Don Decries ‘Vilification’ Of Ibadan Historical Figure, Efunsetan Aniwura, In Play, Films

Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos, Prof. Olufunke Asake Adeboye, has decried the vilification of Efunsetan Aniwura, a powerful 19th-century Iyalode(female chief) in Ibadan, in a play and films.

The don was speaking as the 464th inaugural lecturer at the University of Lagos on Wednesday.

Speaking under the theme: “The Secular, The Sacred And The Space In Between”, one of the areas Adeboye examined was gender frames in historical drama, focusing on the story of Efunsetan Aniwura. In a submission in one of her earlier publications, she had addressed the question of whether producers of historical plays and films are credible as historians.

Having looked at the works of various authors and historians, she concluded that perhaps Efunsetan was wrongly vilified.

Referencing one of her studies titled, ‘Framing Female Leadership on Stage and Screen in Yorubaland: Efunsetan  Aniwura Revisited,’ she noted that “a major concern in the study is how representation of women on stage and screen shapes attitudes about women in society in problematic ways. Efunsetan Aniwura was a powerful 19th-century Iyalode (female Chief) in Ibadan. She was deeply involved in the politics of her time until she was murdered on June 30, 1874. An influential play by Akinwunmi Isola titled ‘Efunsetan Aniwura: Iyalode Ibadan’ portrays her as excessive, power-drunk, wicked, high-handed, and politically intemperate, thus suggesting that her murder was an instance of justice served.

Adeboye added, “My study revisited the representation of Efunsetan Aniwura in Isola’s historical play and two successor films, both titled Efunsetan Aniwura: a 1981 version directed by Bankole Bello and a 2005 version directed by Tunde Kelani.

” My argument in the publication was that the prevailing gender ideologies and politics that differently inform the play and films over time (1960s – 2005) are consistent in one regard: they function to vilify Efunsetan and erode viewers’ sympathy for her.”

The Vice Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, commended Adeboye for her thought-provoking and intellectually enriching inaugural lecture.

She noted that Prof Adeboye demonstrated how historical inquiry could move beyond familiar boundaries to uncover fresh perspectives on society, religion, leadership, gender, development and knowledge production. “Her lecture reminds us that history is not merely a record of events gone by. It is a discipline that continually questions accepted assumptions, re-examines inherited ideas, and offers new ways of understanding both the past and the present.”

Dignitaries from the University of Lagos and Redeemer’s University, where Prof Adeboye served on the governing board, as well as friends and family, graced the occasion.