Professional Documents
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Author(s): P. C. Lloyd
Source: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter, 1954), pp. 366-384
Published by: University of New Mexico
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3628833
Accessed: 26-12-2015 13:36 UTC
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THE TRADITIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA
P. C. LLOYD
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 367
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368 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 369
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370 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
appearthatall young
menpassedintothesetwogrades
onreaching
thenecessary
age.
The firsttitlegradewasknown as igemz.On reaching thisa manno longer
worked onhisfather's farm. Thewould-be entrant wentfirst tothethree members
ofthesenior titlegradetonotify them ofhiswishtoenter thegrade,andtopaya
fee.He alsonamed histitle,
therebeing nofixed titles.Later, afteranother fee,the
seniorchiefsconferred thetitleandtheexisting members ofthegradelaidtheir
zpastaffsontheground, madea sacrificeandprayed forthenewentrant. Through-
outtheweekthenewmember feastedtheoldermembers ofthegrade.Membership
ofthisgradeconferred theright tousethe:pa staff andalsoa redcap.Thenumber
ofigem3 wasunlimited
titles andalthough itis saidthatsomemennever became
members, itwasbelieved thatmost adultmendidinfacttaketitles.
Entry intothenextgrade-the orotagrade-wasbya similar process,thefees
beingapproximately doublethoseoftheigemograde.Membership gavethetitle-
holdertheright to usea specialstool(apopo),to weara beadedhatandbeads
round theneck,tohavea muchmoreceremonious funeral thanother men,andto
berelieved from farm work. Therewasa fixed number oforotatitles anda man
couldonlytakeoneafterthedeathofa previous holder. The traditionalranking
orderofthesetitleholders isnowuncertain, butitwasprobably determined bythe
lengthof time the titlehad been held.
The senior gradeis thatofololu(sometimes known as iwarefa). Among the
Owethere werethree titles
inthisgrade, zbaro,zbajemu, andzbad:fin. TheNupe
invadersmadetheObaroofthemid-nineteenth century headoverall
intoa district
theOweunder theirownsystem ofindirect rule.LatertheBritish continued the
process,tryingat one periodto make him Emir of all Kabba Division!From the
Owelegends and from examination of theneighboring whose
sub-tribes, senior
gradeswerelessaffected bythesechanges, thetraditional (inthiscasepre-Nupe)
custom appears to have been as follows.The three titleswere ofequalstatus;one
hadtobeheldineachofthethree Owetowns, not
though necessarily thesameone
eachtime;thetitleholders wereelected totheposition by themembers oftheorota
fees
grade,heavy beingpaidby thecandidates to the electors.The ololuchief
couldwearcoralbeadsonhiswrist andankles andsitona leopardskin. Hisinstalla-
tionconsistedofsmallceremonies andfeasting, though notgiving himthesame
ritual and
position authority as thoseof a Yoruba king.
Thegovernment oftheOwewasconducted bytheololu,who,itissaid,could
donothing exceptontheadviceoftheorota, whointurn wereadvised bythemass
of adultmen-theigemz.The igEmc heldseparate meetings fromthoseof the
ololuandorota.Eachgradeoftitleholder hadspecialritualdutiesinconnection
withthetown's major deity,Ebora. The functions ofgovernment appeartohave
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 371
beenbutcrudely between
divided thedifferent
groups theololuand
oftitleholders;
orotamadethedecisions,
theigemoexecutedthem.
Althoughwealthappearsas theprerequisite
ofmembership ofthehighertitle
itmust
grades, beremembered thatKabbawas,andstillis,economically
backward;
wasrareandthepeopleweremoreraidedthanraiders.
slave-owning Opportunities
fortheaccumulationofwealth to hardworkandthepossession
werelimited of
sons.Theredoesnotappeartohavebeenanyrestriction toa small
oftitle-holding
semi-hereditary
group.
THE EKITI
Thesixteen Ekitikingdoms arelocated intheeastofYorubacountry. Adois
thelargest,witha population of62,000persons. AdoEkiti,themetropolitan town
ofthiskingdom andnowtheDivisional hasa
headquarters, population of 24,000
persons,butthetown consistsofthree adjacentsettlements eachwithitsownchief
butacknowledging a common ruler, theEwi. The of
largest these settlements, Oke
Ewi, theseat ofthe Ewi witha of
population 14,000 people, is described here as an
example of theEkiti of
type political structure.
TheEwitraces hisdescentfrom a royalprince atIle-Ife,who,itisclaimed, left
thistownandtravelled toBeninwith theOba ofBenin, only to leavehim later and
retracehissteps.At Adoheandhisfollowers metsomepeople, buttheseeither
submitted peacefullyor wereconquered and theirdescendants form onelineage in
Odo Ado,thelargesettlement adjacent to Oke Ewi. Today there are fifteen line-
agesinOkeEwibesides thatoftheEwihimself; theelders ofsomeoftheseclaim
thattheirfounders withtheEwi,thoseofothers
travelled citethetowns, usually
inAkokocountry, from which theirfounders came.OkeEwiis divided intofive
quarters,oneofwhich, Irona,isofmorerecent creationthantheremainder. Each
quarter has thecompounds of one or two largelineagestogether with those of two
orthree smaller ones.Compounds ofsegments of theroyallineage arefoundin
eachquarter.
Asinother Yorubatowns, themalemembers ofthelineage livedina single, or
adjacent, The
compounds. lineage head (oloriebi) was the oldest male lineage
member; hesucceeded tohisposition without ceremony onthedeathoftheprevious
holder.He presided overthelineage meetings heldinhisownpartofthecompound,
atwhich matters thelineage
affecting werediscussed. Thelineage wasa gerontoc-
raticinstitution: toan elderwaspunishable
disrespect bya fineofpalmwineor
kolanutsto be consumed at themeeting. The lineageheadhad,however, little
more thanmoral authorityover his members.
In Ekitievery manbelonged toan ageset(egbe);thesehadprimarily social
functions. They were constituted informally every two and a halfto three years
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372 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 373
Allthese wereranked
titles inorder ofseniority.Fourofthemembers oftheOlori
Marunwerethequarter chiefs ofthefourolderquarters ofthetown;thefifth re-
sided,byhistorical accident rather thanbydesign, inoneofthesequarters. These
titleswerehereditary inthelargest lineagesin thetown.Manyof theelesiand
Ijegbetitles werehereditary incertain lineages,theremainder beingbestowed by
theEwiandchiefs onanyperson whowasprominent inthetownandalsopopular
within hisownlineage, although attempts werecontinually beingmadebyholders
toconvert them intohereditary titles.
Theijoyechiefs wereheaded bya chief whose
titlewashereditary inonelineage;theremaining chiefs wereelected bytheEwi
andchiefs, orsometimes directly bythequarter chiefs. Anexamination ofthedis-
tributionoftitlesinEkititowns shows thatwhere thetownhada smallnumber of
lineageseachhadoneofthesenior iharetitles;
where there weremorelineages, the
largestobtainthese iharetitles buttheremaining titleswereshared equitably among
thelineages.
Whenthetitleofa chiefwashereditary within a lineage, it wasusually the
right ofthelineage members toelecttheholder. Whenthefuneral ceremonies were
completed, theEwisenttothelineage headinviting himto present a candidate.
Sucha manwaselected ata lineage meeting,the predictions of the Ifa oraclebeing
usedtoswayopinions andgivethechoice supernatural sanction. The principle that
eachsegment ofthelineage should holdthetitleinturn wasoften overlooked when
onecandidate received thesupport of themajority. The Ewiandchiefs hadno
right tointerferein the election except toensure that the proper methods were car-
riedout-a largeenough for
loophole intrigue. If the lineage members failed to
agreeupon a candidate, the Ewi and chiefs might appoint one themselves. The Ewi
hadtheright toappoint three ofthehereditary chiefs,onefrom eachgroup, who
by tradition
had free access to hisown inthe
apartments palace. No ihare or ijoye
chiefmight laydownonetitletotakeanother moresenior one,butelegbechiefs
might droptheir titles toassume ihareorijoyetitles. Whenthecandidate forthe
titlewaspresented totheEwiandchiefs fortheir formal approval, he would com-
mence making a series of payments to theEwi and chiefs. The installationcere-
monies ofalliharechiefs wereperformed the
by Ewi;they included much feasting
oftheexisting chiefs.
TheYorubaking(zba) wasmorethana chief;hewasa divine kingandthe
of
personification the whole town. A crowned king traced hisdescent directly from
Oduduwa, the creator of the Yoruba. The titleof Ewi was intwo
hereditary seg-
ments oftheruling lineage founded bythefirst Ewi,thefounder ofAdo.These
twosegments werefounded by the sixteenth
Ewi, who issaid to have reigned inthe
lateeighteenth century. Members of segments tracing descent from earlierEwis
werenoteligible.On thedeathoftheEwithemostsenior ihareactedas regent but
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374 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 375
THE OYO
Ibadan Provinceis locatedacrossthegeographical centerof Yoruba country
and contains many large towns; here overfifty percentof thepopulation livesin
townswhosepopulation exceeds50,000inhabitants. This greatsizeis due largely
tothewarsoftheearlynineteenth century,whentheOyo Empirebeganto crumble
through internalstrife and the Fulani invaders,basedon Ilorinand Bida,attacked
southward. The Yorubaweresafeonlyin theforested country wheretheFulani
cavalrycould not operate, and the inhabitantsof the destroyed towns of thesavana
country fledto these towns within theforest.The armies of thesetowns werethem-
selvescontinually onslave-raiding expeditions,livingoff the countryside whichalso
becamedepopulated, thepeopleof thesmallertownsfleeing to thelargertowns
forprotection. The sizeand rateof thisimmigration posednewproblems forthe
government of these towns.
Iwo,oneofthesetowns,has,today,a population of 100,000inhabitants. These
aredomiciled within an areaoftwosquaremiles;an urbandensity ofeighty persons
peracre.Thereare over500 compounds in thetown,belonging to approximately
200 lineages. The townis dividedintofourquarters. In oneofthese,Isale Oba, are
foundmostof thecompounds of theroyallineage;in Gidigboand Oke Adan are
thecompounds ofmostoftheolderlineagesinthetown.Moleteis a quarter largely
peopledby those whoseancestors cametothetowninthenineteenth century.
Iwo wasfounded bya manwhowas,itis claimed, a sonofa womanOni of Ife;
he wasdrivenfromIle-Ifeafterhismother's deathin retaliation forherharshness
as a ruler.He settledin severalplacesbeforereaching thepresent siteand legends
say that he had collected a considerable entourage before reachingIwo. Later
immigrants came from towns in the Owu kingdom, from towns now destroyed
and almostforgotten but whichmayhave been eitherOwu or Egba, and, in
increasing proportion inthelateeighteenth andnineteenth centuries,fromOyo.
The Yorubalineagewas headedbythebale (fatherof thehouse),itsoldest
malemember. Formallineagemeetings (ipade) seemtohavebeenheldat irregular
so
intervals, manylineage members livingformuchof theyearon theirfarms.
Ceremonies and religiousfestivals providedoccasionsforthemeetings, however.
As a resultof thelargesizeof manycompounds, theIwo bale and severalother
old menwereusuallyableto remainat home,beingfedand maintained bycontri-
butionsfromjuniormembers. Thesemen,sitting together on theverandahof the
bale'scompound, composed, as itwere,a permanent committee of thelineage.The
powers and duties of theIwo bale are similar to those of lineageheadselsewhere
in Yorubacountry.
Thereare no formalage gradestodayin Iwo, and littlerecordof theirpast
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376 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 377
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378 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
THE IJEBU
As a fourth exampleofa Yorubapolitical constitution,thatoftheIjebumight
becited. In contrastwiththatofIwojustdescribed thegovernment ofIjebuOde,
themetropolitan is
town, perhaps the most complex in all Yoruba The
country.
reconstruction ofthetraditional is
systemparticularly difficultsince
not onlyhave
many ofthetraditionalinstitutions
beengiven noplaceinthemodem localgovern-
ment, withtheresult thatmosttitles arevacant, butas a consequence oftrading
activities
theIjebuhavebecome by far the wealthiestsub-tribe, withtheinevitable
weakening of traditional
socialties.
IjebuOdeisprobably oneoftheoldest ofYorubatowns. Todayithasa popu-
lationof26,000, considerablylarger thanthatofanyneighboring it
settlements;8
wasa capitaltownsurrounded bymany smaller satellitetowns. Legendssaythat
modem IjebuOdewasfounded byObanta, Awujaleorking.It isclaimed
thefirst
thathecamefrom Ile-Ifebutitseemspossible thathecamein factfrom Benin.
Almost all thelineageeldersinIjebuOde claimthattheir ancestors either
came
before Obantaorwithhim;thelandwasapparently distributed among theindige-
nouspeoplebefore he came,andthereappearto havebeenmanykingswhom
Obantadisplaced. SinceObantafifty Awujaleshavereigned; Obantaprobably
reigned between thethirteenthand fifteenth centuries.It is claimedthatsincehis
the
reign kingdom was never destroyed, and contact with neighboring kingdoms
8 Ago Iwoyeand IjebuIgbo,nowlargetowns,
werebothformedwhensmallsettlements
neartheIbadanborder forprotection.
wereobligedto cometogether
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 379
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380 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 381
Government
of thetownwasa combination
of all theseinstitutions.
The high-
estauthority,before theAwujale, wastheIlamuren society,comprising theOlisa,
Egbo,OgbeniOja, andthemembers oftheIf)resociety.All members of this
societyhadtobemembers oftheOfugbosociety, though forsenior
ineligible titled
postsinit.Similarlya newOlisa,Egbo,orOgbeniOja hadtoadvance through all
gradesoftheIfzresociety totherankofotu.
To sumup: theoloritun hadauthority withintheirownquarters; itissaidthat
they used to meettogether although thefunctionsof such meetings notclear.
are
Eachagesetmetseparately andthentogether undertheirownchiefto discuss
matters affectingindividual members andtheorganization ofpublicwork.The
Ofugbosociety metregularly everyseventeendays in theirownmeeting place:
heretheaffairs ofthetownwerediscussed andcasesinvolving themoreserious
crimes wereheard,suchcasesgoingon appealto theIlamuren society. The
Ilamuren societymet in the Their
palace. decisionswere carriedby a slave to the
Awujale, secluded within the who
palace, gave them his assent.
Thevillages around IjebuOde hada moresimple In many
constitution. cases
thepeopleofa village claimed descent froma singlefounder andthesegments of
thislineage formed thequarters ofthevillage.The titleofthesenior chiefinthe
village(oloriilu) together withthoseof hissecond, third,fourth and fifth in
command (ekejiilu,eketa ilu,Fkrrinilu,Ekarunilu) passed inturn to each seg-
ment, eachtitleholder moving upa postonthedeathoftheoloriilu.Thevillages
possessed theirownOfugbosocieties completewithall gradesand an ipampa
society,oftenwith chiefs electedbythe members. Thesesocieties weresubordinate
tothose inIjebuOde.Thevillages hadnotitlesocietysuchastheIforesociety and
no Ilamuren society.
Village headsreferredmatters to members of the Ilamuren
societyinIjebuOde.
SUMMARY
Thedescriptionoftheconstitutions
ofthefourYorubatowns hasbeenmade
witha limited
purposeinview-that ofoutliningthedifferent institutions
political
and theirconstitutional
powers,theirmembership and thepartplayedby the
lineage.Omittedhavebeentheritualsandceremonials surroundingkingshipand
thepartplayedbyreligion,
chieftaincy, detailsofthemethods ofadministration,
andthestrainswhich areproducedintheeveryday working oftheconstitutions.
Of thefourdiverse constitutions
outlined,thatof theOweis uniquein lacking
kingship; thesepeoplehavelittleknowledge of theirownhistory or of the
antiquityoftheir The
institutions. oldestofthe is
constitutions that
of IjebuOde
inthesensethatthetownwasfounded beforethearrival of thepresent dynasty
severalcenturies
ago,andthatno catastrophiceventsincethenwouldappearto
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382 SOUTHWESTERNJOURNAL
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
havehappenedto overthrow theoriginalconstitution. The youngest is theconsti-
tutionof Iwo,forthetownitselfwas foundedprobably in thesixteenth or seven-
teenthcenturies and thefloodof immigrants in thenineteenth century musthave
producedmanychangesin thegovernment of thetown.
In eachtownthelineagewas a gerontocratic institution witha largemember-
ship, the adult males having a common residence. All matters affecting lineage
members onlyweredecidedultimately bythelineagehead (thoughappealto the
towngovernment mightbe made). Sincethelineagemembers corporately heldthe
lineage farm land and townland,and sincemalelineagemembers oftenplieda
commoncraft,matters discussedat lineagemeetings coveredan extremely wide
range. The authority of the lineagehead was mainlymoral;he wasnearlyalways
believedto be verymucholderthantheremaining eldersand henceto be able to
approach more the
effectively lineageancestors and deities.
Each of thetownshad a government responsible fortheexternal relationsof
thetownsincluding thedeclaration of war,forthemaintenance of lawand order,
including policework,and theadministration of justice,forthecontrolof rituals
affecting thewholetown,and fora variety of socialand economic matters such
as fixingthetimesofharvest orbushburning. In noneof thetownsdidthegovern-
mentconsistof a committee of lineageheads,and lineageheadsdid not have
authority, byvirtueof theirposition, outsidethelineage:alwaysthegovernment
consisted of a separatesetof institutions standing apartfromthelineage.These
institutionshavebeengroupedas associations, lineagechieftaincies, and kingship.
Title gradesand societiesweremostprominent in Kabba, Ekiti,and Ijebu.
They mightbe dividedintoage set and gradesystems, by whichyoungmen
formally expressed theiropinions andwereorganized forpublicwork,and thetitle
In Iwo therewereno suchpoliticalinstitutions
societies. and publicworkseemsto
havebeenorganized through thelineage.Membership ofan age setwasautomatic
and henceuniversal. Thereseemsto havebeenno suggestion in eitherKabba or
Ijebu thatmembership of thetitlesocieties-thetitlegradesof theOwe or the
IfDresociety or theOfugbosociety of Ijebu Ode-became restricted to anysmall
hereditary sectionof thecommunity; insteadit is suggested thatmostmenjoined
the igemogradein Kabba or the Ofugbo societyin Ijebu. In boththesethe
appointments to the highestpostswereby electionby the members, although
wealthto perform thenecessary ceremonies was a prerequisite of thesuccessful
candidate.
In Ekitiand Iwo government was carriedout mainlyby chiefswhosetitles
werevestedwithin certainlineages.Suchhereditary titleswerefilledbyelection by
thelineagemembers, thekingandremaining chiefshavingno powertooverrule the
decisionof thelineagemembers excepton technical grounds.In Ekitiit is notice-
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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE YORUBA 383
ablethatevery wasrepresented
lineage byatleastonechief,
usually byhis
elected
lineagebutin someinstances appointed bythekingin council.In Iwo thesizeof
thetownalonewouldhavemadesucha system unworkable; herethelineageheads
wereresponsible to chiefs,
thetiebeingoneof patronage.
The institution
ofkingshipwasremarkably similarinthethreetownspossessing
it. In eachcase thetitlewas hereditarywithinthelineageof thefounderor con-
queror ofthetown;ineachitwasthetownchiefs-the lineage chiefs ortheheads
ofthetitlesocieties-who hadtheultimate control oftheelection oftheking.In
EkitiandIjebu,where thekingwasa figure hidden from viewand,intheory, exer-
little
cising power of hisown, theremaining members of the royallineage occupied
littleornoconstitutional position inthetown;theyweredebarred from holding
mosttitles. Iwowascompletely atypical in thisrespect, thehistory of theearly
andmid-nineteenth century probably beingresponsible. The kingbecamea war
leaderand,being a Moslem, hastened thedecayofmany ofthetraditional rituals;
therewards ofbattle, andespecially land, bestowed upon hisclosest kinsmen and
followers gavethem,through a
patronage, physical power which more than
balanced theconstitutionalpower ofthechiefs from thenon-royal lineages.This
process was accentuated the of
by longreign Lamuye and theconsequent accession
offiveofhisownsons:thechecks topower which inother towns wereachieved by
rotating the title
through a number of lineage segments did not operate.
If wewereto groupthesefourtypesaccording to theclassification adopted
Dr
by Brown, the Owe of Kabba would probably fall,withtheIbo,intothat
grouphavinglineages andassociations only,whileIwo,havingno associations,
couldbegrouped withAshanti andNupe.IjebuandEkiti, having associa-
lineages,
tions,and stateforms,would bein the third group, inwhich Dr Brown did infact
place the Yoruba. Yet thefeatures of the state in Ijebu Ode are farmore complex
thaninIwo.If thisclassification doesnotgradethepolitical systems according to
itdoes
complexity, grade them according totheir probable historical evolution,for
theKabbatypeis presumably theoldestandthatof Iwo has undergone great
changes within thelasttwocenturies.
The briefdescriptions of thefourYorubaconstitutions givenheresuggests
other criteriawhich may be useful in such
grouping kingdoms andwhich increase
ourknowledge of them.A similarity between all fourpolitical systems is the
election oftherulers-the ololuofKabbaandthecbaoftheYorubakingdoms-
bya subordinate group oftitledchiefs. TheololuandtheZbawerebothresponsible
fortheritualof thetownandbothwerethemouthpieces forofficial decisions,
the
although former, the of
lacking divinity latter,the probably tooka moreactive
partinthegovernment ofthetown. The election ofthekingis oneofthemajor
features oftheconstitutions oftheYorubakingdoms. Secondtoitistheinsignifi-
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384 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNALOF ANTHROPOLOGY
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