OMOYOMA

In the Beginning

I'm Omoyoma, son of  Agun, grandson of Akuu, and great grandson of Imaseun. We are head of the Mongora household ,controlling vast estates and plantations. With large stores of grain and gold. We have five thousand loyal subjects, one thousand on active military duty, eight hundred on reserve and two thousand who are capable to carry swords. In all,  we are the third most powerful household in the kingdom of Oyo.
My father, Agun, served as the minister in charge of rates and tax collection. So, we spent a lot of time in the palace, which was in the capital Akure, five hundred kilometers away from our homeland. When I was five years old, four out of the twenty wives of our king, gave birth to three girls and a boy. A prophesy was immediately delivered from the temple of the river goddess. A religion of old which no longer had influence in the kingdom. The prophesy declared that one out of the four children would be an instrument in the hands of the gods.

As a noble I was trained in, philosophy, astronomy , science, and warfare. I trained with the most sophisticated weapons in our armoury,the sword, spear, bow, club, axe, and poison dots. Our kingdom at this point in time had an economic boom. We had enough grain, gold, and slaves. Our colonies and boarders extended far towards the Hitler lands of the Mali empire. With growth, came great responsibility. More official were needed to regulate different sectors within the kingdom. At age 15, I left the capital to Ibadan to manage the vast salt fields in the town. I would spend ten years of my life in this town.

Before long, rebellion broke out in the coastal town of Ibom. Rebellions were a usual occurrence within our kingdom. Thus, we were always at war. I soon received a letter from the palace ordering me to mobilise a strong fighting force and engage the rebels at Ibom within forty-eight hours.

At Ibadan, I had three hundred fully trained soldiers and about seven hundred labourers who were fit for battle. I had no battle plans neither did I have an idea ,of what to expect at Ibom. Ibom is a coastal town. A transit point from which we moved slaves, salt, and copper to the kingdoms south of the Benin ocean.
The people were mostly fishermen numbering about, one thousand in all. They started their rebellion with Tayee as a figure head. Tayee was a local business man, who became wealthy, from his slave business. He had gathered enough funds to buy swords and spears for his people. Unfortunately
f

ailed to realise that you needed more than spears to do battle.

Two days later, I marched out of Ibadan with one thousand three hundred men fully armed to the teeth. Iron helmets, with leather body shields which covers the chest all the way to the knee. Each man had a spear dagger and shield.
My orders were simple and clear. " Burn the city and send Tayee's head to the capital". We marched for five days , and on a grim morning we arrived at Ibom. I must admit ,that I was expecting a vast army of slaves to oppose us at Ibom, but, the unexpected happened.
The previous day, the chiefs and elders of Ibom had revolted against Tayee, and his rebellion died a natural death.
The chiefs begged for mercy,  fearing the mighty hand of the oyo kingdom. But I had orders which I couldn't disobey. I then ordered the execution of all adult males in the city. By the next day, seven hundred men had been beheaded. I personally supervised Tayees execution...it took three strokes of the axe to separate the head from the body. And Ibom was immediately burnt to the ground.

Few months later, I received a letter from the King inviting me to the capital, to take up an appointment as the commander of his army. At this point in time, King Ore, under whose authority I was deployed to Ibadan had died. And my father was too old and had retired to our country home.