http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/340 Scholarly Works 2026-04-07T18:54:08Z http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/8957 Title: TRANSFORMATION AND CHALLENGES OF PELUPELU INSTITUTION IN EKITILAND 1900-2000 Authors: ONIPEDE, K .J Abstract: The colonial authorities created the pelupelu (kingship council) in 1900 for administrative purpose of Ekitiland. Existing studies on kingship traditions have focused largely on social and political developments during the colonial and post-colonial period, while the pelupelu, which embodies the people’s tradition and culture, has not attracted scholarly attention. This study, therefore investigated the pelupelu institution, it examined its transformation and challenges from 1900-2000. Historical research design, based on primary and secondary sources of data was adopted for the study. The primary sources included 32 key-informant interviews conducted with 24 kings, four high chiefs and four chief priests. Archival documents such as minutes of meetings, and colonial correspondence, including photographs were sourced from the National Archives in Ibadan. Secondary sources comprised newspapers, journal articles and books on kingship. Data were analysed using descriptive method of historical interpretations. Two types of kingship institution existed in Ekiti society by 1900 namely, elu (priest king) and the olu (crown head). Though, co-equal, and independent of each other, they were constituted as pelupelu by colonial authority in 1900. The taboo of seclusion prior to 1900 refrained the kings from attending pelupelu meeting. In 1913 the Native Authority Ordinance reversed the centralised administration and made the kings independent as president of the native authorities and courts in their respective administrative district. The introduction of tax in 1919 reduced the kings’ economic power but introduced salary based on revenue from their districts. Consequently, the kings were ready to federate and work for the colonial authorities, but the merger destroyed kingship culture and affected their traditional functions. Between 1920 and 1940, pelupelu was reconstituted to play civic roles. Problem of hierarchy and authority to wear crown became the order and dependent on colonial authority, which significantly disrupted the kings’ relationship. Ekiti Superior Native Authority proposed in 1940 fractured pelupelu rank but became functional from August 1944 as a miniature advisory council until 1952, when it was merged with the erroneously labelled Western House of Chiefs. In 1955, Ekiti society was re-organised into eight districts and the kings became unofficial members. From 1960 to 1975, the political elite subjected the kings to democratic principles and classified them in order of seniority; the 1976 Land Use Decree stripped them of their power over land. While their interaction has enabled them to have wider opinion on issues affecting Ekiti society, their structure into hierarchy during the colonial and classification in the post-colonial period created problem of competition, power politics, leadership struggle among the oba and between the traditional and the political elite. The selection of king is at the order of the state government against the tradition and culture of kingship. The colonial authorities took cognisance of cultural basis of development and involved the pelupelu institution in the administration of the Ekiti society. These endangered Ekiti kingship culture but facilitated social development. Government acknowledgement of the diversity of traditions and cultures as basis of development can further assist the government within the framework of national development. Description: A Thesis in the Department of African History submitted to the Institute of African Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the requirements for the award of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2015-06-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/5110 Title: THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH ADMINISTRATION IN EKITILAND, 1915 - 1951 Authors: ADELOYE, T. S. Abstract: The thesis focuses attention on the development of British Administration in Ekitiland from 1915-1951, It discusses the British occupation of Ekiti- land and analyses the efforts made by the British to consolidate their administration through the creation of a centralised political authority. It examines the administrative structures evolved and observes that the Ekiti Oba were generally used as Instruments of British Administration, It is shown that under the new political dispensation, the Oba virtually became ciphers in the hands of British Administrative Officers. It is argued that some of the responsibilities assigned to the Oba eroded their traditional power, authority, status and prestige. The thesis also examines the efforts made at creating a central Administration in Ekitiland between 1920 and 1936, The attendant problems of this political experiment are discussed. In particular, the political agitations for secession, autonomy and other political reforms by some communities such as Ado-Ekiti, Akure, Igbara-Odo, Ilawe, Osi etc between 1938 and 1946 are discussed, It argues that these agitations not only threatened political Integration in Ekitiland but also contributed largely to the failure of central Administration put in place by the Colonial Government. The re-organisation efforts made by the British to re-invigorate their tottery administration in Ekitiland between 1946 and 1951 are analysed. The new political dispensation, which was a shift from a rigid centralisation of political authority that was unpalatable to Ekiti Oba to that of loose centralised Administration which allowed them (the Oba) to retain their sovereignty, succeeded to a large extent up to 1951. The economic dimension of British Administration in Ekitiland during the study period is also examined. While contending that British Administration was largely exploitative and resulted in a monumental disruption of the pre-colonial economic structure of the Ekiti society, it identifies certain sectors where the British Administration achieved some measure of development. The study concludes that though the British Administration tried to consolidate itself in Ekitiland, their initial objective of rigid political centralisation that would have brought Ekiti Kingdoms under one central authority was not realised. Furthermore, it observes that British Administration was a mixed blessing to the people of Ekltiland. The Ekiti accepted some of the changes considered beneficial to their society while rejecting those they considered detrimental to their well-being. The thesis has complemented the existing studies on British Administration in Nigeria in general and has also revealed the abysmal failure of British attempt to create a Central Administration in a society which was hitherto apparently segmentary. Description: A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ARTS IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN 1995-07-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/4410 Title: CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE MARINE OF NIGERIA 1841 - 1891 Authors: ADE-AJAYI, J. F. Abstract: It is the contribution of various missionary societies in shifting the frontier of European influences from the coast where it had remained after three centuries of European trade connections into the interior of Nigeria in the half century before the establishment of British rule in the country that is the subject of this thesis. For, in their anxiety to deepen and widen Christian European influences in the country, the missionaries were laying the social and economic foundations of Nigeria, particularly Southern Nigeria. Struck by the high rate of European mortality in West Africa, and haunted by the memory that Christianity had once been introduced into West Africa and had been wiped out, the missionaries were anxious to leave a permanent mark on the country that the eventual withdrawal of European missionaries, whether sudden or gradual, could not efface. They wished to raise a large indigenous clergy, they wished to introduce not only the Bible but also the art to read and the art to make the Bible, in short, something of the technological civilisation of contemporary Europe. Central to this programme was the creation of a Middle Class of mission-educated Africans. The emigrants returning from Sierra Leone, Cuba and Brazil provided the nucleus of such a class with them, the missionaries embarked on a programme of practical education in trades and industry. They tried to gather the emigrants together in particular centres round the Mission House, in little mission villages to which Individual converts from the old town, physically or spiritually, attached themselves. This new society it was hoped would grow and replace the antiquated ways of the old town. Things did not always work out as the missionaries planned. Their resources were inadequate. They were dependent on traders whose objectives were different from theirs. The society of the old town did not crumble as readily as was expected. The missionaries saw the power of the African rulers on the coast passing to the consul and the traders, not to the educated Africans whom the traders and some of the missionaries on the spot as well regarded as rivals. Nevertheless, a class of Africa was rising, as clergymen in the church, agents of European firms or independent merchants on their own. The most notable of them was Crowther who was made a Bishop and who used an all- African staff to establish churches on the Niger. But just as such Africans, were beginning to be given responsibility and, among other things, were proceeding to make the Church less of an alien community in society, the new wave of European interest in the country made European change their attitude to Africans, and the old policy of advancing educated Africans was overturned, Even Bishop Crowther was ousted from his post and with his resignation in 1891, this period of missionary work came to an end. Description: THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE PH.D. DEGREE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 1958-07-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/4408 Title: POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE PALWO 1400-1911 Authors: ADEFUYE, A. I. Abstract: The Palwo are a branch of the Lwo who settled on the northern part of Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom. Their history is essentially that of rivalry between two ethnic groups, the Lwo and the Bantu, vying for supremacy in the empire of Bunyoro-Kitara, Originating from the Sudan, the Lwo settled in the hitherto exclusively Bantu inhabited empire, overthrew the ruling dynasty, and set up a new one. While intermarrying with the majority Bantu population, the Lwo kings ensured that only sons born to them by their Lwo wives (full-blooded Lwo) succeeded them. It was an attempt by the Lwo to make the throne their exclusive preserve. When one of the Lwo kings found himself compelled by circumstances to bypass convention and chose one of his children born by a Bantu woman to succeed him, the Lwo protested. They attempted to undermine the authority of this Bantu king who had no other alternative than to wage a war to 'crush the rebellion'. Henceforth children bom by Bantu women ascended the throne. The period of the rule of the Lwo appeared to have ended. While taking refuge from the war which crushed their rebellion, a good number of the Lwo left Bunyoro-Kitara and established their hegemony in the neighbouring areas. But some of them later came back and with the coming of more Lwo from the Sudan and Northern Uganda, the Lwo population in Bunyoro-Kitara a century after their rebellion was back to nearly what it was before the war. But the memory of their clash with the Bantu king was not forgotten by the Lwo. To them, it was humiliating to be deprived of a throne which for centuries had been occupied by their own people. Taking the Northern extreme of present day Bunyoro district as their base, the Lwo directed their activities for the following two centuries towards regaining their lost privileged position in Bunyoro-Kitara empire. However, in spite of their success in undermining the authority of some Bantu kings and launching series of military attacks on them, in spite of their economic boom caused by the activities of foreign traders, and which the Lwo attempted to turn into military advantage, they never succeeded in winning back the throne of Bunyoro-Kitara. Kabalega, a Bantu king, permanently converted them into an insignificant minority in the empire. Description: THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN 1973-01-01T00:00:00Z