How Ancient Yoruba Titles Survived Nupe Influence

Abdulmalik Dauda

In many traditional communities across Northern Yorubaland and the Niger–Benue axis, there are traditional stools whose meanings run much deeper than their names suggest. Some of these titles have survived wars, migrations, Nupe expansion, colonial rule and changing political realities for centuries. Others changed names over time but retained their meanings within traditional governance systems.

One of the most fascinating examples is the traditional office variously known today as Shaba, Saba, Akogun or Balogun. To many people, these names merely sound like military titles. But a closer historical examination reveals something far more profound. Across several Yoruba frontier societies and neighbouring Middle Belt communities, these titles repeatedly appear as institutions connected with military authority, deputy rulership, succession, continuity of governance and stabilisation of the throne.

Historical evidence suggests that the name “Shaba” was not originally what many Northern Yoruba communities called the office. Rather, it emerged more prominently during the period of Nupe military influence and interaction across parts of present-day Kogi and adjoining regions.

When Nupe forces and political influence spread into several Yoruba frontier territories centuries ago, they encountered already established traditional hierarchies. In many of those communities, the traditional titles immediately after the king were occupied by senior military chiefs known traditionally as Akogun or Balogun. These offices were not merely war titles; they were deeply connected to seniority, deputy authority and succession line ups within the indigenous Yoruba political structure. The Nupe, however, already possessed a comparable traditional title of their own political system known as “Shaba” — a title associated with the heir apparent, deputy ruler or successor-in-waiting within Nupe traditional governance. Consequently, when they encountered similar continuity structures among the Yoruba frontier communities, they naturally applied the familiar designation “Shaba” to those offices.

In effect, the Nupe name aligned closely with the traditional role they met on the ground.

Thus, in many Northern Yoruba communities, the title Shaba gradually became attached to offices that were originally Akogun or Balogun in indigenous political tradition. What occurred, therefore, was not a creation of a new title rather it was a renaming or reinterpretation of an already existing traditional office.

This alignment is historically significant because the traditional Yoruba structure itself already positioned the Akogun or Balogun as military head, second-in-command and, in many instances, succession authority after the king.

Perhaps one of the clearest surviving examples today comes from Kakanda Kingdom in present-day Kogi State. During recent succession discussions relating to the Agankyu stool, traditional authorities publicly described the office of the Shaba of Kakanda in remarkably explicit official terms. One traditional account stated: “Central to the succession system is the office of the Shaba of Kakanda, which by long-established custom is the position of heir apparent.”That statement is historically important for some reasons. It confirms that within that traditional political system, the Shaba functioned simultaneously as deputy ruler, heir apparent, successor-in-waiting and continuity mechanism for the throne.

In essence, the office formed part of the bridge between one reign and another.What makes this  significant is that similar institutional patterns appear repeatedly across Northern Yorubaland.

Colonial intelligence reports and later historical studies on Kabba Province, Akoko, Yagba, Igbomina, Owe and neighbouring frontier regions reveal that British administrators encountered highly organized indigenous political systems with layered structures of authority, military organization and continuity tendencies.

One important archival source frequently cited by historians is NNAK SNP 10 393p/1918, Assessment Report on the Aworo District of the Kabba Division by C.K. Meek, Assistant District Officer. The report and related colonial intelligence records became foundational materials for later historians studying political institutions in Kabba Province and Northern Yorubaland. These records clearly showed that many communities already possessed traditional systems built around ranked authority, senior military chiefs and continuity-sensitive traditions long before modern local government administration emerged. Historical studies on Akoko political development also reveal the existence of titles such as Shaba, Madaki, Zaki and Dawodu within local governance systems. What is particularly fascinating is that while names evolved over time, the institution itself survived.

Today, there is a growing cultural and historical shift across several Northern Yoruba communities toward re-emphasizing the original Yoruba titles ,especially Akogun and Balogun , while gradually downplaying the later Nupe-derived nomenclature “Shaba.”

This shift is not necessarily a rejection of history. Rather, it represents an attempt to reconnect the institution with its older Yoruba political roots and indigenous constitutional identity.

In many communities, scholars, traditionalists and cultural custodians increasingly argue that Akogun and Balogun more accurately reflect the original traditional offices that existed before Nupe influence renamed or reinterpreted them.

Importantly, the transition concerns terminology more than function. The titles themselves remain substantially intact. Indeed, the same continuity philosophy appears across wider Yorubaland.

In Ibadan, for example, the famous Olubadan succession system remains fundamentally organized around progression through senior military and civil chieftaincy lines. Historically, the military line headed by officers such as Balogun formed one of the principal constitutional routes to kingship. In this arrangement, military seniority became directly connected to continuity of rulership.

The same principle existed in old Oyo political traditions, where the Aremo functioned as crown prince while senior military chiefs exercised major influence within governance and succession politics. In Ilorin too, offices such as Balogun and Madawaki became strategically important not merely because of military responsibility, but because continuity of authority and military organisation were deeply interconnected.

Thus, across much of Yorubaland, military-deputy offices repeatedly occupied positions closely linked with succession and continuity of power.

It is against this broader historical background that the Ife-Olukotun in Yagba East LGA of Kogi State example becomes especially illuminating.

Historical traditions within Ife-Olukotun indicate that the office of Akogun had already existed as the recognized second-in-command to the Olukotun for several centuries before the advent of Nupe incursions into the region.

 Oral accounts and local historical narratives place the existence of the Akogun institution at roughly about 300 years ago, around the eighteenth century, before the period when the old Ajalorun institution gradually evolved into the present Olukotun system.

This is historically important because it demonstrates clearly that the office itself was indigenous to the Yoruba political structure of Ife-Olukotun long before the later introduction of the Nupe-derived terminology “Shaba.”

The Akogun was traditionally regarded not merely as war leader, but as the senior military chief, deputy authority and continuity custodian of the kingdom. The office occupied the position immediately after the Olukotun within the hierarchy and was deeply connected with succession lineups and stabilization of the throne whenever a vacancy occurred.

Oral traditions within Ife-Olukotun consistently maintain that the Akogun/Shaba occupies the position immediately after the Olukotun in hierarchy and succession expectation. Historically, whenever the Olukotun stool becomes vacant, the Akogun/Shaba is traditionally regarded as the most senior continuity authority within the system.

In Igbagun community of same local government, the same story abounds such that Shaba title holders are second in command and succeed any King known as Olugbagun that dies in the community.

Interestingly, transitions from Shaba back toward Akogun is increasingly becoming noticeable in Ife-Olukotun itself. Similarly, in other Northern Yoruba frontier communities, including parts of Isanlu in Yagba East LGA and Ere in Yagba West, that have embraced the older indigenous Yoruba nomenclature of Balogun and Baalẹ respectively.

Seen from this perspective, the transition from Shaba back to Akogun and Balogun represents not merely a linguistic adjustment but a broader cultural recovery of indigenous political memory.

What survives in these titles today is far more than old nomenclature. It is the living continuity of an ancient political philosophy. The one in which military authority, deputy rulership, succession stability and continuity of governance were deliberately woven together into enduring traditional institutions.

•Abdulmalik Dauda, a scholar and anthropologist, lives in Lokoja.