Our ref: 1888treaty/kabiyesi/070525
7 May 2025
Dear Kabiyesi
Re: The Yoruba Party in the UK and the 1888 Britain-Yorubaland Treaty
Members of The Yoruba Party in the UK (YPUK) have instructed me as their leader to contact you on their behalf to inform you of the existence of our party.
YPUK was registered on 13 February 2024 with the Electoral Commission in Britain to provide political voice for the UK Yoruba Community. The members have accepted YPUK as their political voice. YPUK derived its legitimacy from its ‘Yorubaness’ through which it is connected with the Yoruba Homeland (ie Yorubaland) and with all Yoruba peoples worldwide.
Individual party members are heirs (ie inheritors) to the Yoruba legacy. By their membership, they conferred their heirdom to YPUK, and as a result, YPUK as their party had authority to be heir to the Yoruba legacy. And as a purely Yoruba ethnic political party, YPUK by itself also was entitled to claim the mantle of heir to the Yoruba legacy. This means in effect that YPUK, although a UK registered political party, as Yoruba heir, is legally authorised to advocate for, and represent, the Yoruba people and their homeland anywhere in the world, and under any conditions. It is in this respect that YPUK differs from Yoruba socio-cultural groups and organisations that are not registered in any country. Like other UK-based political parties, YPUK has the force of British law behind it. YPUK is the equal of the Labour and Conservative parties here in the UK.
Secondly, YPUK members have also instructed me to remind your Kabiyesi, as if you needed reminding, that you are the custodian of the Yoruba legacy, and that it is your sacred duty to defend, protect and support that legacy even at the point of death. The 1888 Britain-Yorubaland Treaty is a Yoruba legacy that you are duty bound to defend, protect and support.
As you know, on 23 July 1888, Queen Victoria, representing Great Britain (ie UK), and Alaafin Adeyemi, representing Yorubaland, signed a non-cession treaty of friendship and preferential trade intended to develop Yorubaland. In that treaty, the British promised that Yorubaland would always be treated as an independent sovereign state and that Britain would never take even a yard of Yorubaland. Britain has broken those promises by removing the sovereignty and incorporating Yorubaland into Nigeria in the amalgamation act of 1914. British law did not permit Britain to do this act. Fortunately under British law, what was done is reversible. Therefore, YPUK is taking Britain to court in London to enforce the 1888 treaty, which if YPUK is successful would remove Yorubaland from Nigeria without a drop of blood being shed. Fortunately also, the 1888 treaty is still operative and can be enforced.
Kabiyesi, you have a sacred duty to support this court initiative, and you must do so now, immediately
i) by writing a letter of support for the court case addressed to me as party leader via info@yorubapartyuk.org,
ii) by donating what you can to the court case via the YPUK website www.yorubapartyuk.org
iii) by exploring with your fellow Kabiyesi the possibility of your collective response to the 1888 treaty, and
iv) by notifying the press that I would be available for interviews in regard to the court case.
Kabiyesi, to do nothing is not an option.
Kabiyesi, I look forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully yours
Baasegun (Dr) Olusola Oni
Leader, The Yoruba Party in the UK