The Truth of How Yoruba Started- Read to the end

Oduduwa originated from Mecca through his biological father Lamurudu, who was a king in Mecca (Folorunso 2003:87). Oduduwa, then a prince, came to Nigeria together with his two children.

In the Yoruba tradition, Oduduwa is portrayed as a popular person in Mecca because he rejected Islam, a religion practised by his ancestors. His interest in paganism was supported by some Muslim adherents whom he convinced to join him and especially a priest called Asara, whose father Braima was a committed Muslim. Asara became an image or idol maker because he hated Islam unlike his father who loved Islam. Braima's father was an idol seller and he introduced the trade to Braima. Johnson (1921) said that when Braima was an idol seller during his childhood, he used to invite buyers by using the euphemism '[w]ho would purchase falsehood' (p. 4)?

Oduduwa was determined to promote idolatry to the point that he converted one of the mosques in Mecca and made it a shrine for idol worship. Oduduwa ordered his followers to go for 3 days hunting in the bush to prepare them for a ritual that was meant to please their idols. Whilst they were away, Braima went through all of Mecca searching and destroying idols made by Oduduwa and his followers using an axe He left the axe on the neck of one of the important idols made by Oduduwa (cf. Johnson 1921:4; Ojo 1999:5). 

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Oduduwa and his followers knew that it was Braima who destroyed their idols. They summoned him for an explanation and Braima said to them '[w]hy do you worship things which cannot speak' (Johnson 1921:4)? Oduduwa and his followers intended to burn Braima alive and this led to a revolt between Oduduwa and other Muslims in Mecca. The revolt led to the death of Lamurudu, whilst his children including Oduduwa were expelled from Mecca (Johnson 1921:4; cf. Ojo 1999:5).

Oduduwa had to migrate to Yorubaland from Mecca and it is not known why he chose Yorubaland. He left Mecca and went eastwards, taking two of his idols to Ile-Ife. Sahibu, an ardent follower of Islam from Mecca, went after Oduduwa to destroy him and his followers. Sahibu carried with him a copy of the Koran.

Oduduwa defeated Sahibu in a battle (Johnson 1921:4). Johnson said that a copy of the Koran, now referred to as Idi [something tied up], is still available in a temple in Ile-Ife, where it is being venerated unto this day.

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Oduduwa arrived at Ile-Ife and met Agbo-niregun (Setilu), the founder of Ifa worship. Johnson said that it took Oduduwa 90 days to travel from Mecca to Ile-Ife (Johnson 1921:4). No one knew the Oni of Ife when Oduduwa went there (Ayandele 2004:123). Johnson narrated the Yoruba oral tradition as a migrant legend, the way he was told by the Yoruba oral historians he came across. However, Johnson contested some aspects of the tradition that concentrated on associating the Yoruba origin with Islam

There are various theories of the Yoruba origin which include the Arab, the Jewish, the Etruria, the local and the Egyptian origin of the Yorubas. Many more Yoruba people believe in the Arab origin because the theory is popularly linked to the 'East'. In the original Yoruba oral tradition, their origin is associated with the East and the East had been assumed to be Mecca or Arabia.

Yorubas of today associate any Yoruba achiever with the title 'Omo Oduduwa' meaning 'descendant of Oduduwa' (Lucas 1948:93). Ayandele (2004:123) also suggested that the purpose of the inclusion of Oduduwa in the Yoruba oral tradition is not to specifically identify the Yoruba origin but to highlight that the Yorubaland prospered during the reign of Oduduwa. It can therefore be speculated that for Johnson, whether the name Oduduwa is included or not in the narrative of the Yoruba origin, he would have been satisfied in associating the ancestors of the Yoruba with Christianity.

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