EARLY GOVERNMENT IN YORUBALAND .

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The government of Yoruba Land was quite unusual . the country had two capitals , as it were .

In Ile-Ife lived the oni , or religious head of the people , while Oyo became the political headquarters of the alafin .

A new location for the political capital was chosen in the nineteenth century . The rule of the alafin , or king of Oyo , extended far , but his power was limited .

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The Oyo mesi , who were the heads of seven families , controlled his administration . The nobles were not appointed by the alafin himself . They , therefore , enjoyed a great deal of independence and freedom of action in controlling the decisions of the King .

They could exercise a check on the work of the alafin without fear of losing their own position . What is more , the nobles chose the alafin and decided the line of action he should take both time of peace and time of war .

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Thus it was rather the alafin that , to a large extent , was at the mercy of the nobles . The head of the nobles was called the basorun . His position was similar to that of a modern prime minister . There were also being leaders whose commander were the Kakanfo .

However , we should not think that the alafin was just a figure-head . In practice he had quite a lot of power . He appointed officials to the provinces , whose duties were similar to those of a governor of a colony .