By Ado Oyeyemi
A tortoise reputed to be 420 years old and popularly known as Baba has died at the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo in Oyo State.
The tortoise, regarded by the palace as a treasured relic of the old Oyo Kingdom, reportedly died on Monday after falling ill and was subsequently buried.
The Director of Media and Publicity to the Alaafin, Bode Durojaiye, disclosed the development in a statement issued in Ibadan on Thursday.
Durojaiye said Baba had been cared for by successive Alaafins and had become an important part of the palace’s history and heritage.
“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.
According to the palace, oral tradition traced Baba’s origin to Oyo-Ile, the ancient capital of the Oyo Empire, from where the tortoise was reportedly brought to the present palace in Oyo town.
The palace said Baba became a major tourist attraction, drawing visitors who came to see the animal because of its reported extraordinary age and size.
It added that two palace officials were assigned to care for Baba, which was fed with watermelon, corn pap wrapped in leaves and grass.
The statement said Baba became a familiar presence at the palace and was regarded by residents as an enduring link to generations of Alaafins who had cared for it.
The palace also connected the tortoise’s significance to Yoruba traditional beliefs concerning the relationship between the living, the dead and the unborn, citing themes explored in Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman.
The palace described Baba as a symbol of its oral history and said its death represented the loss of a longstanding companion and cultural relic.
The statement said Baba fell ill on Monday, stopped eating and died shortly afterwards.
“Baba fell ill on Monday, just a little sickness and couldn’t eat anymore. Then he died. Just like that.
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“He had since been buried. Good night, Baba,” the statement concluded.
