The story of the Adegunju tribe

Bọlaji, Lekan and Afọlabi stood in line before the Balogun, Ọtun, Osi and Akọgun who are the principal ranking Ẹṣọs of the village were present. The Jagunas of the village are also present curious about Balogun's last sentence.

"The three of you have been summoned for a special Iṣẹ, Akin is now in danger and precious time has been lost because of a foolish female, Bọlaji you are good at tracking people who are lost, so you are in charge of this quest. These are your orders, Protect Akin with your lives if possible and capture at least one of the assassins for questioning, Ṣeyi has gone ahead of you, we need him back alive too," She commanded

"It will be done, we are qualified," Bọlaji acknowledged

"What is the name of your new group?" The Akọgun inquired.

"Awa Egbe Idi Oju (Eagle eye group)" Bọlaji replied with a slight grin and a guilty look at Jaguna Baṣọrun.

"That boy has stabbed me in the back" Jaguna Basourn growled as he observed the two boys leave the hut.

"I will organise all the other Ẹṣọs as time will permit," the Balogun said in an urgent tone "If Akin dies this village will die with him"

"Akin will not die," Lekan said with a confident smile, "He is a member of our group and we take care of our own"

"And one last thing," the Balogun said as the boys turned to leave

"Come back alive," the boys, chorused.

The Balogun's theme is "come back alive" As long as an Ẹṣọ is performing an Iṣẹ under the Balogun's orders, she believes that the mission is successful only if all the warriors come back alive, thus immediately after issuing her orders she would say "come back alive". Words of encouragement and inspiration for all the Ẹṣọs of Ilu-inọ, to her every life is important

"Balogun, your words offend me," the Akọgun said suddenly, as soon as the three boys had left the immediate vicinity "I wonder why the life of a simple hunchback is so important to you"

"With respect Balogun," the Ọtun said, "Akin is not that important"

"Yes," Jaguna Baṣọrun agreed, "The hunchback is worthless"

"It is of no consequence," the Balogun said, trying to push the matter aside

"It is to us," Akọgun replied calmly, "you said that if Akin dies, this village is going to die with him, those words offend me, this village became strong because of the efforts of myself and the previous Balogun, Balogun Alawo your predecessor"

"I agree, but you were not exposed to the secrets of this village and believe me Akin is very important" the Balogun replied

"Then I demand you tell me everything about that hunch back, maybe I'll believe you or maybe I will not," the Akọgun said and the Balogun signed in frustration "but it is a long story".

"So while we organize the warriors of the village you can use the time to tell us," Akọgun countered.

"As you wish," the Balogun said after a short pause, "the story goes back several hundred years when Ilu-inọ was nothing but a small hamlet, she then had only five houses and few people, then her local Oba, who was nothing but a Balẹ (Iba ilẹ- lord of the land). If you remember the story well, the then Balẹ of Ilu-inọ was a man called Oju-ina or so they called him, his real name is long forgotten." She stopped to take her breath "When Oju-ina and his family first settled on this land and made it their home, he didn't expect that the land already belonged to a tribe. An unnamed tribe, a tribe that remains a mystery until today"

"The tribe sent messages to Ilu-inọ stating that the soil that they dwell upon does not belong to them, in reply Oju-ina the then Balẹ of Ilu-inọ sent a peace offering to the landowners and begged permission to stay on the land promising to pay tributes if necessary. The mysterious tribe accepted Oju-ina's offer and allowed the first settlers to dwell in the strange land in peace. Thus Ilu-inọ was born, a few years later 4 other villages joined us on this land and also accepted to pay tributes to this mysterious tribe and then other villages joined in and for a strange reason, we all prospered. As for the tribe, their identity remains a mystery, no one can tell if they're men or demons"

"At that time the only people who knew about the existence of the tribe were those who had direct contact with them, they are unknown to all the other provinces and even the Alaafin of Ọyọ knows nothing of their existence. Then the Yoruba civil war broke out, all the Ọbas kings and Baloguns took part, each king desperate to increase his geographical size, acquire more slaves and increase their financial stability"

"Yes, the war was a foolish one, all those kings wanted nothing short of satisfying their greedy whim" the Akọgun added

"But Ilu-inọ was not affected by that war" the Osi-Balogun pointed

"I assure you Ilu-inọ was affected by that war, it's just that the people didn't notice" the Balogun explained

"I don't understand," the Ọtun said

"The villages of Kutuje, Ijekun and some other principal villages at that time issued challenges to our village; some of them even demanded an immediate surrender. All the elders of the village were scared out of their wits. In desperation, Ilu-inọ sent word to the mysterious landowners asking for help and this is their reply"

No man shall lose his yams

No man shall lose his wife or his daughters

No man shall lose his farm

No man shall lose his home

For your farms are our farms

And your wives are our wives

Your children are our children

And your yams are our yams

So shall we defend that which belongs to us.

Unknown to the people of Ilu-inọ the war had already started and all the other stronger villages had already started making their move against our village. Seemingly, they never arrived, the mysterious tribe routed their enemies with a surprise attack, they butchered them without mercy and left none alive except one. The man escaped only to die in the same village he was sent to destroy, he died with the words

"They are the crown of war (Adeogun)"

"So that's how they got the title of the war tribe," The Akọgun observed

"All the villages that wanted to conquer Ilu-inọ village ended up being conquered by this mysterious tribe and till this day they are still under the authority of Ilu-inọ village, that was how the province was created; but then it was a small province not even bigger than a district village, consisting of eight small villages and the provincial king. It's only natural for all the surrounding provincial kings to want to add a minority to the bulk of their empire, others simply took offence that there is no higher authority over us as an excuse to attack and once again the 'war tribe' jumped into action. The war tribe conquered every last king that stood in their way slaying every last man, brave enough to meet them on the battleground leaving nothing, not a trace of their remains and no one to tell the tale of what the men of the war tribe looked like"

"Did the war tribe challenge any of the kings?" The Ọtun asked

"The war tribe never issued any challenge, but they were more than glad to answer the call for battle, it's like the tale of a lion sleeping blissfully under a tree and then a monkey pups up and starts playing with the lion's mane, the moment the lion wakes up the monkey is as good as dead. Many tribes attacked and the war tribe gladly replied, slaughtering every man on the war front, leaving none alive to tell the tale, not even their corpse. The land damaged from battle, but not a sign of the dead"

"It is only the vulture that feeds on the carcass of the dead

It is only the war tribe that disposes of the corpses of their enemies

And leaves none for the eyes of man to see

The war tribe are nothing but the vultures of war

That is why they are called the crown of war

That is why they are called the crowned vultures of war

They are the crowned vultures (Adegunju)"

"The Adegunju tribe destroyed two of the neighbouring provinces and crippled five others and the village already under the Adegunju rule grew bigger and stronger. Ilu-inọ prospered, at first, she was a local village, but then grew into a district village with about fifteen other villages paying tributes"

"All this is known to us," the Akọgun growled, "although I've never heard this much detail about the Adegunju tribe and this brings me back to my previous question. Why is Akin connected to the progress of this village?"

"Akin!" The Balogun said more to herself than to the others "Over the years people have wondered what an Adegunju member looks like and many tribes fear engaging the Adegunju in battle. Over the years the Adegunjus have killed and beheaded many evil kings and chiefs to expand their borders, even the Alaafin of Ọyọ is very careful in his dealings with the war tribe. Should you be opportune to meet a member of the tribe what your eyes will see is a large mass of shadow seemingly in liquid form, sometimes it's as big as a giant and at other times it is as small as a normal-sized man"

"Ṣeyi and Bọlaji reported seeing one once," Osi said

"I've seen many of them," the Balogun continued, "Balogun Alawo my master and teacher made a pact with them. At that time, they visited this village many times and I was involved, being the then next in line to the title of Balogun, this agreement involves Akin"

"They would make Ilu-inọ a provincial capital, all the tithes and tributes would be brought to this village and in turn, Ilu-inọ would turn in 80% of such tributes to the provincial leaders," the Balogun pointed out

"Ilu-inọ will benefit from such an agreement" Ọtun observed

"Yes, we will and we did," the Balogun agreed, "but at a price"

"At what price?" The Osi inquired in an alarmed tone

"That they would bring a representative from their tribe to stay with us in the village and observe everything that we do, if anything, negative happens to that representative they would take it as an act of aggression and attack this village with the fury of war." She said, "in other words an act of genocide, slaying men, women and children. It isn't the first time they've done it and it's definitely not going to be the last"

"So all we have to do is protect the representative, and Ilu-inọ will continue to prosper," Akọgun said in a firm tone fearful of where the conversation is leading.

"Who is the representative of the Adegunju tribe?" The Osi inquired in an unsteady voice.

"We thought that they would present a grown man, instead they presented a baby and chanted the words"

"This child is our blood

This child is our legacy

This child is one of us

If this child dies many will die with it

If this child prospers, many will prosper with it

If this child perishes, many will perish with it

Within the flesh of this child resides our secret

Within the blood of this child, Oduduwa lives

Within the shell of the skin of this child live the wings of an eagle

May you prosper as this child prospers,

May you perish if this child perishes,

Tell no one but those you trust

For this child possesses many enemies and no friends"

"In other words, that baby holds the secret of the Adegunju within its body. It is a blessing and a curse to Ilu-inọ village depending on the fate of that child, which is why I have protected it all these years"

"And who are we talking about" the Osi inquired fearful of the answer

"Akin Adegunju, the same hunch back the assassins are trying to kill" the Balogun pronounced

"Him!" The Akọgun exclaimed

"And I will repeat myself if that boy should die, Ilu-inọ village will die with him" This time the Balogun's words had more impact than before and it made the Akọgun tremble all the way down to his very core.