A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TRADITIONAL AND WESTERN

METHODS CRIME DETECTION AND CONTROL IN YORUBA LAND

FROM 1900 TO 2000

HIS 816: BEING AN ADVANCED GRADUATE SEMINAR AS PART

OF THE FULFILMENTS LEADING TO THE AWARD OF THE M.A. IN

HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OF THE DEPARTMENT

OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF

ILORIN, ILORIN, NIGERIA.

BY

ADEDIRAN NAFIU ADEDOLAPO

MATRIC NOS: 13/68DA006

MAY, 2018

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TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE

Title Page
………………………………………………………………..……………. i

Declaration
……………………………………………………………………………… ii

Certification
………………………………………………………………………………. iii

Dedication
……………………………………………………………………………….. iv

Acknowledgement
……………………………………………………………………………….. v

Chapterization
………………………………………………………………………………. Vii

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Statement of the problem

1.2 Objective of the Study

1.3 Scope of the Study

1.4 Research Methodology & Problems.

1.5 Literature Review

Notes and References

CHAPTER TWO

YORUBA LAND, ORIGIN, PEOPLES AND TRADITIONS.

2:1 Origin of the Yoruba People.

2:2 Yoruba Tradition and Culture.

2:3 The Political Structure and Stratification of Society.

2:4 Crime Detection Methods and control

2:5 Justice System, Penal Code and Punishments Methods.

End Notes and References.

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CHAPTER THREE:

BRITISH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT AND NEW POLIT ICAL ORDER.

3:1 Emergence of the British Colonial Government.

3:2 British Culture and Tradition Introduced to Yoruba Land.

3:3 The New Political Structure and Government by the Colonialists.

3:4 Modern Crime Detection Methods and Techniques.

3:5 British Justice System, Legal Code and Punishment Methods.

End notes and References

CHAPTER FOUR:

COMPARISON OF BOT H AFRICAN AND WESTERN CRIME DETECTION METHODS AND

CONTROL.

4:1 African Crime Detection Methods, control and its short Comings.

4:2 European Crime Detection Methods, control and its short Comings.

4:3 How to improve and strengthen both Methods and control.

End notes and References.

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BACKGROUND TO STUDY

Crime is an offense against the society that is often prosecuted and punishable by the law.1

Crime is an integral part of human society; every society aspires to bring crime under control

as a result so many methods have been devised by both traditional and modern societies to

checkmate crime. There is no doubt that security has always remained one of the major

pillars on which the development of any human society is built. In fact, it is doubtful if any

society has prospered in the absence of security. This is because it is only under a secured

atmosphere that all machinery of development can perform effectively and bring about the

desired goals.2 Prior to the advent of colonialism, indigenous people of sub-Saharan Africa

had their system of criminology for the detection, prevention and control of crimes. With the

system being a creation of the people for themselves, the level of acceptance and reverence

for it was relatively high. Moreover, in the prevention, detection and other aspects of crime

control, reference is made to supernatural forces for intervention through oath-taking

processes and objects of fetishism, charms, magic and some other measures. The supernatural

dimension facilitated a socio-legal atmosphere in which the potent elements of mysticism and

debilitating fear of terrifying deities helped to keep crimes at relatively manageable levels.

These crime detection and control maintenance no doubt played a great role in the unity and

progress of the people especially in pre-colonial times.3 But the coming of the Europeans has

altered/changed the peoples cognitive mapping of what constitutes crime control through the

introduction of new methods leading to the abandonment of the traditional crime control

patterns, systems and mechanisms that was instant, efficient and effective. This relegation of

traditional crime control mechanisms in favour of modern crime control mechanisms has

done more harm than good in Nigeria especially among the Yoruba people. For instance,

Transparency International ranked Nigeria as “one of the most corrupt nations in the world”.4

In Nigeria, there have been cases of ritual killings: The discovery of ritual killing dens at

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several areas of Lagos state and also at Soka area at Ibadan, Oyo State are examples of such

killings. There have been a high prevalence of deviance in Nigeria and Yoruba land is not left

out.

This is evident in the increasing rates and incidences of crimes in and more specifically in

Yoruba land. These crimes in Yoruba land have led to increasing concerns among indigenes

which often lead to jungle justice. In the years past and in recent times, there has been armed

robbery and kidnapped suspects in Yoruba land which were hurriedly arrested and publicly

tried, found guilty and burnt to death by the vigilante groups (an informal modern crime

control mechanism) made up of the youths. The problems of crime and deviance have

become a household discussion among the people of Yoruba land. Thus, various scholars

have tried understanding the cause of these acts perpetuated by both young and old members

of the society. Yoruba land like other tribes in the country have since the nineties have

experienced increased wave of crime.5 Ranging from business men and women being

attacked while travelling, people in the process usually get raped and killed, many others

kidnapped and ransom demanded. There have been recorded cases of serial rapists and

homosexuals who allegedly rape children of different parents in different parts of the society.

Rape is one of the most pervasive forms of violence against women and on rare occasion

males. It is a crime in which assailants’ uses sex to inflict humiliation on the victim or exert

power and control over the victim.6 Rape is as a result of male bonding and socialized ideas

of machismo.7 Ritual killings are now the order of the day. A professor at the Africana

studies and research center at Cornell University opined that ritual murder is a situation

where people are killed in order to take their body parts for working magic for personal

interests.8 In Yoruba land, there have been cases of individual killings and their body parts

missing. Also, it has been said that individuals engage in these ritual practices due to skewed

emphasis on wealth acquisition in recent societies especially in states like Ogun, and Oyo.

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Also there have been reported cases of kidnapping and armed robbery attacks on banks like

in other parts of Nigeria and not only in Yoruba land (Southwest of Nigeria). Kidnapping

applies to all situations where persons are forcibly seized and transported to a destination,

where they are held against their will in an unlawful confinement.9 Kidnapping may be done

for ransom or in furtherance of another crime.10 Apart from social and economic undertone of

kidnapping, it may also have a political reason where political rivals tries to undo each other

and in rare cases kidnapping may lead to death/assassination especially when the kidnapper

discovers that his victim has recognized his/her identity. Both genders are kidnapped in and

the potential for one to be kidnapped is when one has a kidnapping value in terms of social

status or wealth. Kidnapping is fast becoming a lucrative alternative to armed robbery.11 Also

there has been armed robbery cases; where armed robbers raid banks in broad daylight,

private homes and businesses. Juvenile delinquency is also a major characteristic in Yoruba

land. These terms is used to embrace a broad range of behaviors, from that found offensive to

respectable values and occasionally serious crimes. Delinquency adversely affects the

economic and social development, strengthens social exclusion and poverty, undermines

security and reduces governance.12 These various juvenile delinquencies include drug related

crimes, property crimes, violent crimes etc.

The nature of the present day modern crime control mechanisms has allowed for weak

traditional crime control system, thus encouraging negligence/relegation of the traditional

values and norms that guided the society. The traditional crime control mechanisms had a

strong justice system which allowed for immediate sanction to offenders. Thus, it has become

a problem to effectively define the extent to which modernization has greatly affected the

traditional crime control mechanism and their functions. It is worthy to note that, the

breakdown in family structures as a result of modernization has brought about poor

socialization, weak social ties and cohesion in the family; Hence, leading to poor orientation

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and inculcation of norms and values of the society in children and youths by relevant

stakeholders.

The advent of colonialism disrupted the indigenous system, vis-à-vis its supernatural leaning,

as it was criticized as barbaric, unscientific and outdated, among others, thereby, casting

stigma on them to the detriment of African knowledge system. According to Zacharys Auger

Gundu(2012: 457-460), the system of thought underpinning colonialism in Africa and

elsewhere promoted the idea that “civilization” in the colonies could only come from

outside… as a result of this, all African knowledge systems were attacked, denigrated,

ridiculed, and systematically undermined. This was achieved through structured stigma,

under representation and strategic silence… Christianity as the religion of colonialism

supported and reinforced the stigma leading in some instances to wholesome substitution of

cultural practices and world view. He also noted that “in all colonies, Christianity was

introduced and projected as the only way, other indigenous religious ritual became fetish

while religious object of worship were misrepresented as idols, masters, initiates and

custodians of ancient wisdom were denounced as pagans in need of salvation.” Elders and

initiates lost their privileged positions in the society and were passed over as ignoramuses on

account of not having gone to school.13 The colonial encounter is responsible for the loss of

many aspect of African knowledge system. It is also responsible for the suppression of

information on many African knowledge systems.

Again, the Christian and Islamic religion took captive the minds of the people of Southwest,

Nigeria and Africa in general; thus, weakening the structure and hold of African traditional

religion on the society. Also one of the problems traditional crime control mechanisms have

encountered is a result of industrialization, which has led to migration to cities in search of

green pastures; thus, weakening the effects and functions of this traditional crime control

mechanisms and the system.14 It could then be hypothesized or assumed that, it is the

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weakness of these crime control mechanisms and its ineffectiveness that has led to an upsurge

in pervasive insecurity such as kidnapping, organized assassinations and armed robbery, rape

and ritual killings in Yoruba land and by extension in Nigeria.

The impact of such crimes is that today people now focus their eyes toward crime

investigation agencies and security agencies to check, detect and control crimes. Currently,

physical investigation by agencies has the probability to ignore and neglect the supportive

crime features. Most of these agencies search manually the database of criminals, which is a

tedious process and takes much more time. Few of them work with the help of computer data

analysts that are responsible for crime detection, criminal identification and prediction, and

crime verification to ensure safety to the citizens. Crime experts often use their knowledge

skills, intuition and past experiences when they deal with criminals and associated crime

cases. Criminals may then be executed and prosecuted by the law and justice of the land

through litigation. This may currently take long time, may be years, depending on the

severity of the crimes.15

The new legal system imposed by the colonial masters known as litigation. Litigation

presupposes instituting actions in court to enforce a particular right. It could also mean any

lawsuit or other resort to the courts to determine a legal question or matter. Litigation since

then has become the widely preferred and acceptable form of justice system over the

traditional system of justice. The former became more advantageous to the latter for it is

written and ascertainable. Over the years, there have been various researches employed

through different means towards improving the legal system by updating laws considered

out-dated, building of more courts, appointment of more judicial officers, modernization and

simplifying of civil processes to make them more responsive to the development of the

societies. All these are done in order to bring about a quick, fair and just society.16

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 Upon all the efforts being put in place to improve the judicial system, many have

perceived the system to be that which is time consuming, frustrating, extremely stressful, and

overly expensive and in most cases not providing the desired results. This has made many

lose confidence in the judicial system for the above stated of inadequacies of the legal

system; ranging from insufficient number of judicial officers, to not having sufficient court

rooms, improperly trained lawyers, corruption in the judiciary and entire judicial system, and

continued increase number of cases pending in courts for decades resulting in delay in the

administration of justice, and its often said that justice delayed is justice denied.17

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Crimes which are of various types and degrees can be detected and controlled through several

means either by the traditional or western method of crime detection and controlled, even

though the former has taken prominence and preference over the latter owing to

colonialization. It is against this backdrop that, this paper examines both methods in Yoruba

land through a comparative analysis of their roles, functions and effectiveness, weighing their

pros and cons and also suggestions on integration/coexistence of traditional and western

crime control mechanisms in modern societies in Nigeria especially Yoruba land.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

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This research work seeks to carry out a comparative analysis of traditional and western

method of crime detection and control in Yoruba land from 1900 to 2000. Particularly, this

research will:

1. Carry out a comparative analysis of traditional and western method of crime detection

and control in Yoruba land from 1900 to 2000.

2. Assess their competency, roles, functions and effectiveness of traditional and western

method of crime detection and control in Yoruba land from 1900 to 2000.

3. Evaluate the practice of traditional and western method of crime detection and control

in Yoruba land from 1900 to 2000.

4. Preview the achievements of traditional and western method of crime detection and

control in Yoruba land from 1900 to 2000.

5. Promote suggestions on integration/coexistence of traditional and western crime

control mechanisms in modern societies in Nigeria especially Yoruba land.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The significance of this research work is to carry out a comparative analysis of traditional and

western method of crime detection and control in Yoruba land from 1900 to 2000, and to

promote suggestions on integration/coexistence of traditional and western crime control

mechanisms in modern societies in Nigeria especially Yoruba land. The study will enable one

know and understand the traditional and western mechanisms employed in detecting and

controlling of different crimes through the ages. It would help broaden the knowledge of

scholars and also anyone seeking to know more about the traditional and western

mechanisms employed in detecting and controlling of different crimes. Although many

research have been conducted on this research topic, notwithstanding this study promise to be

an intellectual contribution to this area of study. This study will be of great value to policy

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makers in formulating and implementing appropriate policies. The study will also be of

immense source of reference to the academic world.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The study focuses on a comparative analysis of traditional and western methods employed in

detecting and controlling of different crimes Nigeria, using Yoruba land(Southwest) as a case

study. The study covers a period of 1900 to 2000.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This research work will employ fundamental historical methodology of both primary and

secondary sources. Primary sources such as oral interview used in reconstructing the origin

of the Yoruba people of Southwest of Nigeria. In addition, secondary sources will also be

used. This refers to data collected during the research from published sources. They include

data which had already been refined, classified and analysed, for example, textbooks,

journals, periodicals and online materials. The literature review that will be contained in this

study will solely be based on the data obtained from the use of this method of data collection.

LIMITATION TO STUDY

Here, this means what can make the researcher’s work slow or in other case affect the

research study negatively. It is not an overstatement that a work of this nature cannot be

carried out without some hard experience, however below are constrains to this work.

There are many limitations ranging from not knowing where to start, not sure who to consult

or approach for materials not knowing what next to write in various segment of this study and

not actually knowing who to put the researcher through in achieving the work, financial

constraint in sourcing for necessary information, duration for the research work which is

relatively short, constraint of getting necessary materials and information in covert

environments.

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Due to high level illiteracy the purpose of the study will have to be explained several times in

order to get the desired response from the respondents, there might also be a general

reluctance by the respondents in granting audience because many will be sceptical about the

researcher’s genuine intent, because some s the researcher as a spy of the government or

other party involved.

In addition, due to the scope of the research, the research might have challenges include

among others; improper documentation of materials, ascertaining the validity of the

information gotten which might later be substantiated with cross interview.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This section presents the conceptual discourse, the review of related literature, and the

theoretical framework for the study. The conceptual discourse will consist of four sub-

sections which are:

Crime

Crime detection

Crime control

Yoruba land and its origin

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1. R.F. Becker, Criminal investigation, 3rd edn. Jones and Bartlett

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2. B. Abegunde, Corruption the enemy within: legal and institutional panacea. Ibadan

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3. B. Odunsi, Crime Detection and the Psychic Witness in America: An Allegory for Re-

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and Contemporary Problems. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and

Justice, vol 29. Springer, Dordrecht, 2014

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Retrieved from http://nigeriaworld.com/features/publicaiton/babsajayi/121612.html

5. O. Elechi, Extra Judicial Killings in Nigeria: The case study of Afikpo Town.

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Hague, Netherlands. 2003.

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Social Sciences. 24(1): 33-42. 2010

10. J, Adibe. Pervasive kidnapping in Nigeria: symptom of a failing state. 2008.

http://www.edoworld.net/unsolved/mysteries.html.

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11. J.D. Inyang, & E.A. Ubonyi. The Social Problem of Kidnapping and Its Implications

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14. Ukpong Offiong, Christianity and Akwa Ibom Traditional Belief Systems. Lagos:

Paico Press and Books Ltd,. p. 82. 1982

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society. African research review, 8:135-157. 2014

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African ADR Summit. 2006

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