Gbonka was a title given to brave warriors among the early Yorubas. Whoever was the Gbonka played a role in warfare. In fact, if a Gbonka should die during a war, another one would be appointed. So, unlike what you read growing up, Gbonka was not the name of a person, rather, it was a tile (for more, please read “The History of the Yorubas” by Samuel Johnson, a Yoruba himself).
Elir-Onigbajo was the name of the man many knew as Gbonka. During the reign of Kori, one of the early Yoruba kings, a renowned archer, Timi Agbale Olofa ina, was posted at Ede to deter the incursion of the Ijesas. He became a law unto himself. The king wanted to deal with TImi, and it was to the Gbonka that he turned. The king and the Gbonka were not friends, but that is a separate story.
There was no better archer than Timi Agbale Olofa ina (Timi the one with the flaming arrow). In order to protect himself from those arrows, the Gbonka equipped himself with a shield.
The Gbonka had a very potent weapon: a drug that he concocted. This drug would put whoever inhaled it to sleep. In the process of time, Timi came under the influence of this drug and was knocked unconscious. Please note that it was not some kind of fetish power: it was a drug.
Was the Gbonka a Pharmacist? The encounter between Timi and Gbonka took place during the reign of Kori, the seventh king after Oduduwa the father of all Yorubas.
The question is whether this very specific pharmaceutical knowledge existed in Yorubaland in the past. And if it did, does it remain in certain circles or is it lost forever, having passed away with some earlier generations? There is no doubt that some of the pharmaceutical body of knowledge were passed on because the Yorubas always had agbo (a local drug made from herbs in their environment) for various ailments.
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