420-year-old tortoise at Alaafin’s palace dies in Oyo - Punch Newspapers
The 420-year-old tortoise known as Baba, which lived at the Alaafin’s Palace in Oyo, has died and been buried.
A tortoise believed to be 420 years old and known as Baba has died at the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oyo State. Baba, regarded as a treasured relic of the Oyo Kingdom, reportedly died on Monday after falling ill and was later buried. The Director of Media and Publicity to the Alaafin, Bode Durojaiye, disclosed this in a statement issued in Ibadan on Thursday. According to the statement, Baba had been cared for by successive Alaafins. “Baba was more than a turtle in status. He represented a part of the oral history of the Yoruba race. Now, the Alaafin has lost an ageless companion,” he said. The palace said oral history traced Baba’s origin to Oyo-Ile, the old Oyo Empire, from where it was brought to the present palace in Oyo town. It said the tortoise became a tourist attraction, with visitors trooping to the palace to see the animal because of its reported age and size. According to the statement, two palace officials were responsible for caring for Baba, which fed on watermelon, corn pap wrapped in leaves and grass. Makinde hails promotion of 102 officers as mark of quality service Oyo school abduction: Suspects plead not guilty to amended charges Oyo fish farmers to drive urban aquaculture The palace said Baba fell ill on Monday and stopped eating before it died. The statement added, “While he was alive, Baba was more than a diapsid. He was arguably the oldest living mammal in the world. He was venerated and loved by the people, who turned his abode in the Palace into a tourist point. “Baba, the turtle, must have drawn its name from the fact that it was the oldest creature. No one could call him by his name, so Baba was adopted, indicating that it was a male. He drew his own crowd. Strong and friendly, Baba was the reason many people trooped to the ancient Palace in its days. “In Oyo, Baba was regarded as the oldest indigene. It was the Paramount Ruler’’s most besotted pet. The Monarch met it in the Palace. Baba was nourished by a succession of kings, who inherited him as part of the relics of their ancestors.” The palace also linked Baba’s place in Oyo’s history to Yoruba beliefs about connections between the living, the dead and the unborn, referencing Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman. The statement described Baba as a symbol of the palace’s oral history and said its death marked the loss of a longstanding companion of the Alaafin. “Baba fell ill on Monday, just a little sickness and couldn’t eat anymore. Then he died. Just like that. “He had since been buried. Good night, Baba,” the statement said. Ademola Adegbite
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