Ayọmide Akinbọde Profile picture
Writer. Author. Digital Journalist. Building @HistoryVille.
Jan 15, 2020 13 tweets 4 min read
OPERATION DAMISA: ASSASSINATION OF SIR AHMADU BELLO, THE SARDAUNA OF SOKOTO, JANUARY 1966

''Ina Sardauna? Where is the Sardauna?” Nzeogwu shouted, pointing his gun at him but the man kept shaking his head asserting no knowledge of Sardauna’s location.

#Thread “If you won’t tell me where your master is, I’ll kill you,” Nzeogwu screamed at him in Hausa.

“Okay, okay,” the man replied fearfully and led Nzeogwu to the annex of the building. Three other soldiers followed Nzeogwu while Waribor and the rest returned to the staging area...
Oct 18, 2019 10 tweets 2 min read
The Europeans did not bring democracy to Yorubaland. We have been practicing it, especially in Oyo, before their coming. Our forefathers could elect a king and also depose him.

#Thread If he was tyrannical like Alaafin Karan, aloof like Aole, pusillanimous like Ajaka (in his first term) or vengeful like Odarawu, he could be told to abdicate and commit suicide where necessary.
Oct 8, 2019 6 tweets 2 min read
Many of you have been asking me where the Old Oyo-Ile capital is presently located.

Well, according to Emeritus Professor J.F Ade-Ajayi and Robert Smith in their book, "Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century", published in 1964, the Old Oyo capital lay approximately... ...40 miles (64.37 km) North-North-West of Ilorin at latitude 8°59'North and longitude 4°20'East.

The wall, which was an oval shape, was 15 miles (24.14 km) in circumference and about 4 miles (6.44 km) in diameter on one way and 6 miles (9.66 km) on the other way.
Oct 2, 2019 9 tweets 2 min read
Let me take you 767 years aback when snakes were still kept as pets in the 13th century Oyo Kingdom.

Around the year 1252, Basorun Erindinlogunagbonkosedaniifa, the head of the Oyo Mesi (kingmakers), approached Alaafin Ajaka and advised him to step down. #Thread As, according to him, he was too gentle to be an Alaafin of Oyo.

Unsurprisingly, the gentle king acceded to the request. Unlike his father and predecessor, Alaafin Oranmiyan, Ajaka was of a peaceful disposition who loved animal husbandry and encouraged it among the Oyo people.
Oct 1, 2019 15 tweets 4 min read
Hello there and Happy #IndependenceDay.

Let me take you back to 19th Century Lagos and tell you a story of power, horror, and vengeance.

Around 1817, Prince Kosoko of Lagos scattered the hornets’ nest when he seduced and married the fiancée of the Eletu Odibo of Lagos. #Thread The Eletu Odibo serves as the Prime Minister and doubles as the principal kingmaker for Lagos. Eletu Odibo then took offense at Kosoko's imperious decision and would use his position as kingmaker to frustrate the young prince’s multiple Obaship bids in the years to come.