King Abipa, also known as Ogbolu or Oba M'oro, was an Alaafin of the

Oyo empire The Oyo Empire was a powerful Yoruba empire of West Africa made up of parts of present-day eastern Benin and western Nigeria (including Southwest zone and the western half of Northcentral zone). It grew to become the largest Yoruba-speaking s ...

. He is believed to have ruled during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Early life

Abipa was the son of Egunoju and one of his queens. He was reportedly born when the royal party was on the road approaching

Igboho Oyo Igboho is a large town in Oyo State, Nigeria. It is the headquarters of the Orelope Local Government Area. It has an estimated population of 200,000. The town has a post office and a radio station. History Igboho was founded by Alaafin ...

(his name is contracted from ''a bi si ipa'' - 'one who is born on the wayside'). Prior to his reign, three rulers of Oyo had presided from Oyo-Igboho instead of the capital

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Oyo-Ile, due to external threats from the

Nupe Nupe may refer to: *Nupe people, of Nigeria *Nupe language, their language *The Bida Emirate, also known as the Nupe Kingdom, their former state *A member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African Amer ...

and internal squabbles. Abipa was the Alaafin who moved the capital back to Oyo-Ile after both threats were subdued. The return to Oyo-Ile occurred in the early seventeenth century. According to tradition, some nobles who wanted the capital to stay at Oyo-Igboho sent people to masquerade as phantoms when Abipa's advance party visited the site of the former capital. Abipa realised what was happening, and sent hunters to round up the bogus phantoms. For this he is also known as ''Oba m'oro'', 'the king who caught ghosts'. The story is still re-enacted during annual festivals at Oyo and on the installation of a new Alaafin. When the royal party entered Oyo-Ile, Abipa offered his newly born son to be sacrificed. For this action his oriki calls him 'the royal catcher of ghosts who sacrificed his son for the peace of the world'. He was succeeded by Obalokun.

References

Alaafins of Oyo {{Africa-royal-stub