Odarawu was the successor to Ajagbo, who was the longest reigning Alafin. His own reign, unlike Ajagbo’s, was very brief. Odarawu was as a ruler, despotic and bad tempered that his short reign was afterward used across the empire as a moral lesson to individuals and a warning to succeeding kings on the need to imbibe the virtues of patience and forbearance.
On his ascension to the throne, Odarawu was asked, as was customary, who his enemy was. His answer revealed what prompted Oyo people’s distrust of his judgment. He requested his enemy town to be overthrown, and was obliged but not without reservations. Having concluded the new Alaafin was up to no good, the elders publicly rejected him and he therefore took his own life like his predecessors who faced similar challenge to their authority have done.