Fridays are known generally for heralding our indigenous ways of life, especially in dressing and music. This is why I, as an indigene of the Yorùbá tribe presents Yorùbá Proverbs. In this post, I present a yorùbá proverb, it's literal interpretation and it's meaning and significance to the yorùbá people, and at times, Africa at large. The Yorùbá people predominantly live in the South Western part of Nigeria, and they speak the Yorùbá language. The theme for today's proverb is Watchfulness.

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Bí ikú ilé kòbá pa'ni, ti òde kòlè pa'ni

Literal Interpretation

If one does not die through the influence of an insider, he cannot die by the influence of an outsider.

The Yoruba people believe that things don't just happen by chance. There is always a force that puts something in place. In this regards, they believe that if evil will befall a man, a close friend, relative or colleague must have an input in that evil occurrence. These evils may include among others robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy, getting framed or implicated, and so on.

When such events happen, the Yorùbás look deep inwards to see who could have betrayed such a person. Many people are good at pretending to be friends when they are in fact full of venom, in form of envy, hatred and wickedness. The Yorubas believe that even if an outsider is the evil perpetrator, he must have used the help of an insider to carry out his devilish acts. The proverb therefore means if there is no insider input, the efforts of an outsider to perpetrate evil will be easily aborted.

Your confidant could be the one who leaked your secret. We've heard stories of lawyers who strategized the assassination of their clients, or falsification of their wills because they've seen assets that they can steal from them. Siblings have compromised the love they share just for selfish gains and so on.

Yorùbá people warn therefore that a man be watchful more of his friends, family and confidants, as some of them may be wolves posing as sheep, rather than worrying about outsiders. There are other yorùbá proverbs that have the same meanings with this, one of which is...

Kòkòkò tó ń jẹ ẹ̀fọ́, ìdí ẹ̀fọ́ ló ń gbé

This literally means

The insect that eats the vegetable resides on the vegetable plant.