country_of_citizenship ajagbo
Ajagbo was an Alaafin of the West African Oyo Kingdom , who was on the throne for a remarkable length of time . He was notable for introducing the title of Kakanfo , similar to a field marshal in Oyo . He was also known by Oyo neighbours as a warlike king who sent armies to destroy towns in the popo country , Ile Olopa and his maternal town Ikereku - were . Yoruba ("") is a language spoken in West Africa , mainly in ___MASK93___ . The number of speakers of Yoruba is approaching 30 million . It is a pluricentric language spoken principally in Benin and ___MASK93___ , with communities in other parts of Africa , the Americas , and Europe . A variety of the language , Lucumi , is the liturgical language of the Santería religion of the Caribbean . Many Yoruba words are used in the Afro - Brazilian religion known as Candomblé . Yoruba is most closely related to the Itsekiri language ( spoken in the Niger Delta ) and to Igala ( spoken in central ___MASK93___ ). An emperor ( through Old French " empereor " from ) is a monarch , usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial ___MASK47___ . Empress , the female equivalent , may indicate an emperor ' s wife (" empress consort "), mother (" empress dowager "), or a woman who rules in her own right (" empress regnant "). Emperors are generally recognized to be of a higher honour and rank than kings . In Europe the title of Emperor was , since the Middle Ages , considered equal or almost equal in dignity to that of Pope , due to the latter ' s position as visible head of the Church and spiritual leader of Western Europe . The Emperor of Japan is the only currently reigning monarch whose title is translated into English as " Emperor ". Alaafin , or " Man of the Palace " in the Yoruba language , was the title of the emperor of the medieval Oyo empire of northwestern Yorubaland . It was retained through the fall of that state as the official title of the ceremonial ruler of the contemporary Oyo clan . The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western and North central ___MASK93___ , and Eastern Benin . Established in the 15th century , the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states . It rose through the outstanding organizational skills of the Yoruba , wealth gained from trade and its powerful cavalry . The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region from the mid - 17th to the late 18th century , holding sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland , but also over nearby African states , notably the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west . Yorubaland is the cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa . It spans the modern day countries of ___MASK93___ , Togo and Benin , and covers a total land area of 142 , 114 km² or about the same size as the combined land areas of Greece and Montenegro , of which 106 , 016 km² , representing about 74 . 6 % within ___MASK93___ , 18 . 9 % in Benin , and the remaining 6 . 5 % in Togo . The geocultural space contains an estimated 55 million people , the overwhelming majority of them are ethnic Yorubas . About 5 . 3 million people are estimated to practice Yoruba religion worldwide with the largest numbers found in ___MASK93___ .