YORUBAS ARE MASTERS OF WARFARE...
YORUBAS' HUMILITY IS NOT STUPIDITY.
GENTILITY IS NOT DOCILITY...
The Fulani Jihad led by Sheik Usman Dan Fodio that began in 1804 in Sokoto, and spread gradually to put Hausa land under the domination of Fulani and moved down South of the River Niger had serious effects on virtually the whole of modern Nigeria.
Ilorin and environs, which were on the northern fringe of Oyo Empire, was sacked by Fulani elements domiciled in that town in 1823 and it, therefore, became a satellite of the Sokoto caliphate and a base from where the Jihadists attempted to penetrate, overpower and Islamise Yoruba land.
The Osogbo war of 1840 showed that the Yoruba use traditional technology to prosecute wars and not just fighting only like beasts of the fields. A brand of banana was planted during that war which bore fruits same day and Fulani soldiers ate and died upon consumption. In the 1983 electoral war in Ondo State eggs were used as bombs on the Electoral Commission building as recorded by Dare Babarinsa in "House of War".
Fulani elements from Ilorin were repelled by combined Yoruba forces with great inputs from Ibadan warriors, drawn from all supporting towns of Oyo, in line with defence arrangement perfected by Yoruba leaders led by Alaafin Atiba, at the new capital, Agodoyo around 1837.
For example, Oyo Empire can not be said to have collapsed before 1893, in line with British conquest of Sokoto in 1903 and Benin in 1897, etc. What really happened was that the empire declined and its power waned. Research has shown that after the victory of Ilorin over Yoruba forces during the Eleduwe war of 1835, Emir Shitta sent Ilorin forces to sack Oyo Ile and loot the palace. Consequent upon the attack, Oyo Ile was deserted and has been in ruins ever since. Logically, Oyo empire would have fallen if the Fulani had been able to overrun the whole of the empire as she did to Ilorin and Hausaland.
Besides, all Yoruba towns sent their forces to fight along Ibadan during wars such as Osogbo, Jalumi, Ofa, Kiriji, etc. That was the practice at Oyo Ile and this they maintained until 1893. Equally, it was Adeyemi 1 that the warrior reported to after the wars and his quota of the war booty was sent to him as the sovereign.
Vividly, like in Oyo Ile, there were over-ambitious functionaries of government in the mould of Basorun Gaa, Edun of Gbogun and Afonja of Ilorin, etc., who usurped the power of the Alaafin and insubordinated to him like Ogunmola, Latosisa, et al.
The Oyo Ile survived and Alaafin Adeyemi 1 played a significant role until the signing of the protectorate with the British in 1893. The Yoruba mastered all skills, including warfare, and protected their territories at all times knowing when to fight and using diplomacy when it was expedient to do so.
