Diplomatic-cum-National Interest Question in the Ekiti-parapo Grand Alliance; 1877-1893
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2016
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Published by the Departments of History and International Studies, University of Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin and North West University, South Africas, University of Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin and South West University, South Africa
Abstract
This paper examines the question bothering on diplomacy and national interest in the Èkìtìparapò Grand alliance of 1877 to 1893. It is now well-known that issues of most wars were basically diplomatic/political and/or economic regarding questions of Balance of Power (BOP) and enlightened national interest. The alliances and counter-alliances within the Yorùbá nation who regarded themselves as distinct polities surely deserve some attention, especially vis-à-vis the apparent contradiction, since they saw themselves paradoxically as ‘states’ within a ‘nation’. Here, the forbidden marriage of the concepts of ‘statehood’ and ‘nationhood’ became legalised. This pulled the Yorùbá ‘states’ together in an unending chain of wars. This paper focuses on the 19th century alliance system in the Èkìtìparapò/Kírijì War (1877-1893) and the motives behind state involvement. If for Ibadan, it was a 'War of Containment', for Èkìtìparapò, it was a 'War of Independence'. And as U.S., considering the Cold War, had declared neutrality (or non-alignment) in world affairs immoral, it would have been an act of political suicide for any Yorùbá state to have refused to take sides in that Diplomatic ploy. The paper adopts the historic-structural, narrative and analytical approaches, with a combination of primary and secondary sources of data collection. This paper, therefore, postulates that the universal man is essentially a diplomatic being—a political animal. For the Yorùbá, this was demonstrated in a whole century of warfare; its climax being the historic Èkìtìparapò/Kírijì War. It, however, concludes that people often resorted to warfare when all forms of religious-cum-diplomatic means had failed. War is designated as a barbarity that had been waged for ages under strict rules of conduct, for home protection and national civilization; the ‘most decisive act of policy’ for any nation.1 It recommends that both the present and future generations must learn from the intricate game of diplomacy and enlightened national interest of the different Yorùbá states, which only made them an easy prey to the British imperial powers.
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ÈKÌTÌPARAPÒ, GRAND ALLIANCE
Citation
Aboyeji, A. J. (2016) “Diplomatic-cum-National Interest Question in the Ekiti-parapo Grand Alliance; 1877-1893" in Jawondo, I. A. & Ojakorotu, V. (Eds.) Africa and other Continents Since the 19th Century: A Fetscript in Honour of Professor Rashid Oladoja Lasisi, Published by the Departments of History and International Studies, University of Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin and North West University, South Africa, Printed in Ghana: University of Cape Coast Press, pp. 395-413. URL: https://www.alhikmah.edu.ng/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/African-and-other-Contitents-since-the-19th-century.pdf