Imesi: Friendly hills which hosted Kiriji war

Hills of ImesiImesi fascinates. The land rises and falls, and there are hills everywhere. From the Oba’s palace in Imesi, which sits on an elevation, one can see this sea of hills spread so lovingly. It’s an uplifting, happy sight. Imesi is a fiery hearth for tales, a  factory for legends. Imesi enchants and inspires. […]

Hills of Imesi
Imesi fascinates. The land rises and falls, and there are hills everywhere. From the Oba’s palace in Imesi, which sits on an elevation, one can see this sea of hills spread so lovingly. It’s an uplifting, happy sight. Imesi is a fiery hearth for tales, a  factory for legends. Imesi enchants and inspires. She is a lovely song fashioned by nature,  in which nature sings to itself in various splendid notes. The endless white clouds of Imesi are another group of stunning, changing forms here. Imesi  is less than an hour’s drive from Osogbo, the Osun state capital. The early inhabitants of the town were very impressed with the rolling hills. They attribute the many hills to the fourth Oba of Imesi who was a “powerful magician and juju man,” so says Femi OsunMakinde, Principal Technical Officer, National Museum, Osogbo. This Oba was unrivalled in the magical arts. Mr OsunMakinde says “It is believed that he planted these hills as a means of protecting the people.” He ‘planted’ the hills so that they will form a natural defence and protect his people, who lived in many communities within these hills.
The 4th Oba  
Imesi has been described as a land of hills, and this description is quite apt. Olabisi Adekanla writing in Imesi-Ile. The ancient Kiriji war camp states ‘Imesi is surrounded almost entirely by rocky hill ranges, leaving, in a few places, pockets of narrow land strips through which modern roads are just being carved.’Imesi is also a land of caves. Again Adekanla writes “At the hillsides there are unimaginable caves and crevices  many of which are habitable and were really inhabited in the past.Relics of human habitation abound  in forms of broken earthen utensils, fire places, smoked roofs and stone tools… The caves, locally  referred to as Agbon have different features.” Agbaogo was the fourth Oba of Imesi-Ile and he became deified after his death.

According to Adekanla “Agbaogo distinguished himself as a magician. He was  brave, courageous, vast in the possession and use of charms and juju power. In the past, bigger and stronger Yoruba kingdoms took delight in terrorizing smaller and weaker ones. Imesi-Ile was a constant victim of such high handedness and terrorism. This did not please Agbaogo, to say the least. He, therefore, decided to go out of the town to find a solution to the “incessant raids of the ‘super powers.’ He had a special goal.” His mission was to find mysterious means of changing sand to stone, and land to hills so that he could form mysterious barricades round the town to keep the invaders permanently at bay. For several months Agbaogo did not reappear  until all hopes of ever seeing him alive were given up. Concluding he might have met his doom among his strange associates, his son, Lukan was installed in his place and the Gbedu drum was beaten. This forbade him from ever entering the town again.” Greatly  annoyed, Agbaogo  now requested for a long chain which he used to descend into the bowels of the earth, a clear demonstration of his new found magical  powers.”
Kiriji war
The hills of Imesi are very quiet today, but in the last quarter of the 19th century, they occasionally echoed to the sound of spirited warfare. This was the famous Kiriji war. Kiriji is a name which simply imitates the sound of guns which were used during the war, and  this actually came to name the war itself. The guns made a  noise which sounded  thus Ki-ri-ji. But  what led to the outbreak of hostilities within these otherwise serene hills? Femi OsunMakinde comments “The dominance of the Ekiti over the Ijesa  led to the war.It was a war between the Ijesa’s  and the Ekiti on one hand, and the power of Ibadan on the other hand.It was a war of independence, for the Ijesa’s felt that Ekiti was becoming too powerful, and one example of this power were the Ajele’s or Governors.” The direct incident that sparked off the war appears to have been an event involving an Ajele in Imesi, and Fabunmi.Mr OsunMakinde adds “Fabunmi was very powerful and was having a celebration. He sent his beautiful wife to the market to buy some items. At the market the Ajele saw Fabunmi’s wife, and ordered that she be seized and taken to his house. When Fabunmi heard of what had happened, he went and beheaded the Ajele, and took his wife back home. News now got to Latosa  at Ibadan about what had happened. Latosa was the President General of the Yoruba nation, and the Ajele’s   functioned like  Governors  under him. Latosa now asked that people should go to Imesi and bring back the head of Fabunmi. Fabunmi then killed the two who were sent to eliminate him, and sent their heads to Latosa. Thus Fabunmi now declared war on Ibadan. Many Ajele’s were killed and the war escalated. Ijesa and Ekiti now forged a common front to fight the war against the Ibadan forces, and they assembled at Imesi for this purpose.

In the course of the war it became clear that Ibadan had superior fire power, but one warrior was able to get sophisticated arms from Lagos to aid Imesi. Mr Makinde says “At Imesi there  are so many caves. Some of the warlords hid in the caves, where they prepared amulets and magical powers, as well as  engaged in the manufacturing of weapons. Adekanla writes thus on the background to the war “For several years before the Kiriji war began, the Ijesa, Ekiti, Igbomina, and Akoko countries had been groaning under the oppressive rule of Ibadan. The Ibadan people, full of expansionist  tendencies after cowing most Yoruba countries into near servitude, ruled the Ijesa, Ekiti, Igbomina and Akoko  people, among others through the Ajele (Residents) administrative system. The Ajele were overbearing, revelling in excesses and highhandness’. On the immediate cause of the war Adekanla  states that it was the act of the Ajele who seized the wife of Fabunmi at the market, and  the latters  swift  assassination of the Ajele, that sparked off  the war. Adekanla  now writes “Within that week alone, over one thousand Ibadan people were slaughtered  in the Ijesa, Ekiti, Igbomina and Akoko countries. Within days all the Kings in the land had decided to go to war.”
The role of Ogedengbe
Mr OsunMakinde now speaks on the role of Ogedengbe in the Kiriji war  “At a point Ekiti sent for Ogedengbe, a war contractor or mercenary, to assist in the Kiriji war. When he came Fabunmi surrendered to him at Imesi Ile. There is a spot within the hills where Ogedegbe’s royal stool can be seen today. He used to sit on the stool and give orders.

Adekanla states “Ogedengbe’s compound  was used as  the meeting place for war lords, while the compounds foreground was used for the general assembly. Thus Ogedengbe’s compound became a political centre for the town. Important chiefs lived in large areas surrounded by their war boys.”
Ogedengbe also had a daily ritual which seems to have helped him  in the  course of the war. Adekanla writes “Salegan, Ogedengbe’s wife had a daily ritual, which  she performed for her husband before he went to battle… The ritual  guaranteed his safe return  from battle at the end of the day.” One day, a powerful Egungun arrived and prepared a charm which saw to the demise death of Latosa, and brought the war to an end. The British colonial government settled the war. All the Obas from Ibadan and the Ijesa nation,and from all the towns involved in the war, came and appended their signatures to the treaty ending the war. The treaty was signed, put in a pot, and buried under a tree.’
 Kiriji War sites
There are a number of sites around Kiriji which played prominent roles in the war effort in the 19th century. A tourist will actually enjoy going from one to the next. He will joyfully go from the low lying streams to the summit of some of the impressive hills. The beautiful landscape becomes even more beautiful as the movement is made from one spot to the next.  

One of these sites is the Faragbota tree. It is famous because warriors used to hide behind the tree when they are  shot at, and  they were guaranteed protection. There is the arms dump, as well as a site where weapons were manufactured. Also there is the spot where Latosa was killed. The visitor will like to see Ogedengbe’s royal stool, as well as  the mighty rock that produces an echo when hit. Then there is the Fejeboju stream. The remarkable point about this stream is the fact that when the battle was fierce, and many warriors lay dead or bleeding, then the stream will turn red owing to the huge volume of blood that will trickle down  to it. There is the impressive  site on the hilltop where the peace treaty was signed  by the warring groups. There are a number of monuments up there, to mark the event. The unforgettable setting  is also  the site for the popular Kiriji festival which holds every September.