Oyo Empire culture in Oyo where victory was obligatory and defeat carried the duty of committing suicide. This do-or-die policy no doubt contributed to the military aggressiveness of Oyo's generals. The Oyo Empire was the only Yoruba state to adopt cavalry; it did so because most of its territory was in the northern savannah. The origin of the cavalry is disputed; however, the Nupe, Borgu and Hausa in neighboring territories also used cavalry and may have had the same historical source. Oyo was able to purchase horses from the north and maintain them in metropolitan Oyo because of partial freedom from the
History of the Jews in Nigeria with lots of Jewish materials by different Rabbis. There are also key Synagogues in Port Harcourt and Lagos. The Jewish community among the Yoruba are often referred to as the Bnai Ephraim (Children of Ephraim). Most of them concentrated around various communities in Ondo state since the 1930s, about 2000 people in all. According to their traditions, they came to Nigeria by way of Morocco sometime in the 16th century after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Their language is a mixture of Moroccan Arabic with Yoruba, but with bits of Aramaic, such as ima for “mother.”