This September marks the 138 years of the end of Kiriji war, the civil strife in Yorubaland that lasted for 16 years. Adewale Adeoye in this report recalls collections from old and young people who still hold on to thrilling  stories relating to the military tactics and strategies of the ancient warriors.

It is now almost a century and half that the Yoruba civil war ended. No fewer than 400,000 soldiers participated in the war. Though often conceived as Ibadan-Ekiti Parapo war, in reality the war involved almost all Yoruba sub-ethnic groups. Prof Banji Akintoye in his book A History of the Yoruba estimated almost half a million soldiers that took part in the civil war.

A section of Ijebu for instance supplied arms to Ekiti allied forces while a section of Yoruba in today’s Togo and Benin Republic supported Ibadan.

Yet, Yoruba in today’s Kogi State including pitched tents.  Akure, Ikale, Ilaje, Akoko-Edo and Itsekiri pitched their tents with Ekiti Parapo by offering tactical and strategic supports.

The war also had class content. Ibadan had become the most dominant military might in Sub-sahara Africa, taking over territories and seizing swath of land. The Ibadan ruling class which emerged in the late 17th century had dominated and sought to dominate the Yoruba political economy to the envy and disdain of the working class and the masses who sought freedom and liberty. It’s class content was not in doubt: the rich, land owners against the masses, the armed against the defenceless, the military class against the business civilians, the haves against the have-nots. In this piece, I devote a short treatise to the military tactics of ancient Yoruba warriors who had created an infantry school at Ibadan and Otun Ekiti, w ballistic and research centre later surfaced at Okemesi; while Oyo maintained the headquarter for diplomatic affairs. Ile Ife retained her power as the spiritual spring. In 2011, I had the fortune on travelling across Yorubaland. I met offspring of great warriors. I met Latoosa and Ogedengbe in their sanctuaries. I had extensive and investigative collections, some of which I intend to share.  One of the most interesting aspect of the 16-year old civil war is the military strategy and Tactics which, in my estimation, met the global standard of the time and would be useful to future military institutions if some of those tactics are not already in use.