Who
Are The Yoruba People? (Part 1), By Femi Fani-Kayode
Published: May 6,2013
The Yoruba people of
southwestern Nigeria are a nationality of approximately 50 million people, the
vast majority of who are concentrated primarily within Nigeria,
but who are also spread throughout the entire world. They constitute
probably the largest percentage of Africans that live in the diaspora and
they have made their own extraordinary contributions in virtually every field
of human endeavour throughout the ages. Descendants of the Yoruba
and indeed various ancient derivatives and forms of the Yoruba
language can be found and are spoken in places like Benin Republic, Brazil,
Haiti, Cuba, the United States of America and various other parts of the
western world. Today first, second and even third generation Yoruba have
settled down and spread all over the world and are amongst the
best and most sought after lawyers, nuclear scientists, doctors,
industralists, academics, writers, poets, playwrites, clerics,
theologians, artists, film producers, historians and intellectuals
throughout the world. Wherever they go they tend to flourish and excel.
This is nothing new
and indeed has always been the case. The first Nigerian to be called
to the Bar was a Yoruba man by the name of Sapara Williams who was
called to the English Bar and started practising as a lawyer in 1879.
Yet Sapara Williams was not a flash in the pan or a one-time
wonder. Other Yoruba men followed in his footsteps in quick
succession and were called to the English Bar shortly after he was. For
example after him came Joseph Edgarton Shyngle who was called in
1888, then came Gabriel Hugh Savage who was called in 1891, then
came Rotimi Alade who was called in 1892, then came Kitoye Ajasa
(whose original name was Edmund Macauly) who was called in 1893, then came
Arthur Joseph Eugene Bucknor who was called in 1894 and then came Eric
Olaolu Moore who was called in 1903. Ironically Sapara Williams was not the
first Nigerian lawyer though he was the first to be called to the
English Bar. In those days you did not have to be called to the Bar to practice
law and the first Nigerian lawyer that practised without being called to
the Bar was a Yoruba man by the name of William Henry
Savage. He was described as a ”self-taught and practising lawyer” and
he was a registered notary public in England as far back as
1821. These were indeed the greats and every single one of them was a
Yoruba man.
My friend and brother
the respected Mr. Akin Ajose-Adeogun, who is a historian by calling
and a lawyer by profession, is a man for whom I have
tremendous respect. I have often described him as the ”living oracle of
Nigerian history” simply because he has a photographic memory, a knack for
detail, first class sources and has read more books on Nigerian history
than anyone that I have ever met before in my life. Akin has an
extraordinary mind, he is a living genius and I have often urged him to
write a book. You can ask him anything about anyone or any event in
any part of our country, since or before independence, and he will give
you names, dates and the sequence of events immediately and without any
recourse to notes, books or sources. After he has given you the information he
will then cite his sources and tell you which books to go and read in order to
confirm what he is saying. I have learnt so much from him that I
must publicly acknowledge the fact that I owe him an enormous
debt of gratitude. He once told me something that I found very
interesting and that reflected the semi god-like status that our earliest
lawyers, including some of the names that I mentioned earlier, enjoyed
amongst the people. These men were not only revered but they were
also admired by all, including members of the
British intelligensia, legal fraternity and elites. Akin told me
that many years ago in the mid-80′s Sir Adetokunboh Ademola, who
himself was one of the legal greats, who was called to the
English Bar in 1934, who was the third Nigerian to be appointed
as a magistrate in 1938, who was the third Nigerian to be
appointed as a High Court judge in 1948 and who was
the first Nigerian to be appointed Chief Justice of the Federation in
1958 said the following words to him. He said, ”when you saw the
way that the earliest Nigerian lawyers conducted themselves in
court and argued their cases you would have been filled with pride and you
would have wanted to become a lawyer yourself. Members of the public used to
fill the court rooms to the brink and sometimes even the forecourts and
passages just to watch these great men perform and enjoy their brilliance
and oratory. They spoke the Queens english and they knew the law inside
out. It is not like that today”. This is a resounding testimony
from an illustrious Nigerian and it speaks eloquently about
where the Yoruba, as a people, are coming from and the stock and quality of
minds that they are made of.
Yet the dynamism of
the Yoruba and their innovations and ”firsts” did not stop there. It went
into numerous other spheres of human endeavour quite apart from
the law. Permit me to cite just two examples. The first
lies within the field of medicine. Dr. Nathaniel King was the
first Nigerian to become a medical practitioner. He
graduated from Edinburgh University in 1876 and he was a Creole of
Yoruba origin. Next came Dr. Oguntola Sapara who was the second Nigerian
to become a medical practitioner and who graduated from Edinburgh University in
1884. He was followed by Dr. John Randle who graduated from Durham
University in 1891, then Dr. Orisadipe Obasa who graduated from
Edinburgh University in 1892, then Dr. Akinwande Savage who graduated from
Edinburgh University in 1900, then Dr. Curtis Adeniyi-Jones who graduated
from Durham University in 1901. Others like Dr. Oyejola who graduated
in 1905, Dr. Kubolaje Faderin, Dr. Sesi Akapo and Dr.
Magnus Macauly who all graduated in 1912, Dr. Moyses Joao Da Rocha who
graduated from Edinburgh University in 1913 and many others followed after
that.
The
second example lies within the ranks of the clergy. The
first African Anglican Bishop and the first man to translate the Holy
Bible and Book of Common Prayer to any African language
(outside of Ethiopia) was a Yoruba ex-slave who gave his life to
Christ, won his freedom and rose up to become one of the greatest and
most respected clerics and leaders that the African continent
has ever known by the name of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther.
Unknown to many his original name was Rev. John Raban but he changed it in
his early years. Crowther got his first degree at the famous
Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leonne (which at that time was part of Durham
University). He was ordained as an Anglican Bishop in 1864 and
in that same year he was awarded
a Doctorate degree from Oxford University.
This extraordinary
man who was blessed by God with an exceptionally brilliant mind
was, as far as I am concerned, one of the greatest Africans that
ever lived. He not only translated the Holy Bible and the Book of
Common Prayer to Yoruba (an extremely difficult,
complicated and painstaking venture which he began in 1843 and which
he completed in 1888) but he also codified a number of
other christian books and he translated them into the Igbo and Nupe
languages. He was literally the pillar and foundation of
the Anglican church in west Africa. Throughout his adult life he
courageously stood up and fought for the rights and the dignity of
the African and he, more than anyone else, was responsible for the spread,
influence and power of the christian faith in Nigeria in the
late 19th century. He was also the maternal grandfather of the great
nationalist Herbert Macaulay who, together with Nnamdi
Azikiwe, founded the political party known as the NCNC in
1944. Crowther was also the father-in-law of Rev. Thomas
Babington Macauly who founded the Christian Missionary
Society Grammar School (CMS Grammar School) in 1859 in what was
then the Lagos Colony. CMS Grammar School was the epitome of
excellence and a citadel of great learning in those days.
It was also the oldest secondry school in Nigeria and the main
source of African clergymen and administrators in the Lagos
Colony. It is not surprising that it was the son-in-law of the
great Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther that founded such a school and that it
was his grandson that founded one the greatest political parties that the
African continent has ever known. This is another first for the Yoruba.
Yet who are these
people and where did they come from? What is their origin and what is their
source of strength? What were their migratory patterns over the last 30,000 and
more years and how did they end up in Ile-Ife? What is their connection to
the Middle East, to the Arabs of Mecca and Medina, to
the ancient Egyptians and to the Nubians of the Sudan? What
makes them so special and so peculiar all at the same time? What makes their
religious set-up so complicated and so profund and what allows each of the
great monotheic faiths of christianity and islam together with
the traditional religions to flourish and excel amongst the very same
people at the same time? Why are the Yoruba so accommodating of
outsiders and what is responsible for their liberal disposition when it
comes to their dealings with people from other cultures, other faiths and
other nationalities? Why is it that so many Yoruba families have
mixed ancestral bloodlines that go back hundreds (and in some
cases thousands) of years with so many
different nationalities from outside Yorubaland and indeed
from outside Nigeria, including the Bahians of Brazil, the Haitians
and Cubans of Port Au Prince and Havana, the Creoles of Freetown (Sierra Leone ,
the Ga’s of Accra (Ghana), the tribes of Dahomey (Benin Republic), the
Edo, the Bini, the Itsekiri and other tribes from the old
Mid-Western region of southern Nigeria and the Nupe, the Hausa, the
Fulani, the Shuwa Arab and the Kanuri from the north? What is the cultural
and spiritual affinity of the Yoruba with the people of the
old Northern region and the people of the old Mid-Western region
and why are the people from those two regions and those from
the South-West collectively referred to as the ”Sudanese
Nigerians”? Some of these questions may never be answered but
in the sequel to this essay we will attempt to at
least view and analyse the Yoruba from a historical perspective and
this may explain why they are what they undoubtedly are- ”primus inter
pares”, the first amongst equals.
Who
Are The Yoruba People? (Part 2), By Femi Fani-Kayode
Published: May 23,2013
“The Yoruba are
ancestors of the black Cushite migrants and settlers that did not go to
Africa…”
In his 2000 page book
titled ”Ile-Ife-The Source of Yoruba Civilisation”, Prince Adelegan Adegbola wrote the following
about the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria- ”the Yoruba are the progeny
of great kingship, efficient kingdom-builders and astute rulers. They have been
enjoying for centuries a well-organized pattern of society, a pattern which
persists, in spite of all the changes resulting from modern contacts with the
western world. Their kings have, from very long past, worn costly beaded crowns
and wielded royal scepters. No one remembers the time when the Yoruba people
have not worn clothes. Their character of dignity and integrity is an ancient
one. In reality, the Yoruba claim to be descendants of a great ancestor.
“There is no doubt at
all that they have been a great race. They are, and they appear in some ways to
be detrimentally over-conscious of their great ancestry and long, noble
traditions…..the Yoruba are one of the most researched races in the world.”
According to Professor
S.O. Arifalo, by 1976 the available literature on the Yoruba, despite many
omissions, numbered 3,488 items. These vast amounts of works are quite
substantial and unrivalled in sub-Saharan Africa. Also the artifacts showed
that the Yoruba were intelligent, complex and wealthy people whose art and
technological skills were unsurpassed in pre-historic Africa. Almost everything
we know about the Yoruba people comes from Ile-Ife.”
Professor Adegbola’s
research is as fascinating as it is outstanding. It is a ”must read” for all
those that are interested in finding out who the Yoruba are, where they come
from, what they stand for and what their contribution to religion, culture, the
arts and civilisation really is. His research into the history of the Yoruba
and the various Yoruba kingdoms is second to none. His findings certainly put a
lie to the controversial assertion made by Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper, one of the
best-known and most respected historians that ever lived, who once said that
”the history of Africa is darkness, nothing but darkness”.
Nothing could be
further from the truth and it is clear to me that this Englishman, despite his
outstanding credentials, knew next to nothing about our rich history, heritage
and culture which, in my view, was far more advanced and goes back for
thousands of years more than even his own. In this essay, I will make my own
contributions to the debate and I will concentrate primarily on the
pre-historic era of the Yoruba before the coming of Oduduwa to Ile-Ife and
before the establishment of the great kingdoms and princely states. I will
focus on their origins as a people and their migratory patterns.
The Yoruba are
ancestors of the black Cushite migrants and settlers that did not go to Africa
with the other descendants of Cush but that rather chose to settle in the areas
and environs that were to later become the ancient cities of Mecca and Medina
in what is presently known as Saudi Arabia.
They were not Arabs
but they were there as settlers for thousands of years and they constituted an
industrious, prosperous, powerful, large and respected minority within the
larger Middle Eastern community.
However, they were
eventually driven out of those Arab towns and communities and forced to leave
them for refusing to give up their religious faith, their deep mysticism and
paganism and their idol worship after Islam was introduced to those places by
the Prophet Mohammed in 600 AD.
They migrated to the
banks of the great River Nile in Egypt where they intermingled and
inter-married with the Egyptians, the Nubians and the Sudanese of the Nile. The
Egyptian roots and connections of the Yoruba are deep and irrefutable and the
third and final part of this essay is dedicated solely to exploring and
explaining those roots. For thousands of years many of the Yoruba remained on
the banks of the Nile but the bulk of them eventually migrated to what was to
later become known as north-eastern Nigeria and once again they settled,
mingled and inter-bred with the Shuwa Arabs and the Kanuris of Borno.
From there they
eventually swept across the whole of the north and migrated down south to the
forests and farm lands of what is now known as south-western Nigeria making
their primary place and location of settlement and pagan worship Ile-Ife.
Ile-Ife is to the Yoruba traditional worshippers what Mecca is to the Muslims
and what Jerusalem is to the Jews and the Christians. The establishment of
Ile-Ife as the centre and source of all that is Yoruba was confirmed by Oduduwa
himself when he sent his sons out from Ile-Ife to other parts of Yorubaland to
establish their own independent kingdoms, including Bini Kingdom. It was after that
that we broke up into various kingdoms and communities within what later became
known as the old Western Region of Nigeria.
Some of those kingdoms
and empires were sophisticated, powerful, large and great (like the Oyo Empire)
and some were not so great and large. Yet each was fiercely independent and
established its own sophisticated system of government, customs, legal codes
and conventions.
Sadly these Yoruba
kingdoms spent one hundred years fighting one another in totally unnecessary
civil wars before the arrival of the British, but it is a historical fact that
they were never defeated in any war or conquered by any foreign army. Yet the
only things that they had in common amongst themselves was their language
(which broke into different dialects), their historical heritage, their
affinity and respect for Ile-Ife and their acknowledgement of that town as
being their spiritual home and finally their acceptance of the Oonirissa of Ife
as ”the living manifestation of Oduduwa, the quintessential icon of royalty and
splendour and God’s chief representative on earth”.
This collection of
different kingdom states with a common ancient root was collectively known as
the ”Yoruba”. Yet the fact of the matter is that the word ”Yoruba” has NO
meaning in our language or any other language that is known to man.
No-one has been able
to tell us with certainty the meaning of the word ”Yoruba” or indeed where it
really came from. This really is very strange and is indeed a deep and
unsettling mystery. For all we know it could even be a deep and ancient insult.
That is why I have always preferred to be referred to as an ”Ife” rather than a
”Yoruba”. Another question that is often asked is why did our forefathers
indulge in all the mass migrations from first Mecca and Medina, then to Egypt,
then to Borno, across the vast plains and desert lands of northern Nigeria and
then finally settled in the forests of the western region?
Historians have
ventured a number of reasons for this, but the truth is that no-one knows with
much certainty. My own personal theory is that the reason that our forefathers
kept having to migrate until we found somewhere of our own was either because
of war or because we refused to give up our pagan beliefs and practices. I
believe that when Islam was eventually introduced into the areas that we once
settled our forefathers suffered all manner of persecution for their tenacity
to their ancient pagan faith and their refusal to convert and consequently they
had to move on. I may be wrong and many historians have offered one or two
other explanations for these mass migrations yet whatever the reasons for them
may have been, whether they were due to war, famine or religious persecution,
it is clear that the influence of the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Nubians, the
Sudanese, the Kanuris, the Nupes and all the other nations that we once lived
with, mingled with and mixed our blood with through breeding and marriage is
very strong amongst the Yoruba people, their music, their language and their
culture till today. We shall return to this theme in part three of this essay.
For thousands of
years, the Yoruba were pagans and Ifa was their cornerstone. Their faith was
polytheic in nature and they believed, like the Ancient Egyptians, not in one
Supreme Deity, but in a pantheon of gods each of which had its own place and
served its own purpose. As a matter of fact, most of the ancient gods that the
Egyptians worshipped were introduced to them by Yoruba diviners, sorcerers and
pagan priests. Such was the level of our influence on Egyptian culture,
religion and history. The monotheic faiths of Islam and Christianity were both
espoused by the Yoruba thousands of years later and were both established
primarily by the strong trade links that existed between them and the Hausa/Fulani
from the north, the Turkish traders of the Ottoman empire from the southern
Atlantic coast, the Portuguese and European traders who plied that same
southern Atlantic coast and the Christian missionaries who vigorously
evangelised the whole territory.
Both Christianity and
Islam eventually took full root in the land and in the hearts and minds of the
Yoruba people whilst paganism, ”Ifa” and the practice of their more traditional
faith was eventually pushed to the back seat. This was quite an achievement because
for thousands of years both Christianity and Islam were fiercely resisted by
the Yoruba and even till today many Yoruba people still tenaciously hold on to
their traditional faith. That is why it is very difficult to find a Yoruba
family that does not have Christians, Muslims and adherents of the more
traditional and ancient tribal faiths in their ranks.
The slow and massive
migration of the Yoruba from Arabia, Egypt, Borno, through northern Nigeria and
to their own homelands in the south-west are why they, together with the other
numerous tribes in ”mid-western” (the Bini, the Ishan, the Urhobo, the
Itsekiri, the Isoko and all the other tribes that were once part of the old
Western Region of Nigeria) and ”northern” Nigeria are generally known as the
”Sudanese Nigerians”. This is because they all migrated from north Africa and
the Sudan to their present locations.
By way of contrast,
the various tribes from the rest of southern Nigeria who migrated from eastern
and southern Africa to their present locations comprise of the Igbo and the
people of the eastern Niger-Delta area (including the Ijaws, the Ikweres, the
Kalabaris, the Efiks, the Ibibios, the Ika Igbos and all other tribes that were
part of the old Eastern Region of Nigeria). These people are known as the
”Bantu Nigerians” and they are very different to the Sudanese in terms of their
outlook to life and their culture and history. Permit me to explain this
assertion. The history of the people that are known as the ”Sudanese Nigerians”
is well-documented, well-entrenched and well-acquainted with strong and
respected hierarchical structures and the administration of extremely large and
powerful, culturally-diverse, cosmopolitan and sophisticated empires that once
stretched across thousands of miles of different territories and civilisations.
These great empires, which were headed by powerful kings and emperors, such as
the Oyo, Habe, Nok, Nupe, Tiv, Borgu and Sokoto Empires, conquered many lesser
peoples in centuries past and administered many territories when compared to
the Bantus.
The Bantus’ only
experience and knowledge of ancient empire and kingship is limited to a few
relatively small yet notable kingdoms and coastal states in what is presently
known as Nigeria’s eastern Niger-Delta area. Examples of this are the Kalabaris
who have their Amayanabo, the Efiks who have their Obong and a few others. The
most populous tribe amongst the Bantu are the Igbo. They are originally of
Jewish stock and they have absolutely no history of kingship, empire and
organised hierarchical structures at all. They were essentially republican in
nature and they were a collection of village and forest communities that were
bound together only by their common language and their ancient heritage. That
is why the Igbo often take pleasure in saying ”Igbo enwe eze”, meaning ”the
Igbo have no king”. Outside of the royal kings of Onitsha and Asaba, to have
kings and chiefs amongst the Igbo was a relatively new phenomenon which
certainly does not pre-date the last 150 years. As a matter of fact, the kings
of those two towns and communities were not even originally of Igbo stock, but
were offshoots of the Royal House of Bini in what is presently known as Edo
State.
The Obi of Onitsha and
the Asagba of Asaba and indeed most of their subjects were descendants of the
Oba of Benin and the people of Edo respectively. The Igbo did not even have
chiefs up until 150 years ago. It was when the British colonialists arrived in
the east that they appointed ”warrant chiefs” for them. This explains why the
Igbo particularly find it exceptionally difficult to understand the
complexities and subtleties of people that do not share their republican
heritage or beliefs.
Yet the truth about
the Nigerian situation is that everybody and every tribe and nationality, no
matter how big or small, brings something to the table. That is what makes us
so special and unique as a people and that is what makes our country so great.
There is indeed unity in diversity and whether you are a Yoruba, an Igbo, a
Fulani, a Hausa, a Tiv, an Idoma, a Nupe, an Urhobo, an Ishan, an Itsekiri, an
Isoko, a Kalabari, a Kataf, a Shuwa Arab, a Kanuri, a Berom, an Igbira, a Bini,
an Ikwere, an Efik, an Ibibio, a Jukun, an Ijaw or any other tribe or
nationality, it is in the greater collective and the beautiful racial and
cultural melting pot that Nigeria has become that we can find our true power
and greatness. The Yoruba, no matter how rich our history, are only a part of a
much greater family of peoples each with their own noble heritage and proud
history.
In the third and final
part of this essay we will explore the Egyptian roots of the Yoruba and we will
consider the remarkable similarities between ancient Egyptian culture, religion
and language and that of the Yoruba people.
Who
Are The Yoruba People? (Part 3), By Femi Fani-Kayode
Published: June 3,2013
Up until 1292 BC and
the ascension of King Menpehtyre Ramesses, all the Pharaohs of Egypt were
black. These include some of the better known ones such as King Horemheb (who
preceded King Ramesses), King Khafra (who was depicted by the Great Sphinx of
Giza), King Tutankhamun (the young Pharoah whose tomb was discovered with
enormous riches and a terrible curse by a British archaeologist and explorer
called Howard Carter), Queen Cleopatra (whose beauty was enchanting, who
captured the emotions of Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, who divided the Roman
Empire and whom this writer honoured with a poem titled “The Nubian Queen”),
Queen Nefertiti (who was the wisest of the wise and the most compassionate of
all the Egyptian monarchs), King Piye (who was the conqueror of Egypt, the
master of Nubia and the greatest of all the Cushite warrior kings) and the two
Pharaohs that the biblical Moses and the biblical Joseph knew respectively and
that had such a great impact on Jewish history and the fortunes of the Jewish
people. All these Pharaohs were black African Nubians who were to be later
referred to as the “Sudanese”.
The fact of the matter
is that right up until the establishment of the 19th dynasty and the coming of
King Ramesses in 1292 BC, the rulers of Egypt were all Nubians and not the
“brown and olive-skinned” Euroasiatics and Arabs that the Ramessesian era
ushered in.
The Nubians not only
ruled Egypt for thousands of years but they also constituted the majority of
those that made up the Egyptian middle class and intelligentsia including the
clerics, theologians, artists, writers, poets, medics, artisans, builders,
architects, astrologers, mathematicians and professionals. The Ancient
Egyptians themselves referred to their homeland as “Kmt” (which is
conventionally pronounced as “Kemet”).
According to the
celebrated historian Cheikh Anta Diop, the Ancient Egyptians reference to
themselves as “Black people” or “kmt” and “kmt” was the etymological root of
other words, such as “Kam” or “Ham”, which refer to ”black people” in Hebrew
tradition. Diop, William Leo Hansberry, and Aboubacry Moussa Lam have argued
that ”kmt” was derived from the skin colour of the Nile valley people, who they
claim were black.
And they were
absolutely right. These are the facts though some western and Arab
Egyptologists find it hard to accept and often seek to deny it. Yet whether
anyone likes to accept it or not the fact remains that the greatest
civilization that the world has ever known, which is the Egyptian civilization,
was led and established by people of colour and those same people were the custodians
of the deepest mysteries and secrets of our world and of the human race.
The final batch of
ancient Cushites that remained in Arabia for thousands of years after all the
others had left and that had refused to leave those lands for Africa with their
Ethiopian brothers and sisters eventually migrated to the Egyptian Nile Valley
from Mecca and Medina.
Thousands of years
later, this last wave of Cushite migrants were to be referred to as the
”Yoruba”. Yet for thousands of years before the word ”Yoruba” was even
conceived and after their arrival in the Nile Valley, these same people
constituted an essential and vital part of the ruling and middle class of the
Sudan, Nubia and Ancient Egypt.
The Cushite
forefathers of the Yoruba were a learned and mystical people that were well
versed in philosophy, the arts, history, the mysteries of the age, science,
anthropology and the secrets of the spirit realm and human existence.
Their contribution to
Ancient Egyptian culture and art was second to none. Most importantly, the
pantheon of gods that they had worshipped, guarded jealously and served for
thousands of years whilst in Mecca and Medina before their migration to the
Nile Valley, were accepted by the Egyptian ruling elite and were fully
integrated and superimposed on the Egyptian religious stratosphere.
As a matter of fact,
those gods were not only accepted but they eventually became the cornerstone
and foundation of Ancient Egyptian culture and religion. That is the level of
input that the Yoruba made into the affairs and development of Ancient Egypt.
In our quest to
further explore the ancient Egyptian roots of the Yoruba, permit me to quote
copiously from an excellent contribution titled ”YORUBA- THE EGYPTIAN
CONNECTION” which was written by Olomu and Eyebira. The write-up is utterly
fascinating in terms of its depth and research. In the section titled ”The
Oduduwan Revolution”. The authors wrote the following-
“In this chapter, we
shall talk of a possible migration from ancient Egypt. Many traditions point to
a fact that an alien group (Egyptians) immigrated to Yoruba land and mixed with
the original population. Many oral traditions are replete with these stories.
The Awujale of Ijebu
land has shown that the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubia (a colony of
Egypt). He was able to use the evidence of language, body, scarification,
coronation rituals that are similar to Nubians’ etc, to show that the Ijebus
are descendants of the Nubians.
What the present
Awujale claimed for the Ijebus, can be authenticated all over Yoruba land. The
Awujale even mentioned (2004) that the Itsekiri (an eastern Yoruba dialect) are
speaking the original Ijebu language. Since the Nubians descended from the
Egyptians, the Ijebu, and by extension, all Yoruba customs, derived from the
Egyptian as well. Many traditional Yorubas have always claimed Egypt as their
place of original abode, and that their monarchical tradition derives from the
Egyptians.
Apostle Atigbiofor
Atsuliaghan, a high priest of Umale-Okun, and a direct descendant of Orunmila,
claimed that the Yorubas left Egypt as a result of a big war that engulfed the
whole of Egypt. He said the Egyptian remnants settled in various places, two
important places being Ode Itsekiri and Ile-Ife.
Chief O.N Rewane says
“Oral tradition has it also that when the Yorubas came from South of Egypt they
did not go straight to where they now occupy. They settled at Illushi, some at
Asaba area – Ebu, Olukumi Ukwunzu while some settled at Ode-Itsekiri.” (O.N.
Rewane Royalty Magazine A PICTORIAL SOUVENIR OF THE BURIAL AND CORONATION OF
OLU OF WARRI, WARRI 1987). Since these oral traditions are passed on by very
illiterate people, we can augment whatever is recorded with written sources.
Concerning the
migration of some of the Yoruba ancestors from the east, Conton says: ”The
Yoruba of Nigeria are believed by many modern historians to be descended from a
people who were living on the banks of the Nile 2,000 years ago, and who were
at the time in close contact with the Egyptians and the Jews.
Sometime before AD
600, if this belief is correct, these people must have left their fertile
lands, for reasons which we cannot now discover and have joined in the
ceaseless movement of tribes westwards and southwards across our continent. We
can only guess at the many adventures they and their descendants must have had
on their long journey and at the number of generations which passed before they
arrived. All we can be certain about is that they were a Negro people and that
one of the many princely states they founded on their arrival in West
Africa…..was Ife”- Conton.
Although we agree with
Conton that some of the Yoruban ancestors migrated from Egypt, we tend to toe
the scientific line of Cheik Anta Diop, that the ancient Egyptians were pure
Negroes. Aderibigbe, an indigenous scholar, also accepts that the Yorubas
migrated from Egypt. He says: “The general trend of these theories, most of
them based on Yoruba traditions, is that of a possible origin from “the east”.
Some scholars,
impressed by the similarities between Yoruba and ancient Egyptian culture –
religious observation, works of art, burial and other customs – speak of a
possible migration of the ancestors of the Yoruba from the upper Nile (as early
as 2000BC – 1000BC) as a result of some upheavals in ancient Egypt”. (AB
ADERIBIGBE 1976). Unlike Conton, Aderibigbe was able to pinpoint a cause for
the Yoruban migration – war.
Olumide Lucas did a
lot of job to show similarities and identities between the ancient Egyptians
and the Yoruban peoples. The date that Aderibigbe gave (2000BC – 1000BC) is
much earlier than that given by Conton. Aderibigbe’s date corresponds to that
of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt 2000-1500BC.
On the possible
eastern origin of the Yorubas, Tariqh Sawandi says: “The Yoruba history begins
with the migration of an east African population across the trans-African route
leading from Mid-Nile river area to the Mid-Niger.
Archaeologists,
according to M. Omoleya, inform us that the Nigerian region was inhabited more
than forty thousand years ago, or as far back as 65,000BC. During this period,
the Nok culture occupied the region. The Nok culture was visited by the “Yoruba
people”, between 2000BC and 500BC.
This group of people
was led, according to Yoruba historical accounts by king Oduduwa, who settled
peacefully in the already established Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the
indigenous Nok people. This time period is known as the Bronze Age, a time of
high civilization of both of these groups. According to Olumide J. Lucas, “the
Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the
Atlantic coast”.
He uses as
demonstration the similarity or identity of languages, religious beliefs,
customs and names of persons, places and things. In addition, many ancient
papyri discovered by archaeologists point at an Egyptian origin” (Tariqh
Sawandi: ”Yorubic medicine: The Art of divine herbology).
