The Tortoise, popularly known as Baba, reportedly died on Monday after falling ill and was later buried at the palace.

Baba was regarded as a treasured relic of the ancient Oyo Kingdom and had reportedly been cared for by successive Alaafins, who inherited the animal as part of the palace’s historical heritage.

The Director of Media and Publicity to the Alaafin, Bode Durojaiye, disclosed Baba’s death in a statement issued in Ibadan on Thursday.

According to Durojaiye, the tortoise was more than a palace pet, having become an important part of the oral history and cultural heritage of the Yoruba people.

“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 the tortoise was reportedly brought to the present palace in Oyo town.

Over the years, the tortoise became a tourist attraction, with visitors reportedly trooping to the palace to see the animal because of its reported age and size.

The palace said two officials were assigned to care for Baba, adding that the tortoise was fed with watermelon, corn pap wrapped in leaves and grass.

According to the statement, Baba fell ill on Monday and stopped eating before it eventually died.

The palace described the tortoise as an important part of the history of the Alaafin institution, saying its reported longevity made it a unique presence within the palace.

“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.”

The statement further described Baba as the oldest indigene of Oyo, reflecting the deep cultural significance attached to the tortoise by people who visited the palace.

“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 connected Baba’s place in Oyo’s history with Yoruba beliefs concerning the relationship between the living, the dead and the unborn.

It referenced Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman, in drawing attention to the Yoruba understanding of continuity between generations and the spiritual connection between the past, present and future.

For generations of visitors to the palace, Baba’s presence reportedly offered a physical link to stories surrounding the old Oyo Empire and the succession of Alaafins who ruled the kingdom.

The palace said Baba’s death therefore represented more than the loss of an animal, describing it as the passing of a longstanding companion and a symbol of the institution’s oral history.

The reported 420-year age of Baba could not be independently established from the statement, but the palace maintained that the tortoise had lived through successive generations of Alaafins and had become deeply embedded in the history and traditions of the Oyo Kingdom.

With Baba’s death, the Alaafin’s Palace has lost an unusual historical attraction that had, according to the palace, drawn visitors while serving as a living reminder of Oyo’s long royal tradition.

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