History of the Yoruba people military capital of Ilorin, and then sacked and destroyed Ọyọ-Ile, the royal seat of the Ọyọ Empire. Following this, Ọyọ-Ile was abandoned, and the Ọyọ retreated south to the present city of Oyo (formerly known as "Ago d'Oyo", or "Oyo Atiba") in a forested region where the cavalry of the Sokoto Caliphate was less effective. Further attempts by the Sokoto Caliphate to expand southwards were checked by the Yoruba who had rallied in defence under the military leadership of the ascendant Ibadan clan, which rose from the old Oyo Empire, and of the Ijebu city-states. However, the Oyo hegemony had
Abiodun (Oyo ruler) Adeyemi. A prominent contemporary descendant was Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh. Abiodun (Oyo ruler) Abiodun (reigned 1770–1789) was an 18th-century "alaafin," or ruler, of the Oyo people in what is now Nigeria. Coming to the throne shortly after the Oyo subjugation of neighboring Dahomey, Abiodun soon found himself embroiled in a civil war over the goals of the newly wealthy state. Bashorun Gaha, the empire's prime minister and lord marshal, had used his power to pervert the constitutional terms of abdication in a bid to limit the powers of the "Alaafin" and gain more political power for himself. During Gaha's power play,