The Sokoto Jihad and the 'O-kun' Yoruba: A Review

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Periodical article

Title:	The Sokoto Jihad and the 'O-kun' Yoruba: A Review
Author:	Obayemi, Ade M.
Year:	1978
Periodical:	Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
Volume:	9
Issue:	2
Period:	June
Pages:	61-87
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	jihads Yoruba history Sokoto polity Religion and Witchcraft Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration
Abstract:	In 1970, Mason published an article entitled 'The jihad in the south: an outline of the nineteenth century Nupe hegemony in north-eastern Yorubaland and Afenmai' (J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, vol. 5, no. 2, p. 193-209). In the present paper, the author discusses the same nineteenth century events but with specific reference to the north-easter Yoruba, namely Oworo, Ijumu, Abinu (Bunu), Ikiri, Igbede, and Iyagba. For ease of reference, these groups are called the 'O-kun', after mode of salutation common, though not exclusive to them. The so-called jihad had an overwhelmingly negative impact on O-kun society. Its 'revolutionary' effect lies in the fact of the demographic dislocations and relocations more than anything else. Moreover, the use of Islamic concepts such as jihad however applicable to the core area of the Sokoto Caliphate, cannot be universally applied to all parts which were affected in one form or another by the chain of events which were set in motion by the forces which it unleashed. When the O-kun took the field against the forces of Bida they were not resisting a religion but fighting for their survival. Map, notes.