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As the final curtain falls on 2025 for Saturday INDEPENDENT, we close our entertainment diary with a man who doesn’t just speak a language; he inhabits its soul. Olalekan Fabilola, the visionary creator behind the YouTube phenomenon ‘Masoyinbo’, has achieved the impossible: making pure, unadulterated Yoruba language, knowledge and culture the most captivating digital content. Clad in one of his 600 signature Agbadas, Fabilola is a walking fortress of language and tradition in a world of fleeting trends. His journey is one of incredible grit—from the days of teaching Yoruba for 20 hours a stretch, isolated in a room for weeks, to receiving the strategic “go digital” counsel of Alibaba. Today, he stands as a global ambassador, preaching what he calls the “Gospel of Yoruba.” In this definitive year-ender exclusive with Life Editor, TOMI FALADE, Fabilola opens up about the spiritual architecture of the Yoruba race, his 16-year wait to execute his vision, and why he believes your clothing is your ultimate security. This isn’t just an interview; it is a masterclass in identity, humility, and the preservation of a legacy that refused to be erased by time or distance.
What really is so fascinating about Yoruba, and why is it this important to you?
Yoruba is many things. It is a race, it is a religion, it is the centre of creation. It all depends on how you see it. The owner of something is the one who must propagate or praise it. If you look at it so deeply, you will see that Yoruba has everything. During the time of migration, the slave trade and all that, the Yoruba is one of the few, if not the only, races that endured till now. They travelled to Brazil and dominated; they travelled to America and dominated. It is obvious in the number of places studying Ifa now. Yorubas took their religion and existence with them as they journeyed. They were so in tune that they had to create Santería (Way of the Saints) out of Catholicism because of Yoruba. Ingrained in our system is the thought of spiritual being as a people. We believe in spirituality a lot, which is why fake pastors can dupe the average Yoruba person. So, there is a God factor in everything we do as a people.
Would you say that influence is why Nigerians are generally considered a spiritual people?
Yes. When you look at the religious fathers we have both in Islam and Christianity, the biggest ones are Yoruba. This is not about ethnicity, racism or tribalism; it is just the fact. Even in music like Afrobeats, Yoruba elements are often infused into it, even when the artiste is not Yoruba. This is not saying Yoruba is higher than any other language, race, or ethnic group; this is just saying that the Yoruba Language is beyond language, and the culture is beyond culture. Yoruba is all-encompassing; it should be the language we should be speaking instead of a foreign language; it should be the general language due to what is embedded in it. Every word that you speak in Yoruba has what they call characteristics.
We should try not to infuse tribalism in all of this, but what is good is good. There are things we all have to learn from all the different tribes, cultures and languages. When we speak about the good of things in Yoruba, though, some may see it as being against another tribe, and that is very far from it. I am an advocate for languages, I am for all cultures, but I am a Yoruba.
When exactly did Masoyinbo start?
We started last year, but I got the idea in 2008.
Why did it take you so long to execute it?
At that time, people did not appreciate culture as well. The copyright for Masoyinbo was in 2010, and we started in 2024.
Did you know it would be this successful?
Yes. I knew it would, but I didn’t know it would come so fast.
Why did you choose YouTube as the platform to air Masoyinbo?
The truth was that I didn’t want to put it on YouTube. I had a YouTube page, but I was just putting a class or two there. The first set of Masoyinbo was on my website. It was 25 dollars a month at the time. Alibaba sent me a message at the time that, unless you’re making $400,000 on your website, go and put it on YouTube. I respect him a lot, and he is a reference point for me. So when he told me that, I started putting the show on YouTube. I put it on YouTube, not because I wanted to make money.
If not money, then how did you intend to pay your bills?
I am a teacher, and I earn money teaching Yoruba.
Do you still have time to teach?
No, and that is sad. I do not have the time to do what I really love.
If you were Superman and you didn’t need to take time off to sleep, eat or rest, how would you structure a typical day?
I’m not Superman, but when I was teaching Yoruba, I was teaching for 20 hours a day. This was between 2020 and 2023. I’ll be in my room in my house for two weeks at a stretch, and the only time I would leave was to go to church on Sunday. Sometimes, houses would be built on my street, and I would not be aware.
How sustainable was that system, though?
It is not scalable. Masoyinbo helped us to scale. Two years ago, I was teaching for hours on Christmas Day.
Can anyone ever fully win on the show except you?
Even I am not infallible. I can do without speaking English, and some people have succeeded in not speaking English on the show. I am a teacher, but I do not know everything. The word ‘Ojogbon’ means Professor in English means the collection, gathering, congregation of wisdom. It is ‘Ijo awon to gbon’. When you’re in primary school, you are taught, and the teacher instils knowledge in you. In secondary school, the same thing happens. In the university, right from your first degree till your master’s and doctorate, knowledge is instilled in you. By the time you are a professor, knowledge is still instilled in you. So, what you call a professor is that one person who countless people have deposited wisdom and knowledge in. It is an accumulation of knowledge. So there is nothing you have that you were not given. The people you call professors, experts, have been given that knowledge. If it was not given, they cannot be ‘ojogbon’. Which is why everyone must be humble. If I come on Masoyinbo, I won’t code-mix or code-switch. But would I be able to answer all of the questions correctly? Proverbs, yes. Others, maybe not all.
When you ask about a proverb in Yoruba, if you don’t know it, but you understand that proverb, the answer you give would be something I cannot fault. I’m not Oduduwa; I like people who can explain and prove their knowledge.
Some of the things you know seem inspired; they do not seem like acquired knowledge.
There’s nothing you have that you were not given. The more you think about things, the more you understand it, and the more you understand it, the more you will know you don’t even know it enough. I believe we are all called into a ministry. Some are pastors, and when they read a Bible verse to you, a new meaning is discovered even in the same verses you have always read. They may also get that new meaning while they are reading it to you. So as they are telling you, they are also being taught. That helps you not to lay claim to anything. If I’m looking for a word now, I may keep thinking about it, but in searching for something else, I can find the word, one day, one way, somehow, in an unrelated introspection, that meaning of a word that you have been searching for will just come to you.
Do you have people you also consult with?
Yes, people like Dr Kunle Adegbola at the Centre for African Studies. I call him to explain things I’ve discovered. There is nothing you have that was not given to you. This is something you must constantly tell yourself. If you don’t tell yourself that, there is a tendency to lay claim to knowledge that is not yours. The moment you start laying claim to knowledge that is not yours, it will not profit you. What is the purpose of wisdom if it doesn’t profit the person who is thought to be wise? Some people are talented in singing. When you sing their song and profit from it, then you are wrong. But the joy of every singer is that people sing his or her song.
Upfront, you seem like a very shy person. How did you conquer that to become a screen cum media personality?
Everyone has their strength. Paul in the Bible was sent, but he wanted to go to Jerusalem. When he went to Jerusalem, he was beaten. That is because he wasn’t sent there. But when he went to those he was sent to, he could be bold, knowing fully well that he was sent there. I can be bold talking about Yoruba, but when I’m off that clime, I can revert to who I am. When you see imams, pastors or babalawos in their element, they are bold and confident. When I’m teaching Yoruba, that is where I belong to. Anything outside of that doesn’t captivate me that way.
What is the future for you and Masoyinbo?
The instruction is to preach the gospel to all nations of the earth. Yoruba is gospel to me, and gospel is good news. Good news is not meant to be limited to a particular set of people; it is for everybody. It all depends on how you say it. For example, a cry for help can become a danceable tune; it all depends on how you cry it out. When you put beat on it, people will dance. It is when you scream it out that people will run. So, we can preach the gospel of Yoruba to anyone, and they will accept it. It is about telling people what this language can do with your thinking and the way you see life.
For example, Promise in Yoruba is ‘ileri’. When you break that word down, ‘ile’ is portion, ‘ori’ is head. Put together, it means putting your head down, which is why people will say I’m sticking my neck out. A promise is simply putting your head on the line. When you have in-depth knowledge of what a promise is, when you say something, you know that your head is on the line and you have committed to it.
What’s your promise to Nigerians in the coming year?
To keep preaching the gospel of Yoruba.
How come you only appear in Agbada?
I dress this way every day. I wear white Jalabia at night, but outside of this, just agbada. I started wearing agbada only in 2023, but I’ve not worn a foreign outfit since 2008. Initially, it was ‘buba’ and ‘soro’. I have more than 600 agbada outfits.
Some think agbada is not an easy outfit to pull off.
When they see me, they will know it is easy. I don’t want to go out of my house, and someone says we need to go somewhere or see someone, and I’m thinking I need to go back home to change. That can never happen.
Are you ever worried about being overdressed?
/I cannot be overdressed; it is the perception of the person looking at me. Overdressed is a word that signifies that the person saying it is insecure. How can I be overdressed? Fashion, cloth in Yoruba is ‘aso’. The ‘so’ part of the word is to protect. So, fashion is protection. There’s a way you dress that you will not feel secure in what you’re wearing, that is when you realise you cannot dress that way. When you dress, and you’re secure, you know you’re dressed well. Clothing is your security. ‘Iro’ is wrapper, but it goes beyond that. ‘Ro’ is empowerment, ‘ro’ is to stand. So, ‘ro’ to our women is their stability. Jewelry is ‘eso’… these are your security, your protection. So when I dress in an agbada, and I go out, and someone says I’m overdressed when I’m secured, then you are not secured.
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