Our History

History that shows the heroic efforts of our great legends, which include, but not limited to Òrunmìlà, Obatálá, Ṣàngó, Ọya and so much more.

The History of the Indigenous Yoruba People

The History of the Indigenous Yoruba People is a very rich, profound and intriguing history much of which continues to be discovered every passing day. Our ancestors have the traditional history of being, in the beginning of creation, the apple of the eye of the creator, revealed to us as ‘Olódùmarè’, the ‘Unending, Eternal Mystery’. He has always been known in a personal way to the traditional Yoruba person ever before any religion invaded Africa and Yorubaland. The Yorubas have got a very long history with ‘Olódùmarè’ that transcends all other outside influences, a history that shows the heroic efforts of our great legends, which include, but not limited to Òrunmìlà, Obatálá, Ṣàngó, Ọya and so much more. In modern times, our history includes the experiences of our forefathers in the hands of invading white colonisers, with specific reference to the British, who, through sheer guile and brigandage, plundered our lands and, eventually in the year 1914, amalgamated us into the conondrum known as ‘Nigeria’, forcing us into an uncomfortable union with other ethnic groups such as the Igbo and the Hausa. While we’ve got nothing against the Igbo, the Hausa, or any other ethnic group, as they are our fellow black brothers and sisters, we have not, over the years and decades, found the Nigerian enclave convinient for us – neither culturally nor economically. A respite, at least on the surface, came in the 1950’s when Yorubaland, then known as “Western Nigeria” came into a limited sense of ‘self governance’ under the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a modern-day legend who built the first television station in Africa, in Yorubaland, even ahead of France and certain other european countries having television. He introduced free primary education and was intending to extend it further to higher levels of education before ‘Nigeria’ destroyed that system. Under Awolowo’s leadership, which continued into the early 1960’s even after he was no longer the Premier of Western Nigeria, Yorubaland established the University of Ife, a first-rate university in the entire world before Nigeria forcibly took it over, renamed it “Obafemi Awolowo University” (as though to placate us) while ruining the place through untoward policies. Under the Awolowo leadership, either directly as Premier of Western Nigeria or as the acclaimed political leader of the West, farmers in Yorubaland enjoyed a major boost, especially in Cocoa trade as well as other major cash crops, such that the average cocoa farmer in Western Nigeria could readily afford to send his son or daughter to study in any university, anywhere in the world. Awolowo built the first skyscraper in Africa, known as ‘Cocoa House’, under him, the western region had the best civil service in Nigeria, which paid better salaries than even the Federal Government of Nigeria, a reason why there were less Yorubas in the Federal civil service of Nigeria, back then. Under Awolowo’s overall leadership (even when he was no longer Premier but still the leader of the Action Group, (the major political party in Western Nigeria), farm settlements were established all over Yorubaland with adequate amenities where government officials could live in the agricultural area of Yorubaland attending directly to the needs of farmers and engendering high-quality yields which, in turn, brought great income in the international market. All of this came to an abrupt end when in the morning of January 15, 1966, Nigeria woke up to the news of the military having forcibly taken over the government of Nigeria and subsequently on May 24 of the same year, the military government abolished all regions. It was the beginning of the ever-downward slide of the Nigerian entity into unprecedented corruption, power-drunkeness and, eventually, the civil war of 1967 – 1970 which claimed millions of lives. The year 1993 saw a supposed plan to return to civilian rule in Nigeria, with Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO Abiola), a Yoruba man, winning the presidential election but which was annulled by the ruling military government. One thing led to another and Abiola was eventually murdered in custody of the Military Government of Nigeria.