History: The Jalumi War of 1878
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Mar 23, 2020 2:19 PM
Sometimes around 1878, the people of Ikirun in the now modern Osun state sent messages to Ibadan, asking them to send warriors to come and help them win the war against the allied forces of Ila, Ekiti-parapo, Ijesha and the Yoruba/fulanis from Ilorin.
The allied forces had attacked Ikirun, sending them back behind their walls while also surrounding them. When the message got to Ibadan, they couldn't respond quickly because they had warriors fighting in Meko in Ogun State. Due to this, the warriors of Ikirun suffered heavy defeat against the allied forces.
As soon as the conquest of Meko was completed, the Ibadan warriors, led by Balogun Ogboriefon immediately made for Ikirun without even resting. He had been instructed by the Oluyole of Ibadan to reach Ikirun within five days so that he could salvage them from getting completely wiped out. The time of the war unfortunately coincided with the rainy season, and the rivers were filled up. To get to Ikirun, Ogboriefon and his men had to cross the rivers of Oba and Osun. Due to the heavy rain, they had troubles crossing the rivers, and a lot of Ibadan warriors perished. Not deterred, Ogboriefon crossed with a large number of his warriors, and they headed for the war front.
The Ijesha army, led by Ayimoro and Ogunmodede attacked the people of Ikirun from the eastern side. Ilorin, led by Ajia attacked them from the Northeast, while Fabunmi and Adeyala led the armed forces of Ekiti and Ila respectively.
When Ogboriefon saw the situation on ground, he called Osi-Ilori, his second in command and gave him some warriors so that he will take them and attack the Ijeshas. Ogboriefon took the remaining warriors to attack the Ilorin, Ila and Ekiti warriors. Some days into the war, Osi-Ilori was defeated and captured alive. He was taken to the Ijesha camp to be disgraced. Some of his men ran and quickly went to tell Ogboriefon who was dealing with the Ilorin warriors that Osi-Ilori had been captured. On hearing the news, Ogboriefon travelled immediately to the Ijesha camp and soundly defeated them using war tactics. Unfortunately, however, Osi-ilori had been killed before Ogboriefon got there. Having defeated the Ijeshas, Ogboriefon returned to his previous position and defeated the Ilorin warriors, before advancing on Ila and Ekiti. Ogboriefon proceeded to defeat the Ila and Ekiti warriors too before going back to chase the wounded fulani soldiers who were retreating towards Ofa. Before the Ilorin warriors got to Ofa, the people of Ofa had heard, and they went to cut the bridge that linked Ikirun to Ofa to prevent the Ilorin people from bringing war to them. The bridge ran over the Otin river, and since there was no bridge to cross, the Ilorin warriors jumped into the river and died in droves, with the fulanis suffering the most. This is the reason the war was named Ogun Jalumi (The war of drowning in water).
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