Baasegun is a Yoruba traditional title. The office was a very important one in the old Yoruba society. The Baasegun was master at the head of the healing professions. The Baasegun was the clinician, the one equipped with the skills to diagnose disease and to treat it. The Babalawo acted as his investigator whilst the Onisegun was his dispensing herbalist. The surgeon was identified by putting Alabe (‘expert with the knife’) in front of Baasegun to give Baasegun Alabe.
The office of the Baasegun had several other functions. The Baasegun was governance, Chief Medical Officer, mandatary, and teacher.
Baasegun, the governance
A Baasegun on investiture automatically became a member of the Igbimo governing council where he was the voice of the public’s health and wellbeing. His obligation in that role was to advice, advocate, make policies, persuade, and protect the rule of law as it pertained to public health. The Baasegun also was Oloye, a noble man. His obligation here was to assert and to defend, at every opportunity, the efficacy and integrity of the Yoruba culture and tradition as it pertained to the health and wellbeing of the public.
Baasegun, the Chief Medical Officer
A Baasegun on investiture automatically became the Chief Medical Officer (CMO). He was in that role the next in rank to the Oba (‘igba keji Oba’). The name of a title told of its function; whilst most titles, such as, Otunba, were about service to the institution of the Oba, the Baasegun title uniquely meant service to the general public, and not to an individual. The Yoruba saying: Ilera loro, meaning ‘health is wealth’, is proof of the importance that the general public attached to the office of the Baasegun.
Baasegun, the Mandatary
A Baasegun on investiture automatically was given several mandates. The Yoruba invested the Baasegun with a professional mandate, a legal (or customary, Igbimo) mandate, and a leadership (or traditional, Oloye) mandate. In addition, the Yoruba invested the Baasegun with the ‘Moremi’ mandate meaning that he was required at all times to avail the public of solutions to problems of health and wellbeing. (Moremi was the 12th century Yoruba heroine whose savvy and personal sacrifice defeated enemies of the Yoruba at that time.)
An important legal matter arising here is the ICJ ruling In the Western Sahara case (ICJ 1975, 12, 33) that a mandate did not require as a necessity actual consultation with the population. That case debunked the widely made claim that election was the only means of acquiring mandate. The ‘Baasegun’ mandates gave the modern day Baasegun the following privileges:
1. Legal standing on behalf of the Yoruba in a court of law.
2. Negotiation and representation on behalf of the Yoruba wherever needed.
3. Advocacy and leadership for the Yoruba in regard to health and wellbeing.
Baasegun, the Teacher
In 1716, Onesimus, a slave, taught the Yoruba technique of smallpox immunisation to a clergy man and a physician. He taught how powdered smallpox scab was rubbed into wounds created on the skin. In 1721, the efficacy of the technique was tested in a clinical trial in Boston, USA and the data, reported to the Royal Society in London in 1725 by Dr Boyston showed 2% death rate in the immunised group compared with 14% in the unimmunised group. This unattributed data on the Yoruba smallpox immunisation was the forerunner of Jenner’s alleged ‘discovery’ of vaccination in 1796.
By the technique of smallpox immunisation, Onesimus, who likely was a Baasegun Alabe, also taught the world of medicine the Yoruba technique of Igbere, transdermal (‘through-the-skin’) application of medicines; the Yoruba gave medicines not only by mouth but also through the skin. In this technique, skin wounds were created and one of two classes of therapeutic agents was rubbed into them: Class A was herbal preparation, Class B was biological agent.
Attitudes to Yoruba traditional titles
Traditional titles today are regaled with scepticism, regarded as old fashioned and irrelevant. Yet many Yoruba, regardless of their status in society, covet titles, and accord a great deal of respect to title holders. Many Yoruba intuitively believe the title holder to be special, an elite, a leader.
On amalgamation on 1 January 1914, Britain suspended the Yoruba constitution and divested the Oba of his political power. Yet successive Oba continued to uphold tradition and appoint people into traditional titles.
1. The general Yoruba public wanted the Oloye institution to be preserved hence, they enthusiastically participated in it, and supported it.
2. Appointing the Oloye was the Oba’s covert method of preserving Yoruba culture, tradition and legacy in the presence of enemies.
3. The power of the Oloye institution was socio-cultural, of much higher status than political power, and could not be fettered or diminished by political power.
Where does all this leave the modern day Baasegun? Exactly where he was before Britain disrupted Yoruba life: clinician, governance, mandatary, CMO and teacher. There is no escape for the Baasegun.
End note:
Books published by Baasegun Alabe (Dr) Olusola Oni:
1. The Yoruba medicine of antiquity: Ruminations of a 21st century Orthopaedic Surgeon
2. The law as practiced by the ancient Yoruba: A book to remind us of the world that we lost
Publishing in 2026:
Foundations of Science for Yoruba Practitioners of the Healing Arts. And for others too.