CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The Yoruba stretch on the West from around the area of Badagry to Warri and Inland until they almost reach the Niger around latitude 9oN. Indeed, certain parts of the Niger formed the boundary between it and Nupe. Around latitude 5oN, they spread Westwards cutting across the whole of Dahomey and reaching into the East of Togo. From the coast, the country rises gradually from low-lying swampy regions with thick undergrowth to forest belt and finally semi or derived Savannah, which in Port Novo (Ajase) reaches almost to the coast. The weather is fairly stable, with two clearly defined seasons in the year, the rainy season and the dry season. The Yoruba must be one of the largest homogenous groups among Africans. Those of them living in Nigeria are currently numbered around fifteen million, when those in Dahomey and Togo are added, they are more.1
The Yorubas are composed of several clans of which the chief are the Oyos, the Egbas, the Ifes and the Ijebus, while others of less importance are the Owus, the Ijeshas, the Ekitis and the Ondos. The inhabitants of Lagos, the chief town of Nigeria are also of Yoruba origin.2
As far as it is known, the Yoruba didn’t in the past come under one centralized political authority. Rather, they existed (and still exist) in different groups and organized themselves, in the pre-colonial period, in separate kingdoms of varying levels of centralization and degrees of autonomy. However, they were bound together as a people by a number of factors. Firstly, in their tradition of origin, common descent from Oduduwa, a mythical personage who they regarded as their eponymous ancestor, secondly the ruling dynasties of most of their kingdoms derive origin and the provenance of their beaded crown and symbol of authority from Ile-Ife popularly acclaimed as the citadel of Yoruba culture and civilization and also a centre of dispersal of the Yoruba race. Thirdly, they share a common language which is widely understood by the different groups of people and recognizably the same despite dialectical difference. The Yoruba share a common cultural trait which makes them form a distinct cultural group in Nigeria.3
The Yoruba origin has two version, one tradition of origin is a mythical creation which intimates that the Yoruba were the original inhabitants of the Ife area. At the dawn of time, the whole world was a watery waste. On the orders of his father-the Supreme God, Olorun – Oduduwa climbed down a chain from the sky. He brought with him a handful of earth, a cockerel and a palm-nut. He scattered the earth upon the water and it formed the land at Ile-Ife. The cockerel dug a hole in which Oduduwa planted the palm nut, and up sprang a mighty tree with sixteen branches, each the ruling family of an early Yoruba state. To this day, Oduduwa’s chain is preserved among the sacred relics of the Yoruba.4
Another tradition indicates that the Yoruba people were produced by inter-marriage between a small band of invaders from the Savanna and the indigenous inhabitants of the forest. The story is that Oduduwa was the son of Lamurudu, sometimes described as a ruler from the east, sometimes as a prince of Mecca. When Islam was introduced into his homeland, Oduduwa refused to forsake the religion of his ancestors and he and his supporters were expelled from their native land. After long wanderings, they settled among the forest people and founded the state of Ife. Oduduwa had seven close descendants. Some traditions say they were his sons; others call them grandsons. These seven young men moved out to found the ruling families of seven new Yoruba states.5