Recent developments in Nigeria have once again drawn attention to the Yoruba as a people who, despite their internal differences, are often perceived by other Nigerians as a relatively united political and economic bloc. Many people believe the Yoruba speak with one voice. However, when we look more closely at the numbers, a different picture emerges. We have many voices. Politically, election results frequently reveal divisions that are almost 50–50. Religiously, Christianity and Islam coexist in virtually every Yoruba community, village and, in many cases, within the same family. We also have traditionalists who continue to practise and preserve indigenous Yoruba beliefs. Our political differences are not new. Shortly before independence, and particularly in 1962, the Action Group split sharply between factions loyal to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. That division became one of the defining political crises of the First Republic. Yet, something appears to bin...