Kamogelo Olaitan
African Queens: Scrolla.Africa is showcasing the lives of seven African queens from across history whose remarkable lives went on to shape the world today.
How many queens would sacrifice their only son and their status so their own people can be freed? Not many. But Queen Moremi Ajasoro of the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria went to those lengths to free her people.
Born in the 12th century to a hunter and married to the king of Ile-Ife Oranmiyan, Queen Moremi had watched in agony for years as her people were being captured and used as slaves by the neighbouring tribe of Ugbo – the forest people.
The Yoruba tribe considered the forest people to be spirits as they’d often invaded their lands covered in raffia leaves.
She came up with a plan. She would let herself be captured by the forest people as a slave girl so she can learn their secrets and give information to the Yoruba army to use to defeat the Igbo.
But first, she pledged a sacrifice to the goddess of the Esimirin river so that the goddess would help reveal to her the strength of the enemy tribe.
In exchange she offered to give them something that was precious to her: her only son.
The queen went to a place that was raided frequently, pretending to be an ordinary girl and allowed herself to be captured.
With her beauty and the help of the Esmirin river gods she managed to attract the attention of the Ugbò king, who made her his queen.
As queen, Moremi gained the trust of the king and his army, and managed to see their battle strategies.
When she had gathered the information she escaped back to Ile-Ife to share the secrets of the forest people.
Moremi was immediately welcomed back by her first husband the king and was made queen again. With the information they now had on the enemies, the Yoruba tribe was able to fight and conquer their long-time oppressors.
Thousands of years after her selfless sacrifice, the queen is still celebrated by the Yoruba people at the annual month-long Edi Festival.
To this day, the Yoruba people hold her in the highest esteem of any women in their tribe. She is honoured with a 42 feet statue, popularly known as the “Queen Moremi Statue of Liberty”, the fourth tallest statue in Africa.
