Arimoro

Farotimi Okunade was a Yoruba prince of the Egbedi Quarters and a direct descendant of Owa Ofokutu (27th ruler of Ilesha)…. His drummers sing of his military feats and sing in his praise saying : a re omo ro L’ese oke.’… ( one who takes off his enemy’s head at the foot of the sacred hill)….the cognomen got him his name “Arimoro.’

He was a sworn enemy of Ibadan… reason being that during previous campaigns including Ijebu Ere and Ara expeditions, Ilesha always fought against Ibadan…. twice in the past, Ilesha was on the losing start and Ibadan wariors raided Ijesha in reprisal…. In these two raids, all his possessions and family were carted away to Ibadan as booty of war. With the painful loss, he swore to avenge the humiliation and resist Ibadan till his last breadth. To better prepare himself for future engagements, he formed a band of warriors and built a private militia.

His first opportunity came at the Igbajo war. Igbajo was a cosmopolitan city of many Yoruba factions ( hence the name Igbajo, meaning community of different people). Ijesha wanted to annex Igbajo  in a campaign to absorb all lesser kingdoms in the region as well as reduce Ibadan’s influence in the region…. the Bale of Ibadan sent Balogun Akere  to reinforce Igbajo…. The Balogun showed the legendary battle skills of Ibadan and totally subjugated the Ijesha warriors. Many of the generals of Ijesha perished in the battle, including Lejoka, Risinkin and Lejofi. Arimoro managed to escape but he had to fgo underground for a while to rebuild his militia.

Three years later, Ibadan launched a full scale war on Ijesha. Once again, Arimoro played a great role in the war and for the first time, Ibadan warriors noticed him as a potential problem… After series of combats with which Ibadan closed in dangerously on Ijesha, Arimoro escaped to Akure to avoid being caught and executed…… A  siege was laid by Ibadan on Ijesha to cut it off from the outside world and push to people of Ijesha to near starvation. This forced Ijesha to surrender and submit to the suzerainty of Ibadan.

While in Akure, Arimoro received constant sad news of how Ibadan totally subjugated his ancestral home into a tributary vassal of Ibadan and the imposed Ajeles.... for a few years after, he waited for another opportunity to defend his ancestral home from exile…. During his campaigns at Akure, he met Fabunmi of Oke Mesi and identified with the rising momentum to rebel against Ibadan in the region. when events finally led to a full scale revolt against Ibadan Ajeles, Arimoro took part in the riots. After the massacre of the Ajeles at Ekiti, he went back home with his militia and took the front row place in a similar full scale revolt against ajeles in the region leading with example by killing the Ajele at Ilesha. In a short while, all the Ajeles of the region would be massacred as was the case at Ekiti.

He joined the Ekiti Parapo army and fought alongside folk heroes like Ogedemgbe and Fabunmi. After the end of the war, he came back to Ilesha in 1887 as a war hero. In 1896, he was offered the throne of Ilesha and refused, as he had all political interests and chieftancy offers prior… claiming that his motivation for his ancestral home was nothing but love…. He stepped down for his brother Haastrup to take the throne.

Arimoro died in 1898 at a very old age.

Courtesy: Gbonka Ebiri