Abstract
This paper, with a focus on the people of the Nigerian towns of Idanre and Akure, (re)considers the genesis of land conflicts in eastern Yorubaland of colonial southwestern Nigeria. The historical method was deployed. Primary sources, notably archival records from the National Archive, Ibadan, the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Owena, and farmers’ unions in the two communities, were used. Memories of the descendants of cocoa farmers were collected, paying attention to the growth of cocoa cultivation and the historical relations between Idanre and Akure people in the pre-colonial period, in addition to secondary sources which were subjected to historical analysis. The expansion of cocoa farms and the ensuing rivalry over the collection of Isakole, an indigenous form of tribute or ground rent, instigated acrimonies among Idanre and Akure Chiefs throughout the colonial period. The animosities culminated, however, in unresolved inter-community disputes and land conflicts between Idanre and Akure. The imbroglio, which affected the rhythms of agricultural life in the two communities, was not only a subject of protracted litigation and arbitration; it claimed an immense number of lives and valuable properties on both sides in the colonial period. The paper argues that the land conflicts were fuelled by unmitigated competition for Isakole between Idanre and Akure chiefs, but the divisive posture of the British colonial authorities over the jostling exacerbated the conflict.
Highlights
This paper investigates the dynamics of agricultural land conflicts in colonial Yorubaland
This paper argues that the payment of Isakole transformed the nature of land conflicts between Idanre and Akure under colonial rule
The paper showed that the desire of the traditional authorities from the two communities to accumulate Isakole prompted them to discard pre-existing social, economic, political and diplomatic relations they both shared
Summary
This paper investigates the dynamics of agricultural land conflicts in colonial Yorubaland. This paper argues that the payment of Isakole (an indigenous form of ground rent/tribute) transformed the nature of land conflicts between Idanre and Akure under colonial rule The clashes had their origins in contested claims over the ownership of agricultural land (for cocoa cultivation), land scarcity pressures, and colonial taxation. While in Ibadan and Ijebu in precolonial times, people paid Isakole mostly in agricultural produce as gratitude for the opportunity and recognition of “overlordship”, the colonial interest in cocoa as a cash crop and the attendant benefits in cultivating the crop brought to the fore changes in the importance of private property, land and land ownership.[22] This landscape brought the Ibadan and Ijebu into an interethnic conflict which even degenerated into interprovincial boundary conflicts during this period. It is common knowledge that the majority of the inter-tribal and ethno-communal conflicts in the colonial and post-colonial African social formations were caused by intense jostling for agricultural land and politics of agricultural commodity trade; what is less obvious is the degree to which the political economy of Isakole and colonial capitalism exacerbated the problem
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