Agbàlọ́wọ́ọ méèrí, Baálẹ̀ Jòǹtolo — Yoruba Wisdom on Power and Extortion

Last updated: January 14, 2026

Yoruba Wisdom

Agbàlọ́wọ́ọ méèrí, Baálẹ̀ Jòǹtolo

Literal Translation

The extortioner of the destitute — the Baálẹ̀ of Jòǹtolo.

(A compressed phrase naming a person by his defining vice.)

Interpretation

This proverb is not merely descriptive; it is indicting.

Agbàlọ́wọ́ọ méèrí refers to someone who demands, exacts, or extracts from those who do not have, cannot find, or cannot afford what is being demanded. The word méèrí deepens the cruelty: it suggests scarcity so severe that even searching yields nothing.

By appending Baálẹ̀ Jòǹtóló, the proverb elevates the phrase into a moral archetype. Whether or not Jòǹtóló still exists as a physical town is beside the point — Yoruba oral tradition preserves it as a moral location: a place remembered not for greatness, but for injustice.

Thus, the proverb names a kind of ruler, leader, or authority figure whose legacy is oppression of the poor. To call someone Baálẹ̀ Jòǹtóló is not to identify their office, but to expose their character.

Application

This proverb applies wherever power meets vulnerability.

• A leader who taxes the poor into starvation

• A landlord who squeezes tenants with no alternatives

• An employer who exploits desperation

• A system that extracts from those already empty

In Yoruba thought, leadership without mercy is not leadership; it is predation. This saying warns that authority does not erase moral responsibility; rather, it amplifies it.

The proverb is often deployed as a public naming, a way of holding someone accountable without direct confrontation, letting culture itself pronounce judgment.

Broad Theme

Power without compassion becomes tyranny.

Supporting Themes

Leadership and moral responsibility, Exploitation of the vulnerable, Extortion of the Poor, Social justice in Yoruba thought, Historical memory as moral instruction, Wealth, poverty, and ethical governance, Naming as cultural accountability

Closing Reflection
Yoruba culture does not always punish with force; sometimes, it punishes with memory. And there is no harsher sentence than being remembered forever as the one who took from those who had nothing left to give.