Owu war, Ijaye war and also the result of the wars.

The Owu War 1820 - 1827: The Owu war was fought between Ife and the Owu
kingdom.
Causes
The event leading to the war could be traced to the relationship between Oyo
and Ife.
Abiodun, one of the most energetic rulers of old Oyo had decided to emphasis
trade as the basis for the wealth of the empire. Unfortunately his successors
were unable to procure enough slaves from the non-Yoruba area. They started
capturing slaves from among Ife who in Yoruba land were regarded as scared
and were not to be enslaved. This act broke a long standing tradition and
aroused the hostility of Ife against the Alaafin.
The Alaafin Had Wanted to Control the Market Town of Apomu
Which had been under Ife control? The Olowu, ruler of Owu seized control of
Apomu on the excuse that he had been directed by the Alaafin Ife reacted by
declaring war on Own at the time when other neighbor where picking quarrel with
Owu.
Ijebu, another Trading Group Joined The War On The Side of The Ife
Because of the quarrel over pepper between Ijebu women and Owu man.
Refugees From Old Oyo
Saw the situation as an opportunity for improving their lost and support Ife. After
seven years of fighting Owu was destroyed.
Result of The Owu War
(a) Ife and Ijebu allies under the leadership of Okunade and attacked the Egbe
towns for allowing Owu refugees to settle in their territory.
(b) The war led to the rise of new towns, Abeokuta and Ibadan by about 1830,
many of the Egba and Owu refugees had convent at Abeokuta, a new
strong hold.
(c) Egba had secured their position in Abeokuta they began to expand into
Ebado and Awori territories.
(d) Apart from Abeokuta other cities were founded in the forest area after the
Owu war.
(e) Owu war brought about an increase in the sale of Yoruba slaves across
the Atlantic.
The Ijaye War 1860 – 1865
The war between Ijaye and Ibadan
The Causes
The causes of Ijaye war were complex because the disagreements center
around
(i) Ideas and personalities
(ii) The Ibadan and Ijaye struggled for supremacy
(iii) Both wanted direct access to the European trade at the coast at the
expenses of the Egba and Ijeba.
(iv) The quarrel over the Alaafin stool heightened the long-standing enmity and
rivalry between Ibadan and Ijaye, Atiba, the Alaafin dies and was
succeeded by Adelu his son, According to tradition Adelu or first son of the
Alaafin should be buried with his father but this was not done. One of the
rulers, Kurunmi the Are-Una-Kakafo of Ijaye and traditionalist insisted that
the tradition must be followed and that an appropriate candidate, not his
first son for Adeku, should be sought to succeed the Alaafin. Ibadan made
matter worse by supporting Adeku because Ibadan had grown without
strict adherence to tradition.
The Result of the Ijaye War
1. The Destruction of Ijaye ended the rivalry between Ibadan and Ijaye
Ibadan became the most powerful of the Yoruba states and controlled
Apomu, Ikere, Ekiti, Akoko, Ilesa, Igbomina and the Oshun area.
2. Ibadan collected tribute to support the empire
3. The subject people suffered under the oppressive rule of some of the
Ibadan representatives called Ajale who were in charge of the provinces.
The Ajale over taxed the people.
4. The administration and the ambition of Ibadan to conquer all Yoruba land
caused many states and to a very large extent contributed to bring about
the longest of all the wars. The Kiriji war, otherwise Known as the sixteen
years war.
The sixteen years wars 1878 – 1893
The Causes
1. The Egba and Ijebu to the southern were interested in limiting the power of
Ibadan and so the blockaded the trade route in Lagos so that Ibadan will
not have asses to import guns and guns powder in 1877, Ibadan attacked
Egba to force her to lift the blockage. Ibadan was forced to procure military
supplies through Benin, Ibadan attack subdue the Egba Ijaye.
2. Jealousy, fear and hatred generated by growing power of Ibadan. To the
east, the Ijase, Ekiti, Igbomina and Akoko came together and revolted,
killing their Ajale. They formed a confederacy called Ekitiparapo the aim
was to regain their independent from Ibadan. The war between Egba and
their allians against Ibadan popularly known as the Ekitiparapo war started
in 1878. The main scene of the war was Kiriji and the leader of Ekitiparapo
was Ogedemgbe one of the slave soldier who had mastered Ibadan war
tactics.
As the war with the Ekitiparapo was ranging, the Fulani Jihads in 1879
confronted the Ibadan troops at offa. With this attack, Ibadan found herself
fighting on two fronts, still Ibadan remained undefeated which complicated
matters especially for the trades.
It was at this point that the merchants in Lagos urged an end to the war. They
invited the British to intervene as peacemakera.
In 1886, two Yoruba Clergymen Bishop Charles Philips from Ondo and Samuel
Johnson, the Yoruba Historian were sent by the British to make peace. The result
was the 1886 treaty by which Ibadan accepted to recognized the independence
of the Ekitiparapo and to dissolve it empire
Failure of The Ibadan Experiment
The alliance against Ibadan made her fight on many front.
(a) The Ekitiparapo had easier access to more sophisticated weapons from
Europe, Ibadan was also blockaded and even when she started getting
guns from the coast, the war had come with no side gaining the upper
hand.
(b) Another reason for the failure of Ibadan was the fact that the other states
saw her as an upstart lacking legitimacy, loyalty and respect in Yoruba
land.
(c) There accused Ibadan that through her unable to bring Yoruba land
together brought the British intervened in Yoruba polices and eventually
controlled the territory.
The General Effect of the Yoruba War
(a) Many towns and villages were destroyed and razed to the ground, some
even disappeared from the map.
(b) Thousands of lives were lost while life became insecure for many this was
particularly so as the captives of these wars were sold as slaves initially
across the Atlantic.
(c) The wars also led to the emergence of new towns such as Ibadan,
Abeokuta, New Oyo, Ijaye and Modakeke.
(e) There was also the rise of new leaders and war generals who became
more important than the traditional rulers such leader included Kurimi, the
Ijeye leader Momoh Iatosisa, Ogunmola of Ibadan and Ogedengbe the
leader of the Ekitiparapo.

(f) The Yoruba civil war and the accompanying migrations brought about
cultural diffusion, example, the Oyo drums usually slng over the shoulder
started to be used in other parts of Yoruba land.
(g) The Yoruba wars also provided and opportunity for the conquest of the
Ilorin by the conquest of spread of Fulani Jihadist to spread Islam to
various parts of Yoruba land.
(h) The Yoruba wars made possible early British intervention and eventual
loss of the independent Yoruba state. By 1861, Lagos became British
Colony.
The General Causes of the Yoruba Civil War
(i) The decline and fall of Old Oyo Empire.
(ii) Fulani invasion from North using Ilorin as a base, the destroyed Old Oyo in
1835
(iii) The struggle among some Yoruba states to fill the power vacuum created
by the collapse of Old Oyo Empire, for example Ibadan and Abeokuta were
the major contestants.
(iv) Competition to control the trade routes
(v) Series of conflict also contributed to the wars, leadership of Ibadan was not
acceptable to other Yoruba states.