Browsing: Yoruba

Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, has an identity crisis.  Although its language and dominant culture is Yoruba, the people insist that they are not Yoruba but ‘Ilorin,’ an amorphous identity that does not draw from ethnicity but rather from a fluid cultural identity that evolved due to the unique history of the people and the city. 

Partly owing to man’s predilection for royalty and the lack of adequate understanding of the jungle, humans ascribe kingship to the lion because of its crown-like mane, overlooking the biggest, fiercest and most powerful of the cats, the tiger; as well as the biggest of the beasts, the elephant, both of whom can kill the lion – one-on-one.

Speaking at the 2022 edition of Ifa Festival in Akute, Ogun state, Iba  Gani Adams stated further that introduction of the two prominent religions in Yoruba land had really  made Yoruba people abandon their tradition and culture, leading them to poverty, retrogression and loss.