Yoruba history as we know it today is contaminated history. The Yoruba did not write. They used interpreters to tell their story to Europeans who then wrote them down in English. Yoruba history prior to the Crowther treatise (1850) was Diaspora-contaminated history. The early interpreters were immigrants from Sierra Leone (Aku or Saro Yoruba) who owed their escape from the Transatlantic Slavery and their alien education to the English. They interpreted Yoruba history through that gratitude lens. Yoruba history after 1850 was Christianity-contaminated history. The new interpreters were mainly young male indigenes who were enthusiastic converts to the Christian faith. They interpreted Yoruba history through that zealotry lens. The Slaves-contaminated history gained traction in the aftermath of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slavery. The narrators were Yoruba descendants forcibly transported as slaves to the Americas between 16th and 19th century. They interpreted Yoruba history through that deprivation lens.
The Babalawo-contaminated history is the most damaging, the most destructive, and the most pernicious of all. This version of Yoruba history was based on the claim, still ongoing, by the Babalawo that he had access to information, which he says was in the possession of Orunmila, through the medium of the Ifa divination. In actuality, the Babalawo was looking for something he had no idea what it was, what it looked like, or even if it existed at all. The Babalawo has never adduced or produced verifiable proof (oral or written) that Orunmila was a possessor of information. The Babalawo claims an intellectual property that was based on little more than blind faith, the False Divination Syndrome, which sadly has continued to hinder proper investigation into the Yoruba story.
The ancient Yoruba did not hide their story from view at all. Instead, they recorded some of it orally in hundreds and hundreds of Owe (proverbs). Indeed, the Owe is their only currently known direct voice. The Owe told us, for example, that the ancient Yoruba knew medical science: ‘mudunmudun babba eje’ meaning ‘bone marrow is the source of blood’; and they knew astronomical science: ‘Aguala is the dog of the moon’ meaning ‘the planet Venus followed the moon about’. The Yoruba knew all this science long long before the Europeans did. The Owe tells us that the Yoruba story does not have to be guess work or have its science hijacked by divination. Follow the Owe to know the Yoruba story.
Baasegun (Dr) Olusola Oni, Leader of the Yoruba Party in the UK (YPUK, www.yorubapartyuk.org