In order to craft unity and peace for the present we must take as the starting point the past, when the Yoruba Homeland was indeed united and at peace.
The underlying philosophy of the Yoruba existence was ‘Kinshipism’ (Agboile), wrongly labelled ‘extended family’. The Agboile, which in those days was physically represented in a courtyard surrounded by dwelling places, was the unit of existence. Peace and unity was easy. All Agboile members were blood relatives loyal to the Agboile and to one another’s interests. The Agboile made cooperative decisions. Each Agboile comprised of persons of 2 or more generations, from babies to the elderly. The Agboile was ‘pure’ and unadulterated by non-Yoruba strangers. All Yoruba descended from one ancestor (Oduduwa). Consequently, the Yoruba possessed a civilization with convention, culture, spirituality and tradition that was entirely unique to them.
The Agboile coalesced to form the urban (Ilu). Peace and unity was easy. Each Agboile contributed directly to the governance of the urban as a representative of the Agboile. Some Agboile contributed the Oba (monarch) whilst the rest contributed Oloye (Igbimo or Oyomesi, the urban council). All representatives were selected according to tradition. In this constitutional monarchy, the job of the Oba was to reign and make pronouncements as well as to externally represent his urban as and when necessary. The job of the Igbimo was to make the governing rules as well as to limit the power of the Oba. The interesting thing is that the skeleton of this traditional ‘local government’ still exists, and Yoruba people today still recognize this arrangement.
The Ilu coalesced to form the Yoruba Nation. Peace and unity was easy. Each Ilu was self-governing and autonomous. Groups of Ilu existed as a collective of dialect – Edo, Egba, Ibadan, Ijebu, Ijesa, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Itsekiri and so on. Each dialect group was self-contained and autonomous. A confederacy of some sort emerged only when a group or the entire Yoruba Nation faced an external or existential threat. All the dialect groups had in common the same Oduduwa ancestor, the same Yoruba language, the same ifa/Orisa spirituality, and the same governance system, which accounted for the absence of competition and internal wars like those that plagued Britain at the same time period.
The situation today has changed, however, created by 46 years of British rule followed by 64 years of Fulani rule. Yorubaland is now governed by an alien and alienating convention, culture and tradition. The Yoruba Homeland is invaded by a locust of non-Yoruba aliens. Some erroneously believe that these non-Yoruba aliens come to Yorubaland for economic reasons. No, they come because Yorubaland has no fettering rules. By contrast, Northern Nigeria uses Sharia to fetter, and Eastern Nigeria uses the doctrine of ‘all for one and one for all’ to fetter. The undisciplined atmosphere of the Yorubaland is the source of our problems. Put in place some discipline, and peace and unity will follow.
However, the infamous 1999 Constitution provides potential means for forging peace and unity off purpose in the Yoruba Nation. Section 4(7) 1999 Constitution provides:
‘The House of Assembly of a State shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the State or any part thereof…’
The Fulani herdsmen transport their cattle on foot over hundreds of miles, for weeks and months at a time. As they travelled through Yorubaland, the animals constitute nuisance on the roads, inside and outside of Yoruba towns and villages. The animals pollute sources of drinking water for Yoruba peoples. The Fulani herdsmen use the opportunity to destroy Yoruba farmlands and villages, kill and maim farmers and others, and rape Yoruba women folk. All this terrorism would stop if the State Assemblies of the Yoruba States passed a law banning the transportation of cattle by foot on the grounds that that means of transportation was cruel to the animals contrary to the Nigeria Criminal Code Section 450. Injuring animals, which provides:
‘Any person who willfully and unlawfully kills, maims, or wounds, any animal capable of being stolen, is guilty of an offence.
If the animal in question is a horse, mare, gelding, ass, mule, camel, bull, cow, ox, goat, pig, ram, whether, or ostrich, or the young of any such animal, the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
In any other case the offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.’
The non-Yoruba aliens use the pernicious ‘federal character’ provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Land Use Act 1978 (a rehash of Ordinances in operation during the colonial period), and capital from dubious sources, to buy, lease or rent land and property in the Yorubaland. The non-Yoruba aliens use the opportunity to vandalise the Yoruba landscape and deprive the Yoruba peoples of the commercial opportunities in land bequeathed to them by their forebears. The State Assemblies of the Yoruba States could put an end to this if they passed a law insisting on adherence to the Yoruba Land Law, a customary law immortalised by the Apapa Land case. The Yoruba customary law provides that land was not individually owned, that land belonged either to the family (Agboile) or to the kingdom (Ilu). The Agboile and the Ilu had the legal character of corporate bodies so that no individual member of the corporation possessed the right by himself to sell, lease or rent land and property without first obtaining the permission at a meeting of the Agboile or the Ilu as the case may be.
Finally, the State Assemblies of the Yoruba States should ’Yorubanise’ the local government system provided for in the 1999 Constitution by converting it to a variation of the Yoruba Constitutional Monarchy system of old. In this modern adaptation, the Oba of the largest town in the local government area (LGA) would be made Chairman (Administrative Oba) of the local government. Council members would be provided not by elections but drawn from the important segments of the community, such as, artisans, hunters, market traders, Oloye, trade unions etc, who would select their own representatives to the council.
Baasegun (Dr) Olusola Oni
Guest of Honour at the Yoruba Unity Summit
Held at the House of Chiefs, Ibadan
27 March 2024