Abiodun

Abiodun is the last Alaafin who ruled rather than presided. He killed Gaa and got fifteen quiet years out of it, and Yoruba tradition treats his reign as the empire's last good period — which is a way of saying that everything after 1789 goes wrong quickly. It went wrong partly because of how he won: he beat the Bashorun by calling in provincial commanders, which taught the provinces that the capital could not manage its own affairs. Afonja learned that lesson from the same event. Abiodun is also the father of Atiba, who is the reason there is still an Alaafin.

Children

• Atiba Atobatele

Domains

• sovereignty
• statecraft

Relations

• enemy: Bashorun Gaa
• killer of: Bashorun Gaa
• father of: Atiba Atobatele
• grandfather of: Oluyole

Sources

• Reference treatments of Abiodun's reign, his overthrow of Gaa and his death in 1789.