Yoruba people

=== Groups, organizations and leagues in Yorubaland ===
Occupational guilds, social clubs, secret or initiatory societies, and religious units, commonly known as Ẹgbẹ in Yoruba, included the ''Parakoyi'' (or league of traders) and ''Ẹgbẹ Ọdẹ'' (hunter's guild), and maintained an important role in commerce, social control, and vocational education in Yoruba polities. There are also examples of other peer organizations in the region.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v4MYAAAAYAAJ|title=Diversity of Creativity in Nigeria: A Critical Selection from the Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Diversity of Creativity in Nigeria|author1=Bolaji Campbell|author2=R. I. Ibigbami|publisher=Department of Fine Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University|year=1993|page=309|isbn=978-978-32078-0-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGGTAAAAIAAJ|title=Indigenous Organizations and Development Higher Education Policy Series (IT studies in indigenous knowledge and development)|author1=Peter Blunt|author2=Dennis M. Warren|author3=Norman Thomas Uphoff|publisher=Intermediate Technology Publications|year=1996|isbn=978-1-85339-321-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ju5EAQAAIAAJ|title=Africa, Volume 68, Issues 3-4|author1=Diedrich Westermann|author2=Edwin William Smith|author3=Cyril Daryll Forde|publisher=International African Institute, International Institut|page=364|year=1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLIXAQAAMAAJ|title=Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, Issues 63–68|author=American Anthropological Association|year=1944}}</ref> When the Ẹgba resisted the imperial domination of the Ọyọ Empire, a figure named Lisabi is credited with either creating or reviving a covert traditional organization named ''Ẹgbẹ Aro''. This group, originally a farmers' union, was converted to a network of secret militias throughout the Ẹgba forests, and each lodge plotted and successfully managed to overthrow Ọyọ's ''Ajeles'' (appointed administrators) in the late 18th century.
Similarly, covert military resistance leagues like the ''Ekiti Parapọ'' and the ''Ogidi'' alliance were organized during the 19th century wars by often-decentralized communities of the Ekiti, Ijẹsa, [[Igbomina tribe|Ìgbómìnà]] and Okun Yoruba in order to resist various imperial expansionist plans of Ibadan, Nupe, and the [[Sokoto Caliphate]].