Kanran

Karan was an Alaafin of Oyo who succeeded Odarawu as king. He was considered a fierce and tempestuous leader who subjected citizens to severe harm and punishments. As a result of his propensity to incite scourge on his subjects, a plot was conspired to terminate him or get him to abdicate the throne. According to Oyo stories, Karan sent an army against Aga Oibo, but before the town could be taken, the conspirers sent a messenger to the king asking for his fan as a sacrifice. Karan complied with the request and a sacrificial meat was in return offered to the king for consumption. However, as Karan ate the meat, the conpirers evoked that karan has eaten his own fan and his words have no value to anyone most importantly the Oyo army. They besieged Karan to commit suicide, signaling his exit from the throne. By then his army had turned against him as he had literary ate his words. The trap succeeded and Karan was killed battling his enemies.

References

*Samuel Johnson, Obadiah Johnson. The History of the Yorubas: Fmom the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate. p 170