Religion and Heritage: A Review of the Dilemma of Mobilization in the Pan-Yoruba Movement.

The Yoruba people from the southwest of Nigeria are commonly called omo kaaro ojire. They have rich cultural, religious, and social history. Unfortunately, religion, an essential element of human civilization and a moral foundation of society, has influenced the culture, social norms, values, rituals, and behaviours of the Yoruba people. This research employs Framing Theory from social movement studies to analyze the argument. The Pan-Yoruba movement advocates a heritage framework, highlighting indigenous Yoruba symbols such as Odùduwà, òrìṣà, and the sacred city of Ilé-Ifẹ̀ as the secular cultural basis of a unified identity. A powerful theological counter-frame utilised by Islamic and Christian groups always challenges this structure. This framework calls these symbols fetish, pagan, and against revealed religion. This study used a qualitative methodology, examining sermons, religious literatures, social media dialogues, and interviews with some religious adherents of the major religion in practice in Yoruba land. This study investigates how this fetishist and pagan framework obstructed people from mobilizing and participating in the pan-Yoruba movement. Thus, the research concludes that the counter-framing of foreign religion, which views Yoruba heritage as pagan and fetish, alongside the Pan-Yoruba movement’s inability to challenge this religious framing effectively, represents considerable impediments to the growth, development, and overall acceptance of the Pan-Yoruba movement.