HAUSA-YORUBA RELATIONS IN AKINYELE TOWN, IBADAN: A PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE HISTORICAL TRAJECTORIES OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, MIGRATION, AND EMERGENCE OF THE HAUSA COMMUNITY, 1882-1900

Abstract

The history of Hausa-Yoruba relations predated the colonial administration in Nigeria. However, the colonial rulers’ system of administration (indirect rule), which amplified the ‘divide and rule’ policy established the Hausa settlement of Sabo (a community of Hausa migrants in Ibadan) in 1916. Meanwhile, before the advent of colonialism in Nigeria, various communities in Ibadan had engaged in a series of interactions (socially, culturally, and economically) with Hausa migrants. Apart from archival materials that form the primary source of reconstructing the historical trajectory of any community, another veritable primary source of data collection and fact-gathering is the oral traditions and oral evidence from the inhabitants of such a community. Therefore, the researcher employed a methodological framework underpinned by collecting and interrogating relevant data through multidisciplinary approaches. Similarly, secondary sources of data collection for this study included: textbooks, journal articles, newspapers, magazines, government reports, unpublished theses, and dissertations, as well as internet sources. This study has historically traced the establishment and peopling of Akinyele town vis-à-vis the advent of the Hausa Migrant community in the town up to the early 20th century. It also establishes a nexus between the emergence of the Hausa community in Ibadan and that of Akinyele town in the preceding period.