Colonial rule, trajectories and travails of the Kingship Institution in Akokoland, 1900–1960

Abstract

ABSTRACT Akokoland is a conglomeration of many towns located in the north-eastern part of Yorubaland. There exists many colonial documents with narratives to the effect that, colonial rule profited the Akoko communities that were brought under it. This paper, however, argues that colonial rule adversely impacted and altered the workings of the kingship institution in the period under review in Akokoland. Through a gristmill of sources, the paper discusses how power politics was used as a divide-and-rule tactic to enforce loyalty and consequently alter well developed traditional political institutions using the kingship institution in Akokoland as case study. The paper reveals that colonial enterprise in Akokoland was tailored towards the pursuit of power and rewards rather than the welfare of the people through political opportunism paid for by the establishment of harsh tax regimes and the imposition of political control of non-Akoko towns on the people of Akokoland by the agents of colonial administration. Beyond this, the kingship institution in Akokoland has continued to show resilience and remains a potent pillar of societal cohesion, viable grass root mobiliser, interpreter of government policies and viable agent of inclusive development.