Records Don't Lie, It's Only The Attempt To Falsify Records That Brings About Arguments.
People always talk about the Kiriji War — but they forget what led to Yoruba disunity in the first place.
In the book Seventeen Years in Yoruba Country, the writer didn’t just talk about Yoruba towns and kings — he observed how division became our greatest weakness. One thing he noticed clearly was how the Fulani always found ways to feed that disunity.
After the fall of the Oyo Empire, the Yoruba nation stood at a crossroads. Every town wanted to prove its own strength — Ibadan, Ijaye, Egba, Ijesa, Ekiti — all strong, all proud, but no longer united. And that was the perfect opportunity for the Fulani to step in.
The Fulani strategy was simple but effective: they used friendship and flattery to enter Yoruba politics, they supported one side in conflicts and then abandoned them when the time was right. They knew that as long as the Yoruba kept fighting each other, we would never rebuild the unity that made Oyo powerful.
In Seventeen Years in Yoruba Country, there are moments where the author shows how the Fulani would send envoys or fighters, pretending to help one Yoruba side against another. But their real goal was always control — to weaken us from within until we could no longer defend ourselves as one people.
By the time the Kiriji War broke out, Yoruba strength was already divided. Every town was busy defending its own pride while outside powers — the Fulani from the north and the British from the coast — watched patiently. They didn’t need to fight hard; they just waited for us to exhaust ourselves.
That is how colonization became easy. The British didn’t conquer a united Yoruba nation — they walked into a land already weakened by internal conflict and external manipulation.
So when people say “the British colonized us,” the truth is deeper: disunity opened the door, and the Fulani helped keep it open.
That’s why unity is not just a word; it’s survival. Because once a people turn against each other, they no longer need an enemy — the enemy has already won.
History is not just what happened; it’s what keeps happening when we forget who we are.
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It was the "fall" of Oyo power that ushered in the disunity. Before that time, we don't used to fight against each other frequently. Many kingdoms were directly under the Alaafin and if there is dispute amongst Kingdom, they will take the mater to Oyo to be resolved. Even independent kingdom like Ijebu once table a dispute amongst themselves to the Alaafin to be resolved,I have the record. Majority of the kingdoms acknowledged Oyo's authority, including those that are not under Oyo. So Oyo was like a " check" to other kingdoms. Now when Oyo no longer wields such power, everyone started doing as they like. Slave raiding became a lucrative business, towns started waging war against each other and so many things.
But above all, iditẹ mọ Alaafin/Ọyọ lo koba Ilẹ Yoruba.
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