₦airaland Forum

UGBE634:
they might not have gone to Udo, to the Oba, going to Udo will not be necessary,( as to him, he is the custodian of the culture and traditions of Edo people) the people who were interviewed were certainly from the Oba's court in Benin city. The Oba tell the history of these communities on their behalf. with Ife appearing everywhere, it is obvious that this is the Oba and Egharevba's narrative, it is only just recently aborigines who are not comfortable with such started speaking out, and the internet now is helping,go to these various communities Even in Esan and Urhobo, and the local Bini communities, you will find out that the history of the Ogisos is one way not featuring any yoruba and the numbers are the same but that that of the palace Is starkly different, then when you go to the Oba's palace, it is different

So you agree that Udo is older than Benin?

UGBE634:
And where is Ufe located, ? Go to Udo and not that poorly researched work that christ is truth pasted some time ago with visible faults everywhere , Udo is a traditional community and one of our oldest, I would want you to go there interviewing the elders and the king in that community,. I bet my life no one will tell you any Ogiso came from Ife, maybe I might even do so one of these days, when I have the chance to interview the people on their history and the history of the Ogisos when I have the chance to.

I have never heard nor read of the Udo coming from the west, it has always been the other way round. Udo is older than Ondo, seeing how "edonized" some of these Ondo communities are, it is actually to the fact that Ondos migrated and sank into the yoruba sea

I am not arguing with you that if I go there now they won't agree with that narrative. I even told you that the narrative there has actually changed.
Only telling you that that account existed, and it was documented. Even people like Talbot, and later on the likes of Egharevba talked about it when they documented how Udo was the first abode of Ogiso.

babasolution:
Also, some Akoko-edo tribes eg ekpe, and make me etc from the book are originally ogori, they branched out for several reasons

How can Ekpe be from Ogori but claim an Okpameri affiliation and also speak same, but Ogori their purported mother stock that is just a stone throw away have a completely different language?
That makes no sense, no lie.

UGBE634:
scholes0 I like the way you place words, but I would want you to have an understanding of some of these issues, what we find is that to obtain legitimacy from the People, the yoruboid set of Binis seem to want to "yorubanize" Bini history both local and "foreign", whatever we do we should understand that Bini is not really one sect and everyone has the right to tell their history regardless of who is more famous and prominent and we also have a right to accept what we should accept, we have seven main kings in Benin which are (1)Oba of Benin
(2.)Ogie-amien of Utantan
(3)Iyase of Udo
(4) Enogie of Ugo
5 Okaevbo of Urhonigbe
6 Enogie of Egor
7. Elawure of Usen
These stools


it is only perhaps in the mouth of yoruba affiliated kings and people that you will hear of Ogiso coming from Ife, which are the Oba of Benin and Olu-awure of Usen and other yoruba affiliated people, we had moonlight tales in Benin then growing up when Benin was not this urban, it should still be there in the villages, not for once did I hear of any Ogiso coming from Ife, I only read it for the first time on nairaland .

The Oba and the Usen people are not qualified to tell the history of the Ogisos, they don't have the locus-standi to tell it. The Ogisos and her history predates their existence in Benin. The history of the Ogisos is entirely a local business. a business of the aborigines

Actually the people of Udo also agreed and had this narrative that they came from the west of Nigeria. They were a powerful rival to Benin until they were defeated in the Benin-Udo war, and the majority of them returned to the Ufe area. Many didn't get to Uhe and settled across the Ondo region. It is this dispersal from the war that some like the Iyase and some prominent chief in Udo turned around at about the 70s/80s to say the Ondo people originated from them.

UGBE634:
That any sky king branched out from Ife is not true, it is in fact not in tandem with reality

Many seasoned Historians and some Edo oral tradition disagrees.

babasolution:
Yes you can bring what ogori people on ground are saying.

The prof probably is a linguistics prof,he didn't just write stuff,he knew what he was saying,by the say his own postulations is even the closest to Yoruba origin of ogori,there are other books by other ogori profs who outrightly dispute any Yoruba links to ogori,like the book from prof oshiedu and another one which I have forgotten his name.

These are profs that probably researched the topic.

The book provided facts and evidences to back up its claim.

The Yoruba origin story is mostly moonlight tale no much concrete facts to back it up.
Though the book postulated that ogori is direct from ife,it stated that ogori metamorphosed to a unique tribe after its very long journeys and stay faraway from yorubaland.

The links with Yoruba are only at the earliest stages,not different from say itsheriki link with Yoruba.

Like the itsekiri, the ogori became a unique of its own,even more distinct than the itsekiri because ogori lived with the Edo and idoma people for very long time.

Also note the even within the Yoruba itself,they have disputing origin stories so we can't just rely on any oral unresearched story by elders in ogori.

There were many things in that history of ogori book that were shocking to me,i also used to believe the supposed undoubted link of ogori to Yoruba until I read that book.

There are other surprising things in the book eg of the fact that ogori was once far larger than ebira,and ogori even originally owns most of ebiraland.

Whether it's true or not ,it's worth considering,
All am saying is that the ogori are deeper than simply a Yoruba subtribe that many ogorians even refer themselves as.

It goes deeper than that if you are willing to look

Oga, I haven't even said Ogori are Yoruba, I am only disputing your spurious claim that Ogori are either of Idomoid or Edoid... which are both VERY false, Why are you typing a letter? .
When did you live in Benin? During the time of the Edo sky skings from Ife or during our second dynasty of Owomika (Eweka)?

babasolution:
Am telling you I have read history and origin books of ogori written by ogori profs,the one I remember correctly is the one by prof Akerejola, the former "king" of ogori,he explained that ogori lived with idoma for over 200years,he also explained that the ogori lived with lived in benin too for a long while after living ife it's from there he postulated they crossed the river into the igala- idoma region and settled,he also explained that there are remnants of ogori who migrated to nasarawa and other parts of kogi eg kakanda,theres even a part of ogori called ENI who are even said to be pure benin origin,this is from an ologori himself,not my words, ogori culture is very very distinct from Yoruba ,so is the language,they only adopted a lot of yoruba culture,likewise many akokoedo people,who also speak yoruba fluently,also many akoko edo peoples have similar culture to ogori,you probably aren't from ogori if not you'll understand.

Says all we need to know.
Kakanda are now a remnant of Ogori.
What Nigerians don't know is that the fact that an elder/chief or even king says something, or that someone publushed something in a book doesn't make it factually or historically accurate. Even false narratives grow with people's age. So a man or woman can be of advanced age and still end up telling you pure sakamanje fabu.

Btw: Since you are retorting that I am not from Ogori, do you want me to bring you what REAL OGORI PEOPLE on ground are saying?

The following are debatable:

Long leg (Which is an expression in many nigerian languages directly translated into pidgin)
Buka.

babasolution:
You are wrong,have books,oko is grouped along idoma,also the ogori lived with idoma for centuries according to a book written by an ogori prof. It as a relationship with idoma but it's not idoma,it's a combination of several languages idoma being a major one.

Also ,why do you think ogori-magongo is non edoid.

Ogori even by basic layman observation doesn't look yoruboid,it's more similar to Edo culture and systems.

It looks to me like you are confused. It is clear from your unsure stance on whether to latch on to Edo to Idoma cultures.
They lived with Idoma for centuries but are very similar to Edo culture. They are even Edoid WHILE THEIR LANGUAGE IS more of Idoma (according to you) confusion pro max.

By the Way, there is no way to look Yoruboid. Igala are Yoruboid but have their own culture. Yoruboid is a linguistic classification, not a culture or outlook.
Same goes with all the other linguistic groupings. Infact, the Edo groups to the south of Ogori are very different from Benin culturally. Same way Degema in rivers state or Epie in Bayelsa (which are also Edoid) are also very distinct and different from Auchi or Okpella.

babasolution:
You are wrong,have books,oko is grouped along idoma,also the ogori lived with idoma for centuries according to a book written by an ogori prof.It as a relationship with idoma but it's not idoma,it's a combination of several languages idoma being a major one.

I repeat, Oko is not Idomoid. It is not closer to Idoma than Benin is to Igbo. If you are claiming oko is a 'combination' of several languages, then it basically becomes a creole.

If you insist otherwise, show us a construction of proto-Idoma and proto-oko and show us the parallels that makes it any more closer to one another than Yoruba is to Igbo.

babasolution:
Also ,why do you think ogori-magongo is non edoid.

I am not the one 'thinking' it. Ogori is not Edoid because it simply isn't. It is not Edoid by any measure. Not cultural, not linguistic, not material. Not even oral history which can be as wild as the imaginative depth of the human mind.
Now back to you, how is it Edoid?

babasolution:
Ogori even by basic layman observation doesn't look yoruboid,it's more similar to Edo culture and systems.

How do you mean by this though? what layman observation? On a first time visit to Ogori.. there is nothing about the place that makes one think they are in a culturally distinct zone from Yorubaland (facts)


If the Ogori people themselves (who are very much Yoruba-ish to me) continue to claim Ife and Yoruba links, then that is what they are! How are they more Edoid? or even Idoma? Even on this very thread, ogori people have confirmed it.. You on the other hand keep saying something else.

babasolution:
True,ogori may have had contact but not necessarily originating from Yoruba as widely claimed even by ogori/magongo people.

Ogori language, oko is grouped with idoma and Nupe,it is said to be idomoid,and prof akerejola wrote in his history of ogori book than ogori lived with idoma for up to 200years.

Ogori is a distinct tribe,but my hypothesis is that we are more edoid than yoruboid

There is nothing Edoid about Ogori.
Neither is it Nupoid or Idomoid... I don't know how you guys interprete what y'all read.

The Oko-Eni-Osayen language that the Ogori people speak is an independent branch of N-O-I (Nupe-Oko-Idomoid) languages of Volta-Niger.
Meaning that it is as close to Idoma as Yoruba is as close to Edo or igbo.

LightOnScams:
Well, when someone mentions the Yoruba language, your mind doesn't go to Ijebu, does it?

My mind goes to the collective actually, not just any one group. I don't think of yoruba in my head and be like ''My own group in Ondo state are not part of those Yoruba people".
In your own case however, I also understand that there are geopolitical idiosyncrasies.

LightOnScams:
There's a difference between Proto-Yoruba, Proto-Yoruba-Itsekiri and Proto-Yoruba-Itsekiri-Igala.
Here's a node tree of the breakoff showing Itsekiri taking a different path of evolution, I'd appreciate any source from you saying otherwise.

This particular schematic diagram you posted is just one of several models out there, and even from this one sef, you can see that Both Itsekiri and SEY have the direct same root. The research wasn't even sure how to characterize the association of SE Yoruba, notice the use of the dashed lines... And the reason why he was faced with that conundrum is because he thinks Itsekiri is an independent branch. With that pre notion already in mind, something as clear as the place of SEY with the rest of her Yoruba co-branches like NEY, CY, SWY suddenly became confusing and unclear.

It just is not possible for Itsekiri to 'ghost jump' over hundreds of kilometres from the urheimat of the Yoruba peoples around the Niger-Benue confluence area and suddenly land in the creeks of the southwestern Niger delta without leaving path traces. It only follows perfect logic that they descended from the south eastern Yoruba stock that were flowing south eastwards... Infact, this can be perfectly seen in the kinship ties that continues to exist between Southestern Yoruba groups like the Ilaje and Ijebu with Itsekiris till date. Itsekiri is SEY.

Pattern of development actually looks something more like the attached diagram.
The SE Yoruba are all a single original stock. This is also the position of prof Ogundiran whom you quoted earlier

LightOnScams:
How's it obvious? I mentioned it already tho. Check the first page.

I no care about cohesion sha, but there are things we can't stop.

Like dialectal levelling.
I notice something though, which is that the Okuns who deny being Yoruba the most are those that grew up elsewhere up North (usually in mixed/multi ethnic northern metropoles), and not even the ones who grew up in their very own okun towns and villages or in the SW with their other kith. If indeed like you say... villages like Ipawo and Itapaji self identify as being Yagba and not Ekiti, then it is next to impossible for them (in this age) to not self identify with their Ijesha or Igbomina brothers. What is your assessment of this observation?

LightOnScams:
While we agree that Itsekiri being related to the Oyo Yoruba, why do you consider it a subgroup of a language far up North than others in the same SE language stock? We know why. The spread you talk about started with the Oyo/Ibadan military expansionism.

I don't get it.. No one is saying Itsekiri is a subgroup of Oyo... so what do you mean by 'subgroup of a language far up North'? Both Itsekiri and its SE Yoruba brethren are daughter dialects of the Yoruba lects. Also, unlike you, I am not using Yoruba interchangeably with Oyo. If the need be for me to reference Oyo specifically, I will call them out by name.

LightOnScams:
Personally and to many, the use of the term dialect to refer to Itsekiri is in many ways derogatory. Itsekiri, according to most[b], broke out earlier from the Proto-Yoruba-Iteskiri group just like the Igalas did earlier[/b]. Why force the subgroup term on them? I'm curious

Itsekiri didn't break out of Proto Yoruba. Itsekiri actually broke out of South Eastern Yoruba and migrated into the insular creeks. If itsekiri broke out of Proto Yoruboid, it would be closer to Igala than it is to Ikale, but it isn't. A Yoruba and an Itsekiri can both be called Olushola, but an Igala can't.
To your last point, well, I don't think the Yoruba identity is being forced on them, but believe you mean when I tell you that I have seen some Itsekiris who identify as the Yorubas of the Niger Delta.

LightOnScams:
Yoruba, like we all know, is a recent ethnic term. According to Akin Ogundiran (2021), the term "Yoruba" evolved from the word "Yagba" in the 19th century during the slave trade era.

We understand that Itsekiri was left out in the formation of the Yoruba identity. B[b]ut considering them a sub-group or dialect is what I don't agree with.[/b]

You are not right.
Also, on the degree of dialectal differences in Yoruba, this excerpt further confirms it... And that is why the so called "general" Yoruba was able to spread so rapidly across the entire breadth of Yorubaland.
Carving out independent niches for our groups is 'sexy' and all that, but abeg let us try to be realistic while at it.

The dialectal differences in Yoruba tbh are not even that drastic. Except we want to exaggerate them… Well, at least compared to some other languages I am conversant with.

Field work proved that prople as far west as Bante and Chetti (In Benin Republic) did not require a separate text to understand the so called Yoruba bible perfectly, and these are populations that were never exposed to MSY.

Then with the eastern dialects, intelligibility with SWY is usually more in one way that the other. Most likely because Oyo/Egba on which MSY is based on are like simplified EY. The Easterners will understand all the western speech, but the westerners will still grasp like 80% of an Ikale man.

LightOnScams:
Well, like I said before, I'm frustrated seeing many Yagba people not knowing it.

My roommate back in school was one. He grew up in Isanlu, but only understands Yoruba. Like fr? I chose not to speak in Yoruba throughout our stay due to what I tag the "Yorubanization of Okun". I don't even understand Yoruba that much, lol. I don't really care about it, it interferes with my speaking.

From some of the things you've said so far, I do not think the majority of your time growing up was in Yagba land. It is actually kind of obvious, lol.
As for your Isanlu friend being unable to speak Yagba, it shouldn't be that surprising that you would think it was so unusual that it should come as a such a 'shocker' to you (like fr, as you put it). it is actually quite the norm (at least these days) and increasingly so.
It is unfortunate but dialectal levelling is the norm in Languages with dialects. It is happening in Europe with German, Italian etc. Same in West Africa and Nigeria here as well.

I personally belong to a Yoruba dialectal area that is not NWY, so I very well understand the sentiment you have, but our dialects are dying unfortunately. On the overall effect of this, I am actually quite torn on the issue of whether everyone should continue speaking dialects in their own little social/clan enclaves or whether the levelling should continue and create stronger cohesion.. The thing dey dicey.

LightOnScams:
Moreover, the so called Eastern Yoruba dialects are considered the oldest of the Yoruba continum. We can't let them lose their originality. They are important to research and history. Forget the fake Okun Migration histories from Ile-Ife, they're fake. Okun are aboriginals.

Well, dynastic migrations of certain classes of people in Yoruba communities are not "fake" that actually did happen. Now, whether the entire populace of entire subgroups or towns all migrated from Ife is highly unlikely. But people did indeed leave Ife to many Yoruba towns and cities spreading ideologies, religion, certain trades, certain esoteric knowledge and perhaps most importantly ruling dynasties.

What is your motivation to teach this dialect on Nairaland? I am interested in knowing.
Have you seen many Yagba express interest in the past?

LegendHero:
I think they even sometimes count it to 9.

I’ve seen people use Ijarun well during statements.

Yeah, the thing continues going like that till even Ijẹẹdogun- 15 days ago, lol

Sehzade:
I'll start.

Hausa

Shekaran Jiya - The day before yesterday

Jiya - Yesterday

Yau - Today

Gobe - Tomorrow

Jibi - Day after tomorrow (overmorrow)

Gata - Day after the day after tomorrow

YORUBA
Ijẹrin - The day before the day before
Ijẹta- Day before yesterday
Ana - Yesterday
Oni - Today
Ọla - Tomorrow
Ọtunla - Day after tomorrow
Ọtunrin - The day after the day after

Eṣi - The general time/period before today
Ijelo - An indefinite number of days ago

LightOnScams:
That makes sense given that Agbaja oversaw the Kakanda area under the colonial rule. Yes, I was referring to the typical Nupe Kwaran region. I'll get the name and get back to you.

Emi tika. Mo gbe l'Ayere bi 2008-2009 li state hospital nka ti legbe LGA primary school nka. Amọ, me rọ fọ ede ghin tori o jọ ede Akokoid nghei. It is Akokoid and kinda endangered too. Ayere has the best garri ever .

The language in Ayere is called Uwu, and it belongs to the Uwu-Ahan branch of volta-Niger. An independent lineage. It isn't Akokoid, it is alone. the other single member of this branch, Ahan is spoken in just one small quarter of a village near Omuo ekiti.
Uwu/Ahan is not just kinda endangered, it is infact moribund, so much so that pure Ayere is now extinct which is sad because it represents an entire separate branch of the volta-Niger linguistic evolutionary tree.... so it is like an entire linguistic lineage like Yoruboid, Idomoid or igboid getting snuffed out.

Then that being said, taking a look at the word list of Uwu and Ahan, I am not even sure if it is an independent language or a dialect of Yoruba. About 50% of the word have Yoruboid cognates. But then again, this isn't surprising given that Ayere together with Akokoid and Yoruboid are all under the proposed Defoid branch.

Anyways, I am enjoying your lessons... keep it up.

LightOnScams:
Interesting, I can follow virtual all the Oworo conversations from Oshokoshoko axis and they understand my Yagba well. But when I listen to a Karara man speak, I'm like, wait what?

Yes, I have close Yagba friends from Kwara and they identify as Yagba too. Although I can't pinpoint the Kwara LGA or villages sha.

The Yagbas are the largest in population among the Okun subgroups and thus normal to find them splitted into three states. Our weakness tho.

You seem to be knowledgeable about the Okun people. Se we lára gha ni?

That is because karara axis is heavily influenced by Egbura Igu and Kakanda.... languages which oworos from that axis are many a times bilingual in. To the latter point, I am not referring to the Yagba-like speakers in Ekiti-kwara in places like Eruku .. I am referring specifically to some villages in Patigi. Yes Yagbas are the largest segment of Okun... infcat a goof 60-70% of Okun are actually Yagba with footprints in more than 3-4 of the Okun local governments

And to your question... I am just a Yoruba man who is very interested in all places that our people have footprints in. Se ehi? Oruko'm ki se Sholes0. Omaye re kim se. Wokun o opem.

LightOnScams:
I'll speak as a Yagba person who once lived in the Oworo/Kabba/Bunu axis. So my opinion may differ from the average Yagba person.

The ease of understanding is correlated with geographical proximity. For instance, the Oworo spoken in Apata/Obajana/Oshokoshoko axis differs from the Oworo spoken in Agbaja, Jakura, or even the closer Banda/Felele (Lokoja). The former group is closer linguistically to Bunu and thus easier to understand (for me) than the typical Oworo from Agbaja (Oworo Headquarters).

Bunu is similar to Owe to a very high degree. I don't know much about Ikiri tho, only heard it once. The average Bunu/Owe is closer to Yagba than it is to Oworo. I can testify since I know a Bassa friend who understands Bunu and can still spy on my Yagba conversations .

Oworo feels highly Proto-Yoruba in nature. But we understand ourselves regardless. We're all Okun .

Interesting analysis. Thanks for taking the time to explain the linguistic situation. For me personally, Oworo does not sound proto-Yoruba. It sounds to me more like a fringe Yoruba dialect. .... And that is exactly why Obajana, Oshokoshoko, Apata axis of Oworo sounds more relatable to you than those in places like Banda, Tajimi, Felele, Okomoba who are located at the dead end of Yorubaland... It isn't that much different from Bunu... in fact the biggest difference in oworo is material not linguistic.
Btw: Are you aware of the 'Okun Yoruba' speaking communities in Patigi local government of Kwara state? I am referring to the likes of Ikoro/Koro, Agboro, Okolushe, Opota, Ilua?

LightOnScams:
They are highly similar and speakers can understand themselves to a high degree. But the following speakers may find it a bit more difficult to communicate:

Owé and Yagba speakers.
Ọwọrọ and the rest.

For someone who knows Kabba town like the palm of my hand, the language isn't that much different from Yagba.

You're welcome brother. Let's ride together.

How about Bunu/Ikiri? which is situated geographically midway between Yagba and Oworo?
How similar is Abunu/Ikiri and Owe who are both in the same LG vis-a-vis the similarity to Oworo and Yagba?

Subscribed and observing ...

Konquest:
How's it going Scholes0?

Thanks for the deep insights on
Canada and the distribution of
Nigerians there. You are absolutely right about the Yoruba presence in Canada.


When I first wrote my views on this thread on the most traveled ethnicities from Nigeria, my mind flashed to the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau report, and the FACT that you had also created an awesome thread on the linguistic distribution in the U.S. with massive official evidence. This is the reason why
I inserted your moniker in the post so as to let the other guys see all the evidence on your thread, and desist from their silly confirmation bias! Lol.

Thanks for your input here.

All the best.

Thanks a lot.

Do you know the funniest thing about that thread? It never made it to front page, lol ... for some funny reason the mods never moved it but it has garnered as much views as a thread that did grace FP and continues racking the views, so it is fulfilling its purpose very beautifully regardless.

Then this thread buttresses the facts once again. You seem to be a seasoned traveller, and your assessment about CIV is correct... weirdly enough I had this same discussion with an uber driver of mine who happened to be Ivorian like some 3 weeks ago.. He was asking if I was Yoruba or Igbo when I told him I was Nigerian and the conversation took off from there, luckily for me (us), my destination was quite the mileage, so we got really deep. I made sure not to miss asking the question about numbers. His reply was as good as your guess. The Yoruba (anango) community there is larger, older and more established.

Konquest:
You got the ethnic travel sequence wrong here. I'll give you some historical insights so that facts are NOT distorted.


When I first flew on board a Nigeria Airways Airbus A310 to the beautiful French-speaking city of Abidjan in 1987, I was stunned to realize that there were many big-time Yoruba business people doing all kinds of businesses in Cote D'Ivoire, and the Yorubas from recent official records are about 90% of the over 2.8 million Nigerians in that country.

The Yorubas who are over 50 million worldwide have been into long-distance trading since the time of the great Oyo Empire (which extended up to parts of Togo) and the trade with the great Ashanti Empire, and even as far as Mali. Yorubas from accurate historical data are heavy travelers and dominate the Nigerian Diaspora communities in the UK, USA, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, UAE, Turkey. I don't know about the Canada figures yet though.


NOTE: The U.S. Census Bureau in a recent data report indicated that out of the top-10 U.S. States where you find Nigerian-American and
Nigerian immigrant population centres, the Yoruba language was the most widely spoken language in households in 9 out of 10 U.S. States, except in California where Ibo language was more spoken in households, followed closely by
Yoruba and Edoid languages. After the Yoruba language, Ibo, then Edoid languages come next in that sequence in 9 out of 10 top U.S. States.

Recently, we have seen the rise of many Nigerian-Americans of
Yoruba ancestry occupy senior positions in the U.S. Government and politics, such as Wale Adeyemo who is the current U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary, and more.


So, this gives us an idea that the
U.S. Yoruba population is huge like in the UK, and if you head on to the
NL profile of => Scholes0 who created a thread on this U.S. Census Bureau report of 2019 on language distribution in the U.S., it tore to shreds the FALSE claims being propagated online and offline by some Ibos that they are the largest in the U.S. Caution has to be taken NOT to engage in spurious guess work until full facts are officially established!


In the Far East like China, Ibos seem to visit a lot more followed by Yoruba international businessmen and women, students, tourists. I do a lot of international business and leisure travels, so I know these facts.


Cheers.

The first thing any Nigerian immigrant in Canada notices is the sheer dominance of the Yoruba community above the rest....
lol... it isn't even a question there. I have been there and seen it myself.

I think a good reason why that is because Canada specializes in skilled immigration which streamlines the immigration pool a lot, not every tom dick and harry who wants to 'japa' can enter some of these countries just for the sake of it, you have to meet certain eligibility criteria so that you can offer something and contribute meaningfully to society when you get there..... Hence the Yorubas always emerge on top since they constitute a good chunk of the best brains in the country. It is the same story in places like Australia.

lol Wahala

UGBE634:
We might take lagos out, Edo would be number 2, I have brought to your understanding that 60% and Even more of the passport collected might have been from the Binis, that is something when compared In ratio to the yorubas

Edo is not number 2.
The actual number 2 is an almost exclusively Yoruba state.

UGBE634, the Benin are very well travelled quite alright, I am not arguing that ... But you said most TRAVELLED in your first remark which I quoted.... and then buttressed it with passport office data where Edo is not even number 1.
Maybe if you had nuanced it a little further the air would have been clearer..... Maybe most travelled per capita or something like that.

UGBE634:
Afemai and Esan are considered Edos by me. Afenmai would rather travel to the north than to europe, they have a large chunk in Kano and Kaduna. The heavy travellers in Edo state are Binis, Esan travel too but you cannot compare the ratio to the Binis, Esan population in Asaba, sapele and Agbor might be more than their population in Europe , and even at that Esan still dae learn where Bini dae. My brother I am telling you without fear or favour, not to denigrate your tribe, most of the yorubas we have in Benin at least a chunk of the Population are into Menial jobs, The Igbos are the most numerous non-indigenes and their population as I have stated before cannot be more than 200 thousand, the yorubas are smaller than that, so when you are talking about heavy population, I want to know the percentage. If we are to be talking about travellers out of Edo state that is not indigenous , we will be talking about Igbos.

Lastly there are passport offices in each of these yoruba states as we saw in that report, a yoruba man would not have to come down from Ekiti or Ondo to collect his passport in Benin. The scenario of Bedc is a different scenario

I know every state have passport offices, but If I am an Ondo or Delta man living in Benin, I would rather collect my passport right there than having to travel to my state of origin to do the same thing, which is the point of the argument. Majority of the Yorubas in Benin might be Blue collar workers, but so are the majority of people from everywhere else... including igbos, Hausas, Urhobos, name it..., I don't think there is any Nigerian ethnic community whose local "hustling" community is majorly made up of office working professional experts.
... I think we are dwelling more on the fringe of the argument than the actual substance.... which is that the demographic make up of those utilizing the passport offices in Ibadan and benin can not be compared like that. It would be very dissimilar. The comparison to Benin passport office would be Port Harcourt..... But between the two, Benin would have more local participation as a total percentage.