaks. Therefore, the hum an vessel is a disguise. T h is m akes it possib le for the dead, the ancestors or any beings from the ned ierw orld to com e to the w orld o f the liv ing, disguised. A ll they need do is to synchronize the m om ents o f transition w ith those o f the seasons so that m ystically, they are part o f the recurrence o f g reater world dram as. M ost o f these m odes o f entertainm ent or ‘revelations’ occur w ith in the interface that is generally referred to as the season o f harvest. It is, therefore, alm ost always analogous to renew al; there being an attendan t afflatus. A ncestral incarnations do occur a t other periods of 01 10 May Joseph, Nomadic Identities: The Performance o f Citizenship (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999). UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Dele Layiwola: Ibadan from its Beginnings to the Close o f the 20 th Century. . . 7 ex igency w hen stability or g roup identity is threatened. In his lecture on the landm arks o f Ibadan, C h ie f M .I. O kunola indicated that the first setdem ent o f Ibadan broke up as a sanedon against Lagelu because o f the disrespect his ch Jd ren showed tow ards egungun, an ancestral incarnadon. N eighbouring rulers am p ly cam e together and sacked that setdem ent. T he indication in m ost Y oruba setdem ents is that the incarnadon o f an ancestral sp irit is bo th a reality as w e ll as a d isguise. F or the sam e reason, an pronounces lofty, d ivine blessings and proffers m undane entertainm ent o r revelry. T h is phenom enon is interesting in the adap tive m ediation o f con temporal}' dram atists o f Y oruba extraction. In W ole Soyinka’s The R oa d1, the eccentric character ca lled Professor m et h is doom because he desecrated an ancestral figure in public. T h e elem ent o f disguise, innocuous as it m ay seem , recurs in many institutionalized arts. T here is an exam ple in the Igboho period o f O yo history. Fo llow ing Sam uel Johnson , both Robert Sm ith12 and Jo e l A dedeji1' rem arked about the dram atic im portance o f the disguise figures that the councillors o f A laafin A b ipa (c. 1590) used as phantom s to discourage the return from Igboho to O yo lie (O ld O yo). S ix ch icfs-in -council each presented physically-disabled persons w ith chalk and raffia costum es as spirits o f the forests: 1. hashorun presented a hunchback 2. A lapinni presented an albino 3. A sipa presented a leper 4. Samu presented a prognathous (protruding jaw) 5. Laguna presented a dw arf *3 : : Wole Soyinka, The Road (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1973. Sec also Dele Livnrola, “Literature, Violence and the City: A Sociological Exploration of Wole Sov^nka’s The Road ” in Papers in Honour o f Professor Dope Adelugba a t 60, edited by Egbc !5e, Ibadan: End-Time Publishing House, 2001), p. 200 - 208. - 2 Robert Smith, op. cit. 3 JA . Adedeji, " ’Alarinjo: The Traditional Yoruba Travelling Theatre” in Yemi O ym biyi, editor. Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Sourcebook (Lagos: Nigeria .'-Lgazme, 1981),p. 221 - 247. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 8 The Q'ty State o f Ibadan: Texts & Contexts 6. A kiniku presented a cripple. These ‘counterfe it’ spirits w ere revealed as a m ere disguise, but a m em orab le historical d ram a resulted from it. A s Sm ith noted, it becam e som ething o f a state perform ance during three religious festivals in O ld Oyo. T he first w as during the O risa Oko or farm god festival. T he second w as at the OrisaMoU festival and the third w as a t the O duduw a festival.14 A dcdcji adds that it w as also enacted at the installation o f a new A laafin , a t a n igh t reception in the aganjtt o r p alace foyer. T he author reconfirm ed A dcdeji’s c la im in a p rivate discussion w ith the late Oba (Dr) S.O . Babayem i (form erly o f th e Institute o f A frican Studies, U n iversity o f Ibadan, O lufi o f Gbortgan). Babayem i gave an eye w itness account o f one such enactm ent a t the installation o f A laafin O layiw ola A deycm i in 1971. Though these enactm ents becam e custom ary abou t 1610, w hich w as th e year in w hich Ogbolte (sam e as A b ipa) re-occup ied O ld Oyo, these dram atic enactm ents becam e a regu lar entertainm ent at the k ing’s court m Oyo. It w as not until som e tim e later that th e art becam e a w idespread practice am ong the ordinary citizens o f th e kingdom . A dedeji has rightly identified this as the beginn ing o f professionalism in trad itional theatre in Yorubaland. Com petition and the proliferation o f groups further honed this craft. Beyond the entertainm ent value, they becam e status sym bols for the royal courts and am ong the elite , m en o f influence and warlords. T h is w as the situation w hen, in the 19th century, Ibadan gained m ilitary ascendancy and political independence from the stranglehold o f the overbearing O yo Em pire. T h e Ibadan Em pire, w hich becam e som ething o f a surrogate to the erstw hile O yo Em pire, extended from southw estern Y orubaland to northeastern Yorubaland. Between 1830 and 1893, w hen Ibadan carved for itse lf an extensive and pow erfu l em pire, th e new elite helped the theatre to flourish. Each A jele, o r resident overlord, had a standing troupe, w h ich perform ed fo r his court and som etim es perform ed fo r the com m unity. T h e rapport, w hich the court and the perform er had, w as exhib ited in an unusual instance afte r the K iriji w ar o f 1877 - 1893. Balogun A jayi O sungbekun, the Ibadan w a r general resident in Ikirun, follow ed in the trad ition o f chieftains w ho enjoyed trad itional theatrical perform ances. He invited the A iytlabola troupe to perform at his behest. O lojede 14 Smith, p.70. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Dele Lqyiwolo: Ibadan from its Beginnings to the Close o f the 20th Century. . . A iyelabo la, d ie son o f the late founder and perform er o f the sam e nam e then m anaged the troupe. A nother protege o f the late A iyelabola, T ijuku A jangila was then the leader o f the Agbegi/o troupe, w hich had em erged as a rival troupe to that o f h is la te m entor. H e lo st out on the com m ission and w anted vengeance. The usual p loy o f perform ance groups in rivalry w as usually to invoke the rain to ruin a rival’s show. I f this fails, they resort to the use o f other form s o f b lack magic. T ijuku invoked the rain but this failed. T ijuku then resorted to the second ploy against O lojcde. It w as a taboo in the cgungun society for an actor p lay ing the costum e episode o r apada to expose any o f his features. U nder T ijuku ’s spell, O lojede overplayed h im self b y unw ittingly exposing his body ju st as he defdy overturned h is costum e in th e apada dance. Thus cam e the opportunity for A jangila to excise his pound o f flesh. T h e officials o f the cgungun society, in com pliance w ith the dictates o f their guild , qu ick ly d ispersed the crow d and sum m oned O lojede for trial a t the sacred grove. T ijuku did not fail to instigate the suprem e penalty , that is, the death penalty on his arch-rival. O lojcdc’s bravery and sto icism stunned his adm irers w hen he accepted the verd ict w ith a prom ise to g o round the tow n on a farew ell perform ance. By the tim e he arrived at the palace w here the Balogun o f Ibadan resided, a ll the w arlords w ere w a itin g w ith laurels and prizes. Inspired by this heroic treatm ent, he chanted, in m elodic verse , the heroic explo its and trag ic end o f his father as an extended analogy o f his ow n travails and anticipated end. Balogun O sungbckun o f Ibadan rem em bered the detail o f A iyelabo la’s heroic perform ances and contribution to the success o f th e last w ar. H e then adopted him as the O lubadan ’s m asque-dram aturge from that m om ent onwards. T h atw as how O lojede escaped the death penalty passed on him a t the grove in Ik irun .*’5 I have adopted the A iyelabo la story in relation to the story o f Ibadan to illustrate the ex ten t to w hich the perform ing arts have shaped the tastes o f elites in h istory; and the ex ten t to which those elites have, in turn, shaped its efflorescence. It is equally crucial to note that th e cu ltivation o f those arts aided professionalism and the shap ing o f identities. P erfo rm ance and its devices thereby transcend borders, as actors and gu ilds go from one tow n to the other strengthening cu ltural ties and interpretations. 15 15 Adedcji, p. 232. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 10 The G ty State o f I badan: Texts & Contexts Ib ad an a n d the fo rg in g o f a p o s t-co lo n ia l id e n t ity T he m ost d istinct aspect o f Ibadan history in the 19th century w as her position as a central w a r camp in w hich w ar heroes, s lave raiders and ex-slaves cam e to settle. T he identity com plex o f the c ity , therefore, lies in its p lurality. A ccord ing to C h ief M .1. O kunola, Ibadan w as not on ly central to those from the forests and the savannah belts a lone, the site w as b lessed w ith the abundance o f Ipara trees. N ow the roo t o f this unique tree w as invaluab le to w arriors because it contains a stim ulant called odi, w hich w as used fo r hardiness in w arfare. It w as therefore conven ient fo r w arriors, m arauders and crim inals to return periodically to Ibadan for th e supply o f od i.16 17 S ince a setdem ent has em erged, however, leaders cam e together to establish d ie sem blance o f governance. A ccord ing to Sam uel Johnson ,1 O luycdun, the son o f the \atc A fon ja o f Ilorin, becam e the first A are Ona Kakanfo (w ar general) o f Ibadan. He preferred this tide to that o f Baale (adm inistrative ch iefta in ), because th e form er w as his father’s tide and preference. Lakanle, a b rave w arrior, could not take his favoured tide o f B alogun because Kakanfo, a lready taken by O luycdun, w as a suprem e m ilitary tide, so he deferred to O luycdun on grounds o f age and nobility. H e therefore took the tide o f Otun Kakanfo, w h ilst the g rea t O luyole becam e the O si Kakanfo. Thus w as established o ther tides such as Ekerin (the fourth in com m and), Ekarun (the fifth in line) and Ekefa (sixth in line). T here w ere other m ilitary tides such a s A areA bese a n d Sarumi (cavalry ch ief). These tides w ere m ore o r less patterned after those o f th e Oyo em pire, from w h ich m ost o f these w arriors cam e. But g iven the ad hoc nature o f the new city, these tides w ere less established and in a desultory fash ion. T h e only Ife ch ie f w ho rem ained in Ibadan w as the g rea t Labosinde, w ho w as not on ly revered fo r his age, but also on account o f his acum en. He declined the m ande o f political leadership but w as honoured w ith the tide o f Baba h a le or ch ief counsellor. T he story o f Ibadan from the foregoing agglom eration o f cu ltural facts and patterns points to one fact. W hat w e ca ll post-co lon ial identities in persons or setdem ents, tow ns o r cities is a fluid, d iverse phenom enon in the w ay a 16 Okunola, p. 2. 17 Johnson, p.244. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN L BRARY Dele Layiiuola: Ibadan from its Beginnings to the Close o f the 20th Century. 11 com m unity is w elded together. In o ther w ords, our chosen or inherited identities partake o f m ultitudes and arc therefore nom adic o r transnational in oudook.18 9 W e have earlier inferred that due to the anonym ity in the status o f m igrant citizenship across Y orubaland in the 19th century, Ibadan ’s status as a cosm opolis w as volatile. T here w as m uch rivalry and clashes over the contro l o f in fluence and territory. T here w as a perennial search for authenticity and the establishm ent o f citizenship. T h is w as inevitab le because the occupation and settling o f a v irg in territory created a sense o f w hat M ay Joseph described as “ inauthentic citizenship posed by the large and dispersed co m m un itie s ...” 19 T here m ust, o f necessity, evo lve a state o f flux w hereby social even ts and h istorical accidents w ill w e ld the varied am algam into a nation-state w ith a pecu liar identity. T h e nature o f the v io lence o f h istorical circum stances is of d istinct types. T h e fact that slave raiders and burglars sto le in to the c ity regularly is on ly one aspect o f the pervasive v io lence that attends new com m unities o f varied com position w hich , for lack o f hom ogeneity, often lacks in centrifuge. That, essentially, is the basis o f the spraw ling p lanlcssness that is seen in the structure o f the o lder parts o f the city. A po et described Ibadan in the follow ing lines: Ibadan, R unning sp lash o f rust A nd gold - flung and scattered A m ong seven h ills like broken China in the sun.20 21 N eedless to say that the scattered nature o f the irregular lines stand for the state o f Ibadan in the poet’s m ind. A m ore regular, even seden tary kind o f vio lence w as that o f dom estic slave ow ners, as w as typified by the dram atized episodes o f Akinw um i Iso la’s Efunsetan A niwura ,2! w here a single w om an, s lave ow ner, 18 Joseph, p.13 — 14. 19 ibid., p. 2. 20 J.P. Clark, “Ibadan” in A.G. S. Momodu and Ulla Schild, editors, Nigerian Writing (Benin: Bendel Book Depot & Horst Erdmann Verlag, 1976), p.130. 21 Akinwumi Isola, Efunsetan Aniwura: lyalode Ibadan (Ibadan: University Press, 1979). UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 12 The City State o f I badan: Texts & Contexts in itiated new , acquisitive values and held the w ho le o f Ibadan to ransom . It took the intervention o f th e Baalc, A arc Latoosa, and a detachm ent o f so ld iers to bring the situation under control. rh e truth, in reality, w as that the m igrant population had becom e enam oured o f the assertive values inherent in em pire m ak ing and em pire build ing. They therefore becom e unduly adventurous as they turn their acquired aggression inw ard against them selves. A fter all, so ld iers w ere bred to go to w ar to subjugate territories and capture booty, not stay a t hom e and id le aw ay. Even at the time o f Captain Bower, as late as 1893, w hen the British had subjugated the country, able-bodied m en in Ibadan were still open ly talk ing o f re-opening the unfinished cam paign against th e in trud ing Fulanis w ho had retreated to Ilorin.22 23T his m eans that the notion o f dispersed nations seeking perm anent am algam ation in new cultural and legal ties2* is always the context o f post-colonial identities. Pre- colonial identities are recognizab le as statutorily ccphalous, o rgan ically knit com m unities w here lineage ties are sacro san ct O n the o ther hand , a p o st­ colonial iden tity is acquired through choice or forced m igrancy and by psychological participation in a new fangled set o f values. T ransnationality is therefore a granted notion o f post-colonial, even post-industrial identity. Ibadan, as a cosm opolis, occupies a un ique centre in the h istory anti politics o f N igeria from the latter h a lf o f the 19th century, because it presented itse lf as the savannah haven unto w hich a ll strangers cam e. Even today, its spraw ling nature not on ly m akes i t the largest c ity in central A frica; it has becom e the m ost populous city in N igeria . T h e o ther cities in N igeria that rival it arc L agos (itse lf a conglom eration o f tow ns), K ano and A ba. Lagos is the m ost ethn ically variegated o f the three because i t is a coastal port. By 1850, and w ith in the Y oruba country, Ibadan had becom e the enchanted, neutral space in to w h ich an am orphous, ‘inauthentic’ m ass o f peop le asp ired for citizenship. T he netw ork o f dem ography and com m erce m atured over a century such th at b y 1950, N igeria ’s prem ier un iversity as w ell as the m ajor m ultinational, publish ing houses, theatres, cinem a halls and m issionary schools found their hom e therein . G iven the educational and cultural facilities, perform ance guilds, 22 Johnson, p. 643. 23 Joseph, p.14. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Dele Layiaola: Ibadan from its Beginnings to the Close o f the 20tb Century. . . 13 cultural troupes and entertainers m oved in to the rather desuitor)' c ity m ade up o f various sub-cultures. T h is m ulti-cu ltural trait helped creativity, im provisation and the sp irit o f discovery. T h e already estab lished troupes o f doyens such as H ubert O gundc, D uro Lad ipo and K o la O gunm ola had their bases in o r near Ibadan. O gundc, it m ust be said , preferred a m ore ubiquitous, touring approach, w ith his real base in L agos rather than in Ibadan. Even though the Y oruba elite tended to live in cities, the concept o f post-co lon ial urban ization and exploitative com m erce, which set itse lf on the N igerian so il about 1860, accelerated the pace o f m odem , proto-industrial developm ent. T h is represented a new phase, w hich som etim es aids new unusual artistic developm ent, but a t o ther tim es subverts art form s and their archetypes. F or instance, new m odes o f religious w orship and the em ergence o f a new kind o f civil serv ice e lite began to affect the production and discrim ination o f artistic and cultural perform ance. T he erstw hile street and m arket p lace dances o f the egungun had to be m odified in to new structures o f theatrical sensib ility and codes. N ew forms o f p leasure w ere also being created as new forms o f com m unication grew . T he rad io and the m ore recent developm ent o f television also re-structured and m odified the production o f traditional art and perform ance. W h ile popular forms o f indigenous theatre flourished, the advent o f a un iversity in 1948, w ith a liberal arts curricu lum brought a coterie o f foreign as w e ll as indigenous artists. T h e on ly m ajor difference being that the artistic productions that em erged from the new citadels o f British provenance w ere conceived and w ritten in the E nglish language. B y the late 1950s, scores o f young writers, artists and publishers w ho had rediscovered a new sense o f nationalism had com e together to found theatrical troupes w h ich perfeedy com plem ent the tradition o f the Y oruba doyens m entioned above. W o le Soyinka set up O risun T heatre. Taiyc A yorindc set up w hat he called the N igeria T heatre G roup and Christopher K olade set up T h e Players o f the D awn. O risun w as succeeded by the U nibadan M asques o f 1960. A p an -cu ltu ra l group that brought together all the artists, w riters and poets em erged in 1960, under the patronage o f U lli Bcicr, called M bari C lub. Its publish ing organ w as the journal ca lled b la ck Orpheus, in w hich w riters like C hristopher O kigbo, John Pepper C lark, A ig H igo and W ale O gunycm i first published their sem inal w orks. A rtists in other m edia like Demas N w oko, a scu lp tor and bu ilder; T un ji O yclana, a singer/com poser; Segun O lusola, Fem i Johnson , D apo A dclugba, w ho w ere actors and im presarios along UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 14 The Q'ty State o f Ibadan: Texts & Contexts with W o le Soyinka, w ere a ll part o f th e M bari C lub. M bari, the c lub ’s nam e, is derived from the Igbo concept o f artistic com m une and creativity. The clubhouse, m ade up o f a bar, a bandstand or dais, a small hall and dance floor w as located first a t O gunpa O yo w hen it started. T he location w as strategic. This is because the stud io o f the W estern N igeria B roadcasting Corporation (W NBC) w as located at D ugbc, a m ere three m inutes w alk from the clubhouse. The B ritish Council L ib rary and its courtyard, w hich serves as the rehearsal arena for the am ateur theatre groups w as d irectly across th e road from the W N B C and four m inutes from the M bari C lub. T h e university cam pus (UCI) and the newly- established W estern N igeria Television (W N TV) w ould be abou t 6 and 4 k ilom etres north and cast respectively o f the Ibadan city. T he M bari Club replicated itse lf in O sogbo as the M bari M bayo C lub under the leadership o f Ulli B eier and Susanne W enger, w ith D uro Lad ipo and som e other fine and v isual artists as the central figures. T he two M bari centres a t Ibadan and O sogbo stoked each o ther as com plem ents. But w hile the Ibadan workshop prom oted the perform ing arts, the O sogbo w orkshop prom oted visual, textile and p lastic arts. W ith th e benefit o f hindsight, the period w as a cu ltural renaissance fo r N igeria. Ibadan w as particularly privileged w ith this all-com ers rev ivalist projects w hich coincided w ith po litical and cultural independence after a century o f colonial subjugation and governance. A new set o f literary and dram atic styles em erged w ith the help o f the university and its new talents. T he new publishing houses w ere both British and N igerian, on the southw estern com er o f the city, around O nirekc and Jericho . U nderstandably, their locations w ere situated just a stone’s throw from the tem porary cam pus o f the un iversity a t E leyele. T he new television station, the first o f its kind in A frica sa t on the southeastern part o f the city a t A god i, near the seat o f the W estern R egional G overnm ent. By the tim e o f po litical independence in 1960, the conglom erate o f ‘nom adic citizenscapes’ o f the previous century, w hich Ibadan gathered, had forged a pecu liar identity. Ibadan becam e the centre o f po litical and cultural perform ance. It w as in Ibadan that w e had the v io len t po litical m ovem ents o f 1964 - 1966, w hich ushered the m ilitary in to N igerian politics. It w as also in Ibadan that the perform ance o f a rt and the notion o f citizenship becam e m ost ebullient. The situation w as sim ilar to w hat M ay Jo sep h described thus: W hile theorists of participatory democracy may quibble about the degree of participation available or its progressive possibilities, none UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Dele Layiwola: Ibadanf rom its Beginnings to the Close o f the 20th Century . . . 15 disagrees that the inherendy performative nature of citizenship is simultaneously learned, cultivated and improvised as a total work of citizenship in formation. Performance emerges as an implied sphere rather dian an actually located process. It is the self-conscious enactment of the legal, cultural, and social structuring logic in post industrial citizenry.24 5 A new w ave o f nationalist consciousness brought forth a certain robust perform ance and affirm ation o f citizenship and o f nationality. T h is stream o f evolving consciousness w as continuous, as it w as segm ental. A rtistic com m unes w ould fragm ent and m erge again as the M bari C lub o f artists at Ibadan seem ed to do. T he cam araderie at O gunpa broke up on account o f the painfu l civil w ar of 1967 - 1970. M ost o f th c artists w ere tom betw een the d ifferent sides o f the war, and m any talents and bonds w ere forcibly broken. Som e rem ained in Ibadan but m any went to Lagos, N sukka, Jo s , etc. T he club itse lf relocated from O gunpa to Adam asingba in 1969. T h is coincided w ith the rehearsal o f W ole Soyinka’s Kortgi's Harvest. In fact, the p lay w as prem iered in the c lub at A dam asingba. By ‘.9 7 1 , w hen the first film version o f Kongi's Harvest b y C alpenny Film s began to m ake th e rounds in Ibadan and its environs, the sheer success o f the production caused the erstw hile M bari C lub to be re-nam ed K ongi C lub. T h e N igerian civil war, w hich ended in 1970, had le ft a scar on the cu ltural and artistic landscape, and the artists w ho returned w ere full o f w istfu l longing, but a litdc too m uch of anguish to allow for the re-m em bering o f M bari o r K ongi C lubs. T he hollow shell o f the cu ltural renaissance had taken on a new , self-consum ptive m aterialism . That vacuum exists to this day. T he story o f Ibadan’s first set o f m igrants becam e the story o f its variegated polity, as reflected in th e various theatrical and perform ance troupes, num bering alm ost 200.2'* T hese troupes m oved in and settled in the new cultural capital. T hey reflected a m odey o f sensibilities and attitudes like a m irror before an applique. T oday, Ibadan rem ains a reflector o f th e diverse geograph ical space called the N igerian state. Each ethnic group has a t last perm anendy setded in its original quarters, w ith the H ausa group in Sabo and Sasa and the E b ira group largely a t ^ o Tapa and M okola. T h e Igbo group is som ew hat less iso lated . T hey 24 Biodun Jcyifo, ‘T h e Yoruba Popular Travelling Theatre o f Nigeria”, Nigeria Magazine, 1984, p. 200 - 203. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 16 The City State o f Ibadan: Texts e>* Contexts have settled in indigenous quarters and have stalls s ide by side with traders in the different m arkets in the city. T he other south-w est, south-south and south-east groups have also integrated w ith the peop le in the city. In the densely-populated sections o f A gbow o, A kobo , O do-O na, O luyole and Felele-Challenge layouts, the m ajority Y oruba group is com plem ented w ith settlers from other parts o f the country. T h e indigenous areas o f the 1830s and 1840s like Oje, O ja ’ba Foko, \sale Ijebu, Inalende, O ratyan, Oniyanrin, Gege, etc. arc, how ever, still largely inhabited by the early setders and their descendants. T h e great d ifference is that the founding e lite o f the 19th century w ere warriors, w h ile the elite from the second h a lf o f the 20th century w ere the intelligentsia. T he cosm opolitan oudook o f Ibadan continues to derive its leg itim acy from the fact that the Y oruba people have alw ays lived in large groups and urban centres. T he Y oruba people, therefore, have escaped the problem o f inbreeding, w hich is the resu lt o f treating others as strangers or intruders. T h is h as also helped their m utant oudook, w h ich , like their theatrical perform ances, ‘arc quick to adap t and appropriate from the skills and the repertories o f others’. T h is pride o f p lace as a cu ltural m elting pot has a large proportion o f the nation ’s intellectual cap ital w ith in its gates as w ell. T h e once sym bol o f a liberal cultural m ovem ent-the M bari M bayo C lub -has now m oved, though as a fragm ent, into a m odem , post-industria l glass house ca lled Segi Restaurant. T he im posing business com plex housing Segi is ca lled Broking H ouse and w as estab lished by Fcm i Johnson (now o f b lessed m em ory), w ho w as h im self an artistic connoisseur and accom plished ac to r w ith the M bari and K ongi C lubs as well as w ith The Players o f the D aw n. T he present location o f B roking House is southwest o f the original M bari C lub. T he nam e Kongi stands for the anti-hero. In Soyinka’s play, Kongi's Harvest, the character w ith the nam e K ongi is an over-bloated egoist w hose a lter-ego in the sam e play is the fiercely fem inist, Segi. W hat could be responsib le fo r this proto-fem inist ‘about rum ’? Is it the sensibility o f an elite w ith cu ltural detritus flung over their shoulder? O r is it a m atter o f trying the flip side o f a perp lex ing historical phenom enon? T h is is better left as a rhetorical aside. T he transm utation o f the chauvin istic m ale sym bol o f K ongi in to the equally profound Segi, a quarter o f a century later, is perhaps a subds po inter to the cu ltural transm utation o f Ibadan and the identities o f its p luralist, variegated denizens in th e im pending m illcn ium . It is a m illcnium so subtle, so fem in ist as UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Dele Layiarola: Ibadan from its Beginnings to the Close o f the 20th Century. . . 17 :o be ruthless and utterly dem anding. 'I*hc new pressures are no longer those o f wars and gangsterism , but those o f uneasy g lobalization , overpopulation, high fibre, low textured perform ance o f citizenship and, in all sincerity , those o f dire profligacy. In a ll o f these, Ibadan is on ly a port from w hich to draw the cursor to the rest o f our develop ing cu ltural capitals in W est A frica. It is d e a r that the days o f in tense cu ltural affirm ation in art and theatre arc gone. T h ey have been subdy replaced by the production o f taw dry video film s and loud , lurid television adverts. T hese arc no longer ‘classics’ as w e used to know them , but a ragbag of ideas from cultures far afield as South A m erica, India, Southeast A sia , the United States and Britain. W hat outlets these w ould lead to arc d ifficu lt to pinpoint, but a new k ind o f industrialization is w ell underway. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY