Since 1900, the Yoruba of South-western Nigeria have worked their local history into a nationalist
project. Drawing on elements from local mythologies, traditions and cultural values,
the Yoruba educated elite created a pan-Yoruba history that established a common interest
among the different Yoruba sub-groups. This became the basis for the people’s imagination
of the nation. Transformed from pre-colonial group identity to cultural nationalism during colonial
times, Yoruba nationalism turned political and became increasingly radical and violent
during the post-colonial period. Post-colonial Yoruba nationalism is directed against the Nigerian
nation-state and other ethnic groups in Nigeria. This paper explores the role that history,
tradition and modernity play in the workings of nationalism and local politics among the
Yoruba, and it discusses the various phases in which Yoruba nationalism has developed. It
argues that Yoruba nationalism builds on many elements that date back to the pre-colonial
period, but continually changed both in structure and function. Yoruba nationalism and local
politics are ambiguous, dynamic and complex, and they remain a challenge to state actions
in Nigeria.