The Yoruba people in Nigeria as we all know inhabit the six south western states of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun,Ondo, Osun and Oyo states. Kwara state and some parts of Kogi are also dominated by the yorubas.
  The traditions of Origin of the Yoruba people are shrouded in myths and legend which includes the following



1.  One version has it that Olodumare (the supreme God) dropped Oduduwa at Ile-Ife from heaven, from where his descendants dispersed to other parts of the world. This account presents Ile-ife as the centre of creation and dispersion of the world.

2.  Sequel to the first account that I have just expressed above, another account explains that mans creation took place at Ile-ife. According to this account, the earth was covered with water at that time, and God dispatched his messengers to go and create a farmland out of this water. God therefore sent Obatala (Orisa Nla) and a group of other messengers with five pieces of iron, a lump of earth tied in a white piece of cloth and a cockerel. On their way, their leader Obatala was said to have got himself drunk, and another servant of God, Oduduwa, took over from Obatala and executed Gods instructions to create earth and man. Oduduwa descendants dispersed to other parts of the world from this point.


3.  The third account dew inspiration from the linguistic theory. This account categorizes the Yoruba peopleand language to be among the kwa Sub-family of languages. This means that they migrated from the Niger|Benue confluence region and settled in their present location.

4.  The last version of the tradition of origin of the Yoruba people enumerated that Yoruba people migrated from the north eastern area of Africa (supposed) Egypt, Yemen, ancient Meroe and Arabia and settled at Ile-ife.

 It is pertinent to note that much as there are variations in accounts of origin of the Yoruba, one significant thing in these accounts is the recognition of Oduduwa as the progenitor of the Yoruba people.

Source:http://www.nuelsblog.com/2016/04/the-four-myths-of-yoruba-origin.html?m=1

Cc:lacalastical