Prince Fabunmi of the royal house of Okemesi was the first face of the Ekitiparapo war, irrespective that the major face of the war today is the legendary Ogedengbe Agbogungboro.

He loved adventures and travelled far and wide Yorubaland. He spent some time in Ibadan as well the learnt the art of Calvary warfare. On getting back to his homeland, he assembled a mercenary army and bought a few warrior slaves with wealth inherited from his father. He bought firearms and ammunitions as well and kept a private arsenal.

The Ajele of okemesi, like many of his contemporaries was high handed and autocratic. His name was Oyepetun. He was hated at Okemesi but feared as well. Fabunmi avoided him and they had little contacts as ajeles rarely disturbed royals and nobilities. However, the line was crossed during one of the important festivals in honor of orisha Erinle in 1878. While Fabunmi was celebrating with his men in Erinle’s shrine, Oyepetun sent his men to disrupt the celebration and confiscate their foods and drinks.

Highly humiliated and infuriated, he went home, armed himself and took some of his men with him. They invaded the courts of ajele Oyepetun and killed all his men. Fabunmi captured Oyepetun and had him beheaded. His unplanned but bold move inspired all the nations in the Ekiti environs and they rebelled against all their ajeles and murdered them.

Fabunmi’s actions was met with mixed feelings by the king of Oke Mesi, although a vassal city, Ibadan was a protector of Ekiti kingdoms from Fulani invasions from Ilorin…. Another source of worry was that Ibadan army at the time was seen as invincible. They were the most skilled warriors of the region.

Latosa of Ibadan did not take the rebellion very serious. At the time, he was at war with Egba. In desperate need for direct access to the coast and to cut off Ijebu middlemen in the arms trade, Latosa was determined to annex some Egba lands open to the coast. Ijebu joined Egba in the war to resist Ibadan annexation of Egba lands (for obvious reasons).

Rather than march an army to Ekiti, Latosa sent message to the king of Oke Mesi( Olojaoke) to give him the head of Fabunmi. This put the king of Oke Mesi in a serious dilemma. Fabunmi was a prince and was greatly admired in the kingdom, Ibadan on the other hand was an enemy he could not afford to have. He tried to get Fabunmi to show remorse and plead leniency. Fabunmi on the other hand attacked the messangers from Ibadan and killed one of them.

August 1878, Fabunmi led a coalition army of Ekitiparapo confederate warriors, and they launched an all-out offensive to retake all the lands of Ekiti from Ibadan. the first state they took from Ibadan was Igbajo, other nations states including Iresi, Ada and Otan followed. With the rising momentum, Ilorin joined Ekiti in the attacks against Ibadan.

When Fabunmi launched an invasion to take Ikurun, which was the last important kingdom in Ekiti, Latosa finally decided to put a halt to a threat he considered minor. Still engrossed in the Egba wars, he sent one of his trusted generals by the name Ogboriefon to put Fabunmi in check.

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