Bits here and there of China were colonised by the Europeans but they were not able to partition China as they did Africa. The main reason was that the colonisers regarded China as one State. What made China a State in the eyes of the Europeans, and also international law, was that it possessed a civilisation unique to it, developed from time immemorial, and observed throughout the length and breadth of the territory. If civilisation made a State, China being the proof, then the Yorubaland is a State in its own right entitled to exist on its own.
The Yoruba had a complex way of life characterised by a highly developed culture. The Yoruba civilisation, which developed in the vicinity of the Eko lagoon (Atlantic ocean) and the Osun and Ogun rivers, was established at the beginning of time. The Yoruba describe how at the beginning of time there was only water (Omi), that Ọbatala was sent down from the heavens (Ọrun) with soil (Ilẹ), and that he spread the soil to form the solid bits of the earth. The Yoruba account was scientific observation, not a myth; since validated by twenty-first century scientific data.
The Yoruba were urban dwellers. They lived in cities and towns that are still in existence today in the twenty-first century. The population densities of the Yoruba urbans (Ilu) were comparable to population densities in similar European urbans. The Yoruba urbans were farming based (‘agrarian commune’), not industry based as in Europe. Although the individual farm holdings were small, the combined effect was a huge enterprise that covered the entire Yoruba landmass, and engaged all in the entire Yoruba Nation. The Yoruba urbans were created, not accidental or random. The Yoruba word Ilu means something that was ‘forged’.
The Yoruba used language as their method of communication. The Yoruba did not write. Instead, they developed a logical language with a specific formula and grammar that was comparable to writing. For example, the word Ẹlẹda, meaning the creator, was built from the verb ‘da’ (consonant + vowel), meaning to create, and from the noun ‘ẹda’, meaning the created. In the Yoruba language, prefixes and suffices turned a verb into a code or shorthand for information. The formula system made memorising unnecessary. It also enabled the Yoruba to compile compendia, such as, the Odu Ifa, which in its importance was comparable to the Chaucer’s tales. ‘Life’, and how best to live it, was the main theme of the Odu. The Ifa, the ‘key’ to open the Odu, is a physical board apparatus that is still in use today in the Yorubaland and Yoruba Diaspora.
The Yoruba administrative structure was a universal governance formula that each and every one of the Yoruba urbans practised. The formula was the ‘Constitutional Ọba’; democracy was the theme. First, there was instituted a governing council (Ijọba) that comprised of a representative from each kin, trade, artisan and so on. Second, the council selected the head of the government, the Ọba, from a list of ‘ruling houses’. The Ọba reigned, he did not rule. He served at the pleasure of the Council. The constitution of the Yorubaland was unwritten just as the constitution of Britain is unwritten. The Yoruba governance structure remarkably has survived to this day despite 46 years of British colonisation and 63 years of Nigeria.
The Yoruba had a ‘formal’ division of labour. Children were excluded entirely from participating in the economy. The ‘housewife’ cadre did not exist. Women worked as food-processors, weavers and local market traders. Women were the family economists. Men worked as farmers, hunters, artisans, and craftsmen. Both men and women participated as relevant in the long-distance trade. The extended family (Agboile), the Kinship Corporate, was the unit of the overall economy; both men and women worked for it, not just for themselves. The principle was ‘all for one, one for all’.
The Yoruba had an architecture that was uniquely Yoruba. The typical Yoruba ’family’ (Agboile) lived in a compound; a square structure of dwelling places or apartments built to enclose a courtyard, and to exclude others. There was usually only one entrance into the courtyard; the door was wood with carvings depicting the family ethos. The open courtyard served as the point of social contact; the dwelling places, which opened into a corridor or veranda, were for sleeping and keeping personal belongings. The walls were constructed of mud; palm leaves were the usual materials for the roof. A potsherd herringbone arrangement drained the courtyard of rain or other water. In the urban, the courtyards usually were arranged in ‘defensive’ circles. The courtyard of the palace of the Ọba was usually wider to accommodate the local market and other ‘state’ businesses.
The Yoruba had a body of law (Ofin) that was distinctively Yoruba. The philosophy of Ofin was restorative justice, which aimed to repair harm done to victims and ensured that offenders took responsibility for what they did. No one was above the law (‘all were birthed the same way’). The Yoruba law has been codified by Olusola Oni in his book: The law as practised by the ancient Yoruba: A book to remind us of the world that we lost. The Yoruba judicature, just like the British judicature, had advocates and judges, and there were physical courts/tribunals.
The Yoruba had Yoruba arts and culture. There was an unmistakable Yoruba way of dressing – a 3-piece Buba-Sọrọ-Agbada for men and a 3-piece Buba-Iro-Iborun for women, which they almost always wore. Men wore a variety of Yoruba Fila (‘caps’) on their heads whilst women wore the Gele (‘turban’). The drum was an unmissable part of the Yoruba heritage; four types differentiated by shape and sound – Bata, Gangan (‘talking drum’), Gbedu and Sakara. The Yoruba facial marks, vertical and horizontal, extending from cheek to jaw, were used for the purposes of identification. The Yoruba used bronze, leather, wood, terracotta and more to create a distinctive art form as evidenced by stone age artifacts found at the Iwo Eleru burial ground, soapstone sculptures found at Esie, and the sophisticated metal head casts found at Ile Ife.
Yoruba is a distinctive ancient civilisation. Other similar distinctive ancient civilisations, such as, Chinese and Japanese, are not incarcerated within another State. Why should the Yoruba be incarcerated within Nigeria?