Our journey will begin by identifying who the Yoruba people are. From the stories and relics of the children of the tribe, it is obvious that the projenitors of the tribe were deeply rooted in sorcery. Especially those who constitute the royal families. Their blood lines is soaked in idolatry, divination and sorcery. They know how to access principalities and powers and learn their worship modes.
There are many stories about the origin of the Yoruba race. The Yoruba race has two major stories about their origin. One is supernatural. The other is natural
The supernatural or divine one said that the supreme being, God, sent a god- Obatala to come and create the earth, but he got drunk and God had to send another god- Oduduwa. This is what some people hold.
This school of thought has several loopholes chief of which is that Oduduwa entered Ile Ife in 11AD, but Ife Arts, according to carbon dating goes way back as 500BC which means that there was life in Ile Ife before Oduduwa came in.
The second story talks about a migration from Yemen, Mecca or Egypt. The loophole here is the inability to explain the immense supernatural ability that Oduduwa had. No account for how a displaced king looking for refuge could carry such strength in his priesthood. The shrine of Oduduwa in Ife today is the biggest among other shrines. It covers a total of 3 acres of land.
Despite the loophole in the natural origin of the Yoruba tribe, we have some evidences that ascertains the fact that the Yoruba has some connections with Egypt. A major point is the resemblance of the linguistic structure of Yoruba language and Ancient Egyptian language. The king of the Ijebus- Awujale, believes that they are direct descendants of ancient Egyptian colony- Nubia as a result of the similarities in ritual patterns.
The natural narrative points to a certain king in Mecca- Lamurudu, who was forced out by the muslims. He emigrated with his heir, Oduduwa, in phases which eventually ended in Ile Ife. Some refer to Lamurudu as the biblical Nimrod. This is chronologically impossible as Nimrod lived over 2500 years BC and Oduduwa entered Ile Ife around 11th century AD. Although, Nimrod had a record of an unusual long life, some report say he was killed by Esau. Whichever way, no man has passed the 1000 years limit. So Nimrod couldn't have been Lamurudu.
The gap is too wide for Lamurudu to be Nimrod, but there are striking similarities between the yoruba traditional religion and the biblical Nimrod. Let's open up on Nimrod a bit and see the similarities between his way of life and the Yoruba. Nimrod was a great grandchild of Noah. His grandfather was Ham and his father was Cush whom Noah cursed.
Nimrod grew up with anger against the God of Noah because of the flood and the curse. He wanted to rebel against God and be independent. Actually, his name means 'we shall rebel'. It was Nimrod that brought the idea of building a tower to gather the people as against the instruction of God to spread out. A lot of people think the tower of babel was just a high rise building. It was more than that. It was a high rise building built to worship idols. It was in this land- Shinar that sorcery, divination and idolatry started.
This same pattern is dominant in the Yoruba history. So, I will agree with the narrative that the journey actually started from Mecca as the most probable origin of the Yoruba with Lamurudu (who is not Nimrod, but has a similar way of life) as the progenitor.
There is no confirmed report that proves that Oduduwa was a biological son of Lamurudu, but Oduduwa was the man that entered Ile Ife as a crowned king. Before entering Ile Ife, the party must have first settled in Egypt which confirms the Egypt narrative. In fact, it seemed like Lamurudu planned to stay in Egypt, but his stay was cut short because of a man called Yariba. Who was Yariba? Who is Oduduwa? Why did Lamurudu leave Egypt?
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