Yorubaland was an independent state before Britain amalgamated it with others to form Nigeria in 1914. If one could prove that Yorubaland was a State under international law, then Yorubaland would be entitled to leave Nigeria in law. No one could mistake a human being for anything else. A human being was instantly recognisable as a human being because he had attributes associated with human beings. It was as simple as that. What made a piece of land a State is much more complicated. A piece of land (territory) was just a piece of land until the law made it a State. But whose law?
The Yoruba word for ‘State’ is Orilẹede; Orilẹ means ‘land’, and ede means ‘language’. The Yoruba of yore tied statehood to language. England, for example, was Orilẹede Gẹẹsi; the territory of the people who spoke Gẹẹsimeaning ‘English language’; Orilẹede Yoruba was the territory of the people who spoke the ‘Yoruba language’. Thus, to the Yoruba people, a State was monoethnic, that is to say, it had only one language (ede kan). The Yoruba of yore would never have classified Nigeria as a State because Nigeria had no language original to it.
International law, which governs relations between states, defines ‘State’ differently from the Yoruba. In international law, a State possesses three criteria, and an optional fourth. A State was a territory that was
1. able to enter into Treaties (the Law of Treaties)
2. exclusively owned by its inhabitants (the Doctrine of Continuity)
3. recognised as a State by an act of an established State (the Doctrine of Recognition)
4. recognised in domestic laws of established States (the Doctrine of Corroboration)
The Yorubaland by fulfilling all four criteria was a State under international law. One, on 23 July 1888, the Queen of Britain and the Alaafin of Oyo as Head of the Yorubaland entered into a treaty of friendship and trade. The Treaty was published in London as a public act. The Queen ratified the Treaty on 16 June 1890. The only reason that Britain entered into the 1888 treaty with the Yorubaland was because the Yorubaland was a State competent under international law to enter into treaties. Otherwise, Britain would not have classified the 1888 document as a ‘treaty’. ‘Treaty’ was a concept familiar to both Britain and the Yorubaland of old; Adehun was the Yoruba word for ‘treaty’.
Two, the Yorubaland is a territory owned exclusively by the Yoruba (Orilẹede Yoruba). It had been the Yoruba Homeland since time immemorial. The Yorubaland as Yoruba property has never been disputed by any other people. The Yorubaland is bounded by natural barriers: to the north and east by the River Niger and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean. There is archaeological evidence that the Yoruba have occupied this land at least since the 1200s and spoke Yoruba as their language since that time. The Yoruba themselves claim to have been present at the creation of the earth when it was only a water world.
Three, when an established State concluded an agreement with a territory that it had not previously recognised, it was recognising that territory as a State from that date onward. On 23 July 1888, Britain, an established State, concluded a treaty agreement with the Yorubaland, which it had not previously recognised, and Britain ratified that treaty on 16 June 1890. This meant that from 23 July 1888, the Yorubaland was recognised by Britain as a State in its own right. Similarly, on 1 October 1960, Britain recognised Nigeria as a State by an independence agreement it concluded with Nigeria’s politicians; Nigeria was not a State until that date.
Fourth, a treaty made by the Queen under an act of the British Parliament was an act of Parliament and the law of Britain. The 1888 Treaty, which established the Yorubaland as a State under international law, was British domestic law by it being made under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act 1834. Further, under it not being repealed by an act of the Parliament, the 1888 Treaty extended to the Colony of Nigeria and to the Amalgamated Nigeria. And since at independence on 1 October 1960, Nigeria assumed all the obligations of Britain, which included the 1888 Treaty, the Treaty also became Nigeria’s domestic law protected by Nigeria’s 1960, 1963 and 1999 constitutions. The 1888 Treaty, which made the Yorubaland a modern State, is an ‘existing law’ of Nigeria by it not ever being repealed by Nigeria.
The Yorubaland fulfilled all four criteria for statehood as imposed by international law, and is, therefore, a State within the confines of the Nigeria State, entitled to exit Nigeria if it chose.