Leadership in Yorubaland

In Yorubaland, leadership was never a joke.

Our ancestors understood that power must be tied to accountability, truth, and consequences.

Before colonialism, Yoruba leaders took oaths with deities that represented justice, balance, and truth! Ogun, Sango, Esu. These oaths were not for fear, but for discipline, character, and responsibility.

Then colonialism came, and we replaced our cultural systems of accountability with foreign ones. Oaths became symbolic, not binding. Leadership became performance, not duty.

I believe Yoruba leaders need to reconnect with the traditional moral codes that once kept them honest. Not necessarily by invoking any danger but by returning to the spiritual values that ensured integrity.

Our ancestors understood something important, when you swear before a divinity that represents justice, you remember that betrayal carries consequences both moral and ancestral.

Today, we see too much selfishness in leadership because the oath has lost its meaning.

Our leaders swear on texts they do not fear and on values they do not follow.

We need balance.

We need accountability.

We need a return to the dignity of Yoruba ethical systems, where character mattered, truth mattered, the community mattered. The oath mattered.

This is not about violence.  It is about restoring the moral spine that colonial structures erased.

If Yoruba governance is to rise again, it must be rooted in Yoruba ethics. 

In the balance of Esu, the justice of Sango, and the truth of Ogun.

Ire o.

Titilola Damilola