Yoruba History Olusanya

The origin of the Yoruba in Nigeria can not be clearly deciphered. It is

believed that their primary ancestor, Oduduwa, came from Egypt. There are
many variations and myths to how the Yoruba people came to be, and here
is a couple of variations. Oduduwa is the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba.
There are two variations of the story of how he achieved this feat. The first
is cosmogonic, the second, political. The cosmogonic version also has two
variations. According to the first variation of the cosmogonic myth, Orisanla
(Obatala) was the arch-divinity who was chosen by Olodumare[1], the
supreme deity to create a solid land out of the primordial water that
constituted the earth and of populating the land with human beings.

Obatala descended from heaven on a chain, carrying a small snail shell full
of earth, palm kernels and a five-toed chicken. He was to empty the content
of the snail shell on the water after placing some pieces of iron on it, and
then to place the chicken on the earth to spread it over the primordial water.
According to the first version of the story, Obatala completed this task to the
satisfaction of Olodumare. He was then given the task of making the
physical body of human beings after which Olodumare would give them the
breath of life. He also completed this task and this is why he has the title of
"Obarisa" the king of orisas. The other variant of the cosmogonic myth does
not credit Obatala with the completion of the task. While it concedes that
Obatala was given the task, it avers that Obatala got drunk even before he
got to the earth and he was unable to do the job. Olodumare got worried
when he did not return on time, and he had to send Oduduwa to find out
what was going on. When Oduduwa found Obatala drunk, he simply took
over the task and completed it. Thus, Oduduwa created land. The spot on
which he landed from heaven and which he redeemed from water to become
land is called Ile-Ife and is now considered the sacred and spiritual home of
the Yoruba. Obatala was embarrassed when he woke up and, due to this
experience, he made it a taboo for any of his devotees to drink palm wine.
Olodumare forgave him and gave him the responsibility of molding the
physical bodies of human beings. The making of land is a symbolic reference
to the founding of the Yoruba kingdoms, and this is why Oduduwa is credited
with that achievement.
According to the second version of the myth, there was a pre-existing
civilization at Ile-Ife prior to its invasion by a group led by Oduduwa. This
group came from the east, where Oduduwa and his group had been
persecuted on the basis of religious differences. They came to Ile-Ife, fought
and conquered the pre-existing Igbo (unrelated to the present day Igbo
people of Eastern Nigeria) inhabitants led by Oreluere (Obatala). Obviously,
there is a connection between the two versions of the story. The political one
may be the authentic story of the founding of the Ife kingdom through
conquest. However, the myth of creation lends it a legitimacy that is denied
by the conquest story; just as it appears that it is lent some credence by the
fact that, as a result of the embarrassment it caused their deity, the
followers of Obatala are forbidden from taking palm wine.

Indeed the second version of the cosmogonic myth also appears to

foreshadow the political variant. The claim that Obatala got drunk and the
task of creation had to be performed by Oduduwa already has some political
coloration which is now explicit in the political version of the tradition. What
is crucial in both variants of the story is the role of Oduduwa as the founder
of the Yoruba nation which is why the name cannot be forgotten. Oduduwa is
the symbol of the nation, the rallying point for all those who subscribe to the
Yoruba identity. The name Yoruba itself, according to historians Smith,
Atanda and others, was fixed on us by our northern neighbors and later
popularized by colonial publications. Before then, the "Anago" to which some
Yoruba in the present Benin Republic and others in the new world still use to
refer to themselves, was used to refer to most of the people called Yoruba
today. A common origin and language, as well as common political and
religious cultures made the Yorubas a nation long before any contact with
Europeans and the advent of colonialism.

Upon the death of Oduduwa, there was the dispersal of his children from Ife
to found other kingdoms. These original founders of the Yoruba nation
included Olowu of Owu (son of Oduduwa's daughter), Alaketu of Ketu (son of
a princess), Oba of Benin, Orangun of Ila, Onisabe of Sabe, Olupopo of Popo,
and Oranyan of Oyo. Each of them made a mark in the subsequent
urbanization and consolidation of Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each
kingdom tracing its origin to Ile-Ife. After the dispersal, the aborigines, the
Igbo, became difficult, and constituted a serious threat to the survival of Ife.
Thought to be survivors of the old occupants of the land before the arrival of
Oduduwa, these people now turned themselves into marauders.

The Igbos would come to town in costumes made of raffia with terrible and
fearsome appearances, and the Ife people would flee. Then the Igbo would
burn down houses and loot the markets. Then came Moremi on the scene
like Deborah of the Old Testament. When no man could dare the Igbos,
Moremi asked the Esinminrin river for help and promised to give offerings if
she could save her people. The orisa told her to allow herself to be captured
and to understudy the Igbo people. She did, and discovered that these were
not spirits; only people with raffia for dress. She escaped, and taught her
people the trick. The next time that Igbo people came, they were roundly
defeated. Moremi then had to go back to Esinminrin to thank the gods.
Every offering she offered was refused. On divination, she was told she had
to give Oluorogbo, her only son. She did. The lesson of Moremi is the lesson
of patriotism and selflessness. The reward may not be reaped in one's life
time. Moremi passed on and became a member of the Yoruba pantheon. The
Edi festival celebrates the defeat of the Igbo and the sacrifice of Oluorogbo
till today.

Oranmiyan was the last of the Oduduwa offsprings. But he was the most
adventurous and the founder of Oyo Kingdom. On some accounts, he was
the

third ruler of Ife as successor to Oduduwa. But he later decided to avenge

the expulsion of his father from the East, and so, he led an expedition. After
many years on the road, and as a result of disagreement between him and
his people, he could not go further. Feeling too ashamed to go back, he
appealed to the King of Nupe for a land to found his kingdom. He was
obliged, and that land became the nucleus of Old Oyo Kingdom. Oranmiyan,
taking the title of Alafin, succeeded in raising a very strong military and
effectively expanded his kingdom. His successors, including Sango, the
mythical god of thunder, Aganju and Oluasho were also as strong. Peace and
tranquility prevailed during the reign of Abiodun, though it also experienced
the decline of the army. Aole Arogangan was Abioduns successor and it was
during his reign that trouble started for the kingdom. He was forced to
commit suicide; but before his death he was said to have pronounced a
curse on all Yoruba, that they will not unite and that they will be taken
captives.Afonja was the Kakanfo, the generalisimo of the army, in the
northern Yoruba town of Ilorin, during the reign of Awole and his successor.

Afonja refused to recognize the new king, and invited the Fulani who were
then leading a jihad to the south, to assist him against the king. They did,
but he did not survive himself, because the Fulani, after helping him defeat
the Alafin also turned against him. They fired numerous arrows at him and
his dead body was stood erect on those arrows as they stuck into his body.
The treachery of Afonja marked the beginning of the end of the Oyo empire
and with it the decline of the Yoruba nation. Civil war erupted among the
various Yoruba kingdoms: Oyo, Ijesa, Ekiti, Ijaiye, Abeokuta and Ibadan. As
this was going on, Dahomey on the west and the Borgu on the north were
also posing trouble for the Yoruba kingdoms until the intervention of the
British and the imposition of colonial rule. Those who argue that there was
no consciousness of a common Yoruba identity until the 19th century may be
referring to these civil war episodes in the life of the nation. But they forget
that these people, in spite of the civil war, share a sense of common origin
and common language. And it is to be noted that the so-called peace that
was imposed by the British could not have lasted had there not been a sense
of consciousness of coming from a common origin.

Now, Since the ancient history of Yoruba is covered, more modern history
should take prevalence. There have been many events that have taken place
in the 20th century. Between 1914 and 1922, Nigeria was presided over by a
Governor-General. In 1922, as part of the constitution of the time, the
British introduced the principle of direct election into the Legislative council.
In 1951, a new constitution elevated the provinces to regional status. The
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) had control of the
Eastern Region government, the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) had
control of the Northern Region, and the Action Group (AG) had control of the
Western Region. By 1957, the Eastern and Western Regions attained self-
governing status. In 1959, the Northern Region attained self-governing
status.

On October 1 1960, Nigeria obtained it's independence. At this time,

Northern and Southern Cameroon were given the option of staying as part of
Nigeria or leaving Nigeria. Southern Cameroon decided to leave Nigeria, but
Northern Cameroon stayed. Also, on October 7, 1960, Nigeria was admitted
to the United Nations as the 99th member. One of the earliest and most
signification contributions to the UN was to furnish troops for the
peacekeeping opearting in Zaire in the the early 1960s. Later on, the main
thrust of Nigeria's activism on the world stage was to eradicate apartheid
and racism from Africa. In 1963, Nigeria became a republic. By 1964, the
Nigerian army units had formed the backbone of the UN force.

In January of 1966, a group of army officers, consisting mostly of the Ibo

peoples, and led by General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, overthrew the central and
regional governments, killed the prime minister, took control of the
government, and got rid of the federal system of government to replace it
with a central government with many Igbos as advisors. This caused a lot of
riots and a lot of Igbos were killed in the process. In July of the same year, a
group of northern army officers revolted against the government (it seems
this started a long history of military coups), killed General Johnson Aguiyi-
Ironsi, and appointed the army chief of staff, General Yakubu Gowon as the
head of the new military government.

In 1967, Gowon moved to split the existing 4 regions of Nigeria into 12

states. However, the military governor of the Eastern Region (Colonel
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu) refused to accept the division of the
Eastern Region, and declared the Eastern Region an independent republic
called Biafra. This led to a civil war between Biafra and the remainder of
Nigeria. The war started in June 1967, and continued until Biafra
surrendered on January 15, 1970 after over 1 million people had died.
During the early 1970s a lot of time was spend reconstructing the areas that
were formerly part of Biafra. Around this time, the petroleum industry was
booming, and the economy was recovering from the effects of the civil war,
though there were still problems with inflation, high unemployment, decline
in the price of peanuts and cocoa, and a drought.

In 1971, Nigeria joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(OPEC). However, the prolonged drought in 1973 led to the death of
thousands of livestock, the suffering of farms, and the fishing industry. This,
in combination with the oil boom, made a lot of people move into away from
the farms, and more towards the cities. Though the oil boom in the early
1970s brought a lot of revenue to Nigeria, this seemed to stay mostly in
government. In 1976, Nigeria was further broken down into 19 states, and
plans to move the capital to Abuja were in the works. In 1987, 2 more states
were created. In 1991, 9 more states were created, leading to 30 states at
the time. Also in 1991, Abuja was formed as a new (more central) section of
the country, and the capital of Nigeria was officially moved from Lagos to
Abuja. The government took portions of then Niger, Kogi, and Plateau states
to form the new federal capital territory of Abuja.

Though Biafra was the most deadly and violent of the wars in Nigeria, there
have continued to be disputes in Nigeria due to land, ethnic differences,
religious differences. For example, in 1992 there were major clashes in the
north between Christians and Muslims, and over 3000 people were killed in
the clashes. Also, there was a possibility of Nigeria going to war with
Cameroon in 1993.

The history of Yoruba is very interesting. Olodumare, the Supreme Being of

the Yoruba culture, is equivalent to the Christian God. The story of how the
chicken spread the sand across the Earth is similar how God created the
Earth in the Christian Bible. They are very similar but the political view is
much more believable and accepted. As a student and firm believer of
religion (Christianity), I am very interested in the similarities of the two
religions. I would also love to learn more about the history and other
similarities between the Yoruba and Christianity beliefs.