Contestation and Social Disorder: Chieftaincy Contestation in Yorubaland, 1945 —1956
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Date
2020-06
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ACU Journal of Humanities
Abstract
By about the 1940s, chieftaincy disputes had increased tremendously. It created
obvious social disorder in several towns in Yorubaland. Historical methodology
will be adopted using essentially archival materials. Matters relating to
chieftaincy and taxation resulted in riots in Iseyin in 1918, at Ilesa in 1941 and
at Oyo in 1955 to mention just a few instances. The colonial administration
responded to it decisively by sentencing the various culprits involved in the
riots. All over Yorubaland, as elsewhere, chieftaincy contestations took a new
dimension. It took the dimension of concerted efforts at forwarding
correspondences, in form of petitions, to the colonial administration in respect
of chieftaincy disputes. Also, the medium of Newspapers were used considerably
to elicit public support for themselves in connection with particular chieftaincy
disputes in question. The example of the Gbelegbuwa chieftaincy disputes is a
case in point. Also, the Risawe chieftaincy disputes in Ilesa almost resulted into
civil disturbance, but for the memory of what was done to the culprits of the
1941 riots. To all intents and purposes, quasi-administrative measures, the
intervention of the police and the Chiefs' LOW of 1955 contributed immensely in
the process of resolving these chieftaincy disputes and prevented the possibility
of escalating social disorder
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Keywords
Risawe, Dispute, Olowo, Alakenne, Chief's law