THE CONSTITUTION OF ORDER AMONG THE YORUBA OF NIGERIA Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde ...

436 Pages·2006·13.2 MB·English

THE CONSTITUTION OF ORDER AMONG THE YORUBA OF NIGERIA
Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde
Submitted to the Faculty of the University Graduate School
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy
in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and
Department of Political Science,
Indiana University
April 2006
UMI Number: 3210041
Copyright 2006 by
Oyerinde, Oyebade Kunle
All rights reserved.
UMI Microform3210041
Copyright2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company
300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346
Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
__________________________
Elinor Ostrom, Ph.D. Chair
__________________________
Matthew Auer, Ph.D.
__________________________
Vincent Ostrom,Ph.D.
__________________________
Rafael Reuveny,Ph.D.
__________________________
Amos Sawyer,Ph.D.
December 6th, 2005
ii
© 2006
Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
iii
This work is dedicated to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has connected
me to great intellectuals and problem-solving research through the late Professor Samuel
Bamidele Ayo in consistent, trusted and respectful collaboration with Professor Dele
Olowu who intitiated and achieved my successful connection with the Ostroms.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Let me express my great debt of gratitude to Professor Vincent Ostrom. Vincent’s
strong interest in constitutional order and federal theology has greatly shaped my
understanding of the connection between the notion of the universe and the development
of political institutions. Since I first set my eyes on Vincent in 2000, my problem has
been how to meet his high level of intellectual expectations. His constructive and critical
comments were a source of almost an unending intellectual battle during the preparation
of this dissertation. Nevertheless, his guidance in my intellectual development has
benefited both my dissertation and the rest of my academic life. Vincent carefully read
my field notes and all the drafts of my dissertation and provided me with useful
comments to improve the quality of this study.
Vincent’s research about federalism, self-governance, the constitutional bases of
political decision making, public goods and public choices, and the organization of
government in metropolitan areas now pervades my thinking. The pleasure and
earnestness that Vincent brings to hard work and learning and his compassion for diverse
individuals are characteristics that enable me to appreciate the importance of matching
Yoruba institutions to the problems the Yoruba people face in their various governing
units.
Whenever my intellectual battles with Vincent were temporarily too challenging,
a feeling that many of Vincent’s students have from time to time, Elinor Ostrom and
Amos Sawyer were always within reach to help me think through the challenge. In
addition, Elinor Ostrom provided invaluable encouragement and support throughout my
course of study (from 2001 to 2006). This study has specifically benefited greatly from
v
her methodical skill and useful comments on chapter drafts. Professors Amos Sawyer,
Matthew Auer, and Rafael Reuveny also served as a source of encouragement and
provided useful comments. Their meticulous comments, suggestions, and criticism of
chapter drafts made an important contribution to this dissertation.
The Indiana University’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis
provided support for my PhD degree program from 2000 to 2006, including Ostrom-
Skytte fellowship for dissertation writing. I thank Elinor and Vincent Ostrom for the
support, which enabled me to begin and complete my course of study at the Indiana
University. This was supplemeted by a fellowship award for fieldwork in Africa from the
Compton Foundation. I am also appreciative of the earlier efforts of Professors Samuel
Bamidele Ayo (deceased) and Dele Olowu for recommending my participation at the
Workshop.
I also owe special gratitude to my wife, Sarah Rose Oyerinde. Without her help
with artistic ideas in constructing figures as well as with verb tense and English
expression, her encouraging words and prayers, this dissertation would have taken a
longer time to complete. With her educational background in Fine Arts and English,
Sarah particularly took long times off her tight schedule to construct and carefully insert
most of the figures in this dissertation and correct grammatical errors. She also went to
the extent of making me read materials about the basic rules of English grammar, which I
found very frustrating but useful. Sarah’s efforts were complemented by prayers and
words of encouragement from Alejo Vela (father-in law), Mary Vela (mother-in law),
Liana Vela (sister-in law), Justin Vela (brother-in law), and Lula Vela (grandmother-in
law).
vi
Professor Alex Gboyega, Dr. Ademola Oladapo Popoola, Dr S.R. Akinola, Dr.
Sola Ajibade, Dr. Esther Mwangi, Brother Albert Abegunde, Brother Oyesola Salawu,
Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Ayoade Adeniji, Uncle Lawrence Oloyede (Baba Funmi), Brother
Olutayo Oyerinde, Sister Bosede Opedare, and a host of others provided useful support
and encouragement during my fieldwork in Nigeria in 2004. Pastors Kim and Renee
Norris, David Nathanniel Norris, Kent Grime, Chad Bollhorst, Mark McGovern, and
Johnson Tata provided the necessary spiritual support throughout my course of study.
I also appreciate all the people attached to the Workshop in Political Theory and
Policy Analysis at Indiana University for their love and support. The friendly atmosphere
and comfortable working environment at the Workshop certainly made this research task
more enjoyable.
Finally, I am fully responsible for all errors of fact and judgment.
vii
ABSTRACT
Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde
THE CONSTITUTION OF ORDER AMONG THE YORUBA OF NIGERIA
Understanding how human beings constitute order to affect productive ways of
life is one of the central concerns of scholars. This study examines why three Yoruba
communities of Nigeria - Ile-Ife, Ibadan and Abeokuta - differ in the extent to which their
diverse groups of Yoruba elements engage in inter-group cooperation, resolve conflicts,
and encourage commercial and industrial openness. The prevailing biophysical
conditions and beliefs and past experiences in the three communities are first considered
in order to come to terms with the particular contexts within which governance and
property relationships are shaped.
In each community, the dominant beliefs and past experiences have served as the
main sources of institutions for governance and property relationships. In Ile-Ife, most Ife
elements believe that they are the individuals who can claim an ultimate descent from the
presumed founder of the community. They serve as lords over most non-Ife elements
such as Oyo elements. Most diverse Yoruba elements in Ibadan and Abeokuta, however,
regard one another as equals in governance and property relationships. They see
themselves as descendants of diverse groups of oppressed individuals that jointly founded
their respective communities to be able to open up growing ranges of productive
opportunities for most individuals.
Unlike Ibadan and Abeokuta, the failure to treat most individuals as equals in
governance and property relationships in Ile-Ife has led Ife and Oyo elements to relate to
each other as enemies and to use violence as a means to process their conflicts. The
viii
resultant insecurity of life and property has incapacitated Ile-Ife from having
distinguished individuals, industrial estates, manufacturing companies and the substantial
business investments found in Ibadan and Abeokuta.
These differences show that mutually productive ways of life can be precariously
at risk when individuals relate to one another based on principles of inequalities rather
than through principles of self-responsibility and mutual agreement among associates
working with one another in self-governing communities of shared relationships.
Ecological conditions, conflict types, cleavage structures and exposure to national
political affairs are relatively similar across the three Yoruba communities and play little,
peripheral role in explaining the different outcomes.
__________________________
Elinor Ostrom, Ph.D. Chair
__________________________
Matthew Auer, Ph.D.
__________________________
Vincent Ostrom,Ph.D.
__________________________
Rafael Reuveny,Ph.D.
__________________________
Amos Sawyer,Ph.D.
ix