Islam came to Yorubaland around the year 1440 when Oluaso was Alaafin of the Oyo Empire.

Christianity arrived on September 24, 1842, with the Methodists led by Reverend Thomas Birch Freeman. That's a difference of 402 years.

However, due to free western education, skills acquisition, and scholarships to England, Christianity was able to close a 400-year gap in less than 70 years dominating the Western States of Ekiti and Ondo.

Nevertheless, Western Nigeria remains the most stable region, in terms of religious tolerance, in Nigeria. This is due to the Yoruba traditional religion that accommodated both Christianity and Islam in Yorubaland.