Obi1kenobi:


An "empire" that was still as primitive as our "unclad bush dwellers". What kind of empire is that.
Before the colonialists came here, you couldn't read or write (even our bush dwellers had Nsibidi calligraphy). Dwelt in the same mud and thatch as our Eastern bush dwellers. You lived by the ocean but could never navigate it like our bush dwellers. You had no scientific/technological accomplishments like our bush dwellers. Basically, you were just as primitive as our naked bush dwellers. So what good was your so-called "empire"? Sure, you had some tribal chiefs slaughtering each other in endless wars and consolidating their power in expanding their territory. But what did they accomplish for posterity?

In the end, your advancement (and yes, I do believe Yorubas are the most successful tribe in Nigeria because I'm an honest person) depended on the simple fact you were the geographical gateway for the Western colonialists and had first contact with them and profited from Western education and trade through your ports. It had nothing to do with any primitive "empire" you built.

I thought the Edos were the first present day Nigerians to come in contact with the Europeans (portuguese) and not the Yorubas? You should confirm this.

Yorubas were already reading and writing Arabic due to Islamic influence, hundreds of years before colonization.

Neatboy:
Please, I was really thinking about the East and West dichotomy and I began to wonder. The striking question is: is there really a dichotomy?

IN MARRIAGE
No other ethnic group in Nigeria gets married to the Igbos than the Yorubas. And among the major ethnic groups, the Igbos get married more to the Yorubas than any other. Then why the so much hate speech? Or, are these two major groups just being hypocritical?

IN ENTERTAINMENT
In entertainment (movie production and music) This two ethnic groups can not do without each other. It is so glaring. This is so clear in the movie-- Wedding Party. Even in Music you will find artists from both divide doing things together like twins. They make money together, commit crimes together, and do all sorts of things together, then I kept wondering what is left.


FASHION AND CULTURE
I have seen both ethnic groups copying from each other countless times. Seeing the Igbos rocking the Yoruba cultural attires and the Yorubas doing same gives joy. Despite the name calling, in my area, the biggest Yoruba bucca or 'food-spot' is being patronized more by the Igbos. They leak their fingers while eating the Yoruba. Likewise the Yorubas, I have watched them tear down Igbo soups like they are fighting war. Then I began to wonder, do these people really hate each other or they are just pretending?


CONFLICT WISE
I am in my early 30s and I was born and raised in Lagos but spent few years in the East. Truthfully, I have never seen or heard of any conflict between these two groups. Yes, they can fight, punch, curse, tear shirts like Hulk Hogan but no head will still role. Remember, at our homes even couples always have their own differences. I am still wondering.


IN LITERATURE AND IN DIASPORA
The closest are both ethnic groups in literature. I traveled to Kenya for ministration three months ago. After ministration we went to their shopping mall at Nairobi. We saw some Yoruba dudes, immediately tribal or ethnic differences disappeared. The excitement they exhibited for seeing us was so sweet. We felt same way too. But I am still not too sure they would have displayed such excitement if they had seen a core Northerner. Please I might be wrong, but take it easy with me. You know that to an average Yoruba man, if you are not an Hausa man definitely you're Igbo. I am still wondering where the dichotomy is.


POLITICS
This is the only place where these two people don't agree. BUT WHY THE DISTRUST IN THIS AREA? But if we can eat same food, intermarry, and show love in other areas of our lives why can't we replicate this in politics? Truly, the day the East and West will wake up in this regard Nigeria will change for good.

Please if you know how the East and West can meet in politics and how to amend these differences please make your opinion known. ONE LOVE

politics is groupthink while the rest are individual choices

InfiniteLoopx:
The Igbo and Yoruba political differences is ochestrated by the 'Dan Fodio hordes. Its to their advantage. Once this two groups understand the game, the sweeping jihad will come to an end. #facts.

You better don't say this in front of the Awoists.
It all started when Awolowo asked for secession clause to be included in the Nigerian constitution and Zik connived with Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto, to QUASH the move.
There are more but I will stop here.

Ok, but I doubt it if it's just on nairaland.

americanson:
I have no problem with Yorubas... I am currently typing this from one of the South West states... The hatred only exist on nairaland, not offline.

Ethnic jealousy is at the roots of the hate between the Yorubas and the Igbos. Economic and political angling of the past is also responsible. The Igbos are by nature very industrious and talented. They excel at just about anything they touch. They are formidable people and will not go away no matter how you wish they should. The Igbos are very aggressive, in-your-face, and domineering people. The Yorubas are afraid of the Igbo-take-over spirit and as such, are jealous and refuse to accept that reality.

If you read through the colonial documents leading up to the 1914 Amalgamation for instance, you will see that Federick Luggard's Muhamedian Emirate of the North was broke as he routinely was unable to pay salaries to his colonial workers. At this time, Southern Nigeria (present day SE and SS regions) generated about 115 million in trade, a monumental achievement that was never-before heard of in this part of Africa then. The Yoruba Southwest at the time was called Lagos colony and this region had very mediocre economic impact.

Lagos colony was not financially bouyant, though not as poor as the North. For the Amalgamation to work however, Lagos colony and Southern Nigeria must be grouped together, in order to access the wealth generated by the Igbos to take care of the North. Luggard and his Northern conspirators only really wanted Igbo land but excluding Lagos colony would have met disapproval from the colonial office back in England charged with approving the Amalgamation plan. So, they grouped the Igbo East and Yoruba West and named it Southern Nigeria, a region where the Yorubas have always wanted to be the leader but Igbos refuse to allow them (the main reason for the hatred).

Look at it this way: your house is poor (North) but your neighbor's house is rich (South). To access your neighbor's wealth you announce that both houses belong to the same compound, so as to grab and share in the wealth of your neighbor's house.

Furthermore, to highlight the aggressiveness of Igbo success and ingenuity, the Igbos dominated industry and government before the civil war. Azikiwe even attempted to rule over the Yorubas in their land. Being dominated like that shook, and continues to shake, the Yorubas to their core, hence, the animosity.

Also, because the wealth of the new Nigeria was domiciled in the then Southeast (today's SS and SE combined), the Yorubas made sure they stood with the North to exterminate the Igbos for attempting to break away the rich region from the poor and parasitic regions. The civil war was genocide on the Igbos, as it the Yorubas that seized all the food and humanitarian supplies sent from other countries to the Igbos because the supplies came through Lagos port.

The threat to deny the Yorubas and Northerners a share in the wealth now domiciled in today's SS region is why the Igbos are highly discriminated against politically, today, by the benefactors of "one Nigeria." Obasanjo has even confessed openly in the past that if the Federal government allows a functional seaport in the then Southeastern region, that the Igbos will use it to import military weapons to fight for a break-off. It is this reason why everything was taken to Lagos.

So, the hatred or animosity between the Yorubas and the Igbos is rooted in these ethno-political and economic facts of the past. You won't see these hate manifest between the common Igbo or Yoruba person on the street. It is a systemic consciousness that arises when issues affect the two regions. Ethnic or tribal instincts necessitates the blocking of other ethnic groups from out-competing your ethnic group, so these hate comes to the surface when the topic is regional, not on a personal level.

Indeed, the Yorubas see the Igbos as their rival in just about everything. They think of themselves as second to the North and they see the Igbos as challenging that second position, even with no political power or with federal government positions. They despise the guts of the Igbos.

Great people survive extermination. Most countries around the world hate Israel because they survived extermination by Hitler's Germany, and are today one of the strongest country and people on earth. The Igbos survived extermination by Northerners and the Yorubas to emerge today's most industrious and economically creative people. The Yorubas think this economic feat should be them.

If the Igbos are allowed political power, in addition to their ability to generate money and to create things out of nothing, imagine how powerful the Igbos would dominate hence, the reason for the Yorubas to jealous the Igbos and to block them whenever the opportunity arises. The Yorubas are afraid of being dominated, but their Lagos is dominated and bought over by the Igbos. These are the causal factors.

I am not Igbo!



Op.. mr neatboy .
This the answer you seek.. if you're for real, and not some sentimental shit you did expect.

ycat:
Ok, but I doubt it if it's just on nairaland.

It is just on nairaland... and people who visit nairaland... make one igbo man see sexy curvaceous and beautiful yoruba babe whether him no marry am or even fork well, while forgetting the previous slurs he had with her kinsmen lol... i also want you to know that majority of Igbos spewing thrash are in the South East, haven't moved out.