‘The old order changeth yielding place to new’: sub-ethnic politics and nationalism in western Nigeria, 1946–67

Abstract This article argues that Iyere, a community that participated in south-western Nigeria’s pursuit of colonial modernity, was hindered in its pursuit of progress by the Owo Native Authority Council, the powerful colonial authority that administered it. That hindrance fostered local feelings of marginalization among the people of Iyere. The community was among the peripheral communities reorganized and controlled by the traditional leadership of the Owo kingdom under the British system of indirect rule. But by 1967, it was no longer under the control of the Owo kingdom. The article examines the reasons for this change, focusing on the Iyere Improvement Society’s role in community development during decolonization and the factors behind Iyere’s political shift towards kingdom status. The case study of Iyere illustrates how local Western-educated African elites exploited the memory of colonial discontent in the periphery to continue pursuing modernity and progress after colonial rule ended.