Kiriji War

The Kiriji War, also known as the Ekiti–Parapo War, was a 16-year-long civil war between the subethnic kingdoms of the Yoruba people, specifically divided between the Western Yoruba, which was mainly the Ibadan and Oyo-speaking Yorubas, and the Eastern Yoruba, who were the Ekiti people, Ijesha, Ijebu, YagbaEkiti people and others.

Reasons for the war

During the war, all of the subethnic groups of the Yoruba either supported the Ibadan or the Ekiti . The main reason for the civil war was an attempt to halt the expansive efforts of the Ibadan city-state, which attempted to replace the Oyo Empire as the dominant region in Yorubaland. In addition, Ibadan wanted a unified Yoruba nation similar to that of the Oyo Empire, while the Ekiti wanted a loose confederation of kingdoms that had existed in the Ekiti region. The fall of the Oyo Empire, which had dominated the region for 500 years left a gap in the government of Yorubaland. Many city states, which were previous provinces of the empire, rose up to replace the dominant Oyo Empire, including Ibadan. Ibadan had won the 1840 Osogbo War and the Battle of Ijaiye in 1862 and had grown in immense power, almost rising to that of its predecessor.

Ekiti, Akoko, Igbomina, YagbaEkiti, and Ijesha kingdoms had, for several years, gone through unimaginable subjugations by Aare Latosisa of Ibadan through his appointed agents, called Ajele. The Ajeles, were despotic, uncaring, autocratic, and indulged in excesses.

The European industrial revolution increased demand for African resources; the needed access to the coasts by kingdoms to trade; larger kingdoms who assumed power attempted to centralize power even though Yoruba ethnic groups were made up of several kingdoms.