To understand why the question of identity still matters, it helps to look beyond present day arguments and return to the period when Ilorin was emerging from the political world of the old Oyo Empire.
Kwara State occupies an important position between southwestern Nigeria and the country's central and northern regions. Its history reflects centuries of movement across these areas, through trade, migration, religious networks and the expansion of different kingdoms. The Yoruba are the largest ethnic group in much of the state, particularly in Ilorin and Kwara South. Nupe communities have a long history in Kwara North, especially around places such as Patigi, Lafiagi and parts of the Edu area. Baruba, also known as Bariba, communities are concentrated in Baruten and Kaiama, within the wider Borgu region that extends into the Republic of Benin. Hausa, Fulani and other communities have also contributed to the state's social and commercial life.
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| Ilorin Area Mosque |
These communities have never existed in complete isolation from one another. Markets, marriage, religious institutions and political relationships have brought people together for generations. Yet sharing a state does not mean sharing exactly the same history. In Ilorin, the relationship between Yoruba origins, Islamic institutions and the emirate system gives the question of identity a particular depth.
Before the Emirate
Ilorin was once a settlement on the northern frontier of the old Oyo Empire, one of the most influential Yoruba states in precolonial West Africa. The town stood near routes connecting Yoruba-speaking communities with the savanna regions to the north. These routes carried goods, travellers, religious ideas and, at different times, people seeking military or political opportunities. By the late eighteenth century, Ilorin was becoming increasingly important within Oyo's political and military system. Its rise was closely associated with Afonja, the powerful military commander known by the title Aare-Ona-Kakanfo. During the early nineteenth century, the Oyo Empire faced growing internal difficulties. Political rivalries, struggles over succession and conflicts between powerful military figures weakened its authority. Afonja became involved in this wider struggle and eventually challenged the authority of Oyo.
Ilorin's transformation did not happen in a single moment. It developed over several years, as military power shifted and new political and religious alliances took shape. Historian Ismail Otukoko Salihu's research on Afonja and the role of non-Yoruba groups in Ilorin provides useful context for understanding this complicated period. One of the most consequential relationships in Ilorin's history was the association between Afonja and Shaykh Salih, commonly known as Alimi, a Fulani Muslim cleric. Afonja needed support in his struggle against Oyo's authority. Alimi had attracted a following through Islamic teaching and religious networks. Their interests initially overlapped, although they were not necessarily identical. The people involved in the upheaval were not drawn from a single ethnic community. Yoruba Muslims, Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri and other groups participated in the political and religious developments of the period. Their motivations varied, and it would be misleading to assume that everyone involved acted for the same reason. The alliance eventually broke down. Afonja was defeated and killed, and the balance of power shifted towards Alimi's followers and descendants. The precise sequence of events and the relative importance of individual actors remain subjects for historical investigation. What followed was a major transformation. Ilorin developed into an emirate under the Alimi family, with political and religious connections to the Sokoto Caliphate.
The chronology requires some care. Historical accounts commonly place Ilorin's emergence as an emirate around 1823–24, while some scholarship dates its formal incorporation into the Sokoto Caliphate to 1829. These dates describe related but not necessarily identical stages in the process. The change was more than a change of rulers. It reshaped Ilorin's political institutions and strengthened its connections with the Muslim emirates to the north.
Was llorin's Transformation Simply About Religion?
Religion was central to the events that transformed Ilorin, but it does not explain everything. Islam had existed in Yoruba-speaking communities before the nineteenth century upheaval. Yoruba Muslims were not strangers to the region's religious life, and Islam did not automatically make a person less Yoruba. Muslim communities elsewhere in Yorubaland continued to maintain strong Yoruba linguistic and cultural identities. Ilorin's distinct development resulted from the interaction of several forces: military conflict, political ambition, the influence of Muslim scholars, migration, and the emergence of a new ruling dynasty. The movement associated with Usman dan Fodio's jihad in the north also influenced the religious and political environment in which Ilorin's transformation took place. However, local events had their own dynamics and should not simply be treated as an extension of developments elsewhere.
The eventual emirate system connected Ilorin to a wider political order while retaining its own local circumstances and relationships. A town's religious institutions, ruling dynasty, language and population can change at different speeds. Ilorin's history demonstrates how these elements can overlap without becoming identical. British intervention added another important layer to Ilorin's history. In 1897, forces of the Royal Niger Company defeated Ilorin's defenders. The occupation was part of a period of political upheaval and British pressure on the emirate. The formal colonial arrangement came later: in 1900, Ilorin became part of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. This distinction is important because the military intervention of 1897 and the establishment of the protectorate administration in 1900 were separate events. Under British rule, the emirate's traditional political structure was retained and incorporated into the system of indirect rule. Colonial authorities governed through existing institutions while exercising ultimate political control. Ilorin was therefore administered within Northern Nigeria despite its Yoruba linguistic and historical connections. This helped shape llorin's political development and distinguished its administrative experience from that of many communities further south. Colonial boundaries did not erase older identities, but they influenced how people were governed, which institutions retained authority and how political relationships developed. When Nigeria became independent in 1960, the legacies of these arrangements did not disappear. Ilorin's place within the former Northern Region continued to influence its political connections.
Kwara State was created in 1967. Kogi State was later created in 1991 from parts of the former Kwara and Benue states. These changes reshaped the administrative map, although the cultural and historical ties connecting communities across state boundaries remained.
The question of whether Ilorin is Yoruba or Fulani often assumes that the two identities must be mutually exclusive. History offers a more complicated picture. Yoruba remains the principal language of everyday life in Ilorin. The town also has a distinctive local speech tradition, shaped by its history and contact with other communities. Many residents identify as Yoruba, while others place greater emphasis on being Ilorin people or identify with the emirate's historical and religious traditions. Some families identify as Fulani. Their family histories, traditions and reasons for identifying that way may differ from those of their neighbours. For some, ancestry is central. For others, family connections, marriage, inherited social identity or long-standing ties to the emirate may also matter. It is important not to assume that all Fulani-identifying families have the same background, or that language and personal names can settle questions of ancestry. Nor should an individual's identity be dismissed simply because it does not match an outsider's expectations. The history of Ilorin includes migration and intermarriage, but the exact origins of particular families require evidence from family histories, oral traditions and other reliable records. Broad claims about why people identify as Yoruba, Fulani or Ilorin should therefore be treated cautiously.
There is also a difference between ethnic identity and political allegiance. A person may identify strongly as Yoruba while supporting the emirate as an institution. Another may regard the emirate as central to Ilorin's identity without denying the town's Yoruba roots. These positions are not necessarily contradictory. They reflect different ways of relating to a shared past.
The Emirate in Modern Nigeria
The Emir of Ilorin remains an important traditional and religious figure. The institution is part of the town's historical inheritance, and its influence extends beyond ceremonial functions. However, the emirate should not be confused with the old political relationship between Ilorin and the Sokoto Caliphate. Modern Ilorin operates within the constitutional and administrative structure of Nigeria. The Sultan of Sokoto does not govern the city, and the emirate's contemporary position is shaped by Nigerian law and the Kwara State government. Questions about succession, the relationship between traditional authority and elected government, and the future of the emirate can be politically sensitive. Specific claims about ruling-house arrangements and the formal selection of an emir should be checked against the applicable state laws and authoritative records. The emirate is also not simply an institution imposed on a population that rejects it. Many residents regard it as part of their own history, including people who identify as Yoruba. Others place greater emphasis on Ilorin's earlier history and the need to recognise its pre-emirate connections with the old Oyo Empire. Both the earlier Yoruba history and the subsequent emirate period belong to Ilorin's past. A serious historical account should not erase either one to make a modern political argument easier.
Arguments about identity sometimes extend into electoral politics. Some people question whether a candidate from one part of Kwara can realistically govern the entire state, while others point to the influence of Ilorin and its traditional institutions. History alone cannot answer every question about present-day elections. Kwara's three senatorial districts: Central, North and South, contain communities with different demographic, cultural and political experiences. Central is strongly associated with Ilorin, while Kwara South has a predominantly Yoruba population and Kwara North includes Nupe, Baruba and other communities. Political outcomes depend on several factors, including party organisation, candidate selection, campaign resources, alliances, turnout and public confidence in government. Ethnic and religious identity may influence voting, but they do not operate in isolation.
Cornelius Adebayo, who governed Kwara in the early 1990s, is one example of a governor whose political base was associated with Kwara South. His election is a useful reminder that the state's political history cannot be reduced to a permanent contest between a single ethnic group and Ilorin. Claims about which zone has dominated particular periods, how informal power-sharing arrangements work, or whether a candidate would lose support by opposing the emirate should be supported by electoral records and specific evidence. They should not be presented as universal rules without that support. The more useful question is how Kwara's political institutions can represent the interests of all the communities, including those that feel neglected.
Insecurity and the Danger of Ethnic Blame
Recent insecurity has added urgency to debates about identity and political responsibility in Kwara. The state has experienced increasingly serious attacks, kidnappings and killings in several areas. A February 2026 Reuters report described an attack in Woro, in Kaiama Local Government Area, in which a local lawmaker said about 170 people had been killed. Dataphyte also published an analysis reporting more than 300 deaths associated with insecurity in Kwara between January 2025 and February 2026, based on data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and reports from affected communities. These figures describe a grave security problem, but individual incidents and aggregate death tolls should be understood in the context of the sources and reporting periods used. Violence against rural communities and traditional rulers raises serious questions about the ability of security agencies to protect residents. It also creates fertile ground for rumours, especially when investigations are slow and communities feel abandoned. Some people interpret attacks on Yoruba communities through an ethnic lens and suspect that violence is part of a deliberate effort by particular groups to weaken Yoruba communities. Such allegations should not be accepted as fact without evidence.
The presence of armed groups, or the ethnic identity attributed to some suspects, does not establish that an entire ethnic community or the Ilorin emirate is responsible for their actions. Each allegation requires investigation, and responsibility should be established through evidence. At the same time, dismissing people's fears without investigating the events that produced them is unlikely to restore confidence. Authorities must explain what is known, investigate credible allegations and protect communities regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There is a real difference between identifying the people responsible for violence and blaming an entire population. The first is necessary for justice; the second risks turning a security crisis into a wider communal conflict.
Kwara's history should encourage careful thinking here. The state has long been home to communities with overlapping histories and relationships. That shared past does not eliminate conflict, but it makes collective blame particularly dangerous.
Summary
Ilorin's transformation was not the result of a single decision or one person's ambition. It emerged from the weakening of the old Oyo Empire, Afonja's political struggle, Alimi's religious influence, the activities of diverse communities and the consolidation of a new ruling dynasty. British colonial rule later changed the political framework within which the emirate operated. Over time, these events produced a town whose identity cannot be explained through ancestry, language, religion or political allegiance alone. That does not mean identity is unimportant. Questions about representation, historical recognition, traditional authority and access to public resources can have real consequences. It means that the past needs to be examined carefully rather than reduced to competing claims of ownership. Ilorin has a Yoruba historical foundation. It also has a long history as a Muslim emirate with important connections to northern Nigeria. These facts can be acknowledged together without pretending that every historical question has been settled.
The challenge for Kwara today is not to force every resident into one identity category. It is to build institutions that protect people, treat communities fairly and allow historical disagreements to be discussed without turning them into grounds for hostility. Understanding Ilorin's history will not solve every political or security problem. But it can help people distinguish historical evidence from inherited assumptions, and legitimate questions about the past from attempts to blame neighbours for the actions of others.
References
1. Salihu, Ismail Otukoko. “The Role of Non-Yoruba Groups in the Transformation of Ilorin, 1790s–1820s.” Ibadan Journal of History, 7–8 (2019/2020), pp. 285–310.
2. Salihu, Ismail Otukoko. “Aare-Ona-Kakanfo Afonja, c.1796–c.1824: An Interrogation of the Historiography of a Critical Chapter of Ilorin History.” The Journal of African Studies and Research Forum, 33, no. 3 (2024), pp. 64–83.
3. O'Hear, Ann. “British Intervention and the Slaves and Peasant Farmers of Ilorin, c. 1890–c. 1906.” Paideuma, vol. 40 (1994), pp. 129–14.
4. Eliasu, Yahaya. “Historical Development of Mosques in Ilorin Emirate, 1823–1992.” KWASU Journal of Humanities, vol. 1 (2018), pp. 31–42.
5. Reuters, reporting on the February 2026 Woro attack in Kwara State.
6. Dataphyte, “Mapping the Rising Tide of Insecurity in Kwara State,” reporting on insecurity from January 2025 to February 2026.
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