On 6 August 2013, Femi Fani-Kayode, a onetime Federal Minister of Aviation stunned Nigerians with his postulations on how Lagos was developed solely by the Yoruba and how every other ethnic nationality in Lagos are merely riding on their hospitality. His effort at re-writing history has been strengthen according to him, by Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron’s contribution to his earlier submission on the subject which reads, ‘’It has become a recent habit by a number of our young Igbo brethren to refer to Lagos as a ‘no-man’s land. The great Zik, Mbadiwe, Mbonu Ojike, Ajuluchukwu, Opara etc would never have made such statements as they knew better. It is not only unfair but in extremely bad taste apart from the fact that it is historically false. How can you call a land that has had over 400 years of traditional rulership and cultural definition as a no man’s land”? I do not wish to cast passions on the subject, for silence they say, is golden. But the seriousness of the salient issues raised by Femi Fani-Kayode has made the need for an urgent historical overview of Lagos from 1600 – 1900 imperative.
The founding and consequent development of Lagos has been largely attributed to the slave trade. It would be recalled that, the sale of Africans began long before Christ and Mohammed and their followers sought profit from the traffic. There is evidence that in Ancient Egypt, African slaves were acquired not only for domestic work but also for the construction of such colossal projects as the pyramids. The Egyptian hieroglyphics have also revealed that Pyramid slaves were employed during the dynastic period to act as court festers.1
The Spaniards discovery that there were plenty of gold, silver and precious stone on the American mainland was to stimulate their conquest of the country in other to work on the gold and silver mines. Most of the gold came from the Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Inca Empire in Peru. As the Spaniards engaged the natives to work on the mines, they treated these natives very cruelly.
Seeing the sufferings of the natives, which resulted in lesser and lesser converts attending Mass, the Rev. Bartolommeo de las Casas (1474 – 1566), the Protector General of the Spanish Caribbean, a Spanish Dominican Friar, who has also written a best Seller, Brief Relation of the Destruction of the Indies, appealed to Pope Julius 11 (Rovere )(1503 -1513),to compel the Spanish king in Aragon, King Ferdinand 11 (1471 -1516), and Castile, Queen Isabella (1474 -1504), to send African slaves to the Americas.2
We understood that Lancdcarote de Freitas, a Portuguese adventure, was the first merchants that sailed to the Niger Delta Region of West Africa and captured about 235 men and women in 1442 and sold them as slaves. This opened the gate for other Europeans, especially the British merchants to recruit Niger Delta “Native agents” to hunt for able-bodied men as slaves.
In an effort to perfect and sustain their trade, The British merchants began to interfere in the politics and commerce of the city states in the Niger Delta, and induced conflict / Wars among communities through creation of trade reveries and deposing of powerful traditional rulers that challenged their “unlimited power” and authorities. There are records that by this process, the Ijo became victims and were the first to be shipped as slaves in West African coast in (1414).
They were captured and shipped from their settlements by Rivers Primeriro, Benin, Escravos, Forcados and Ramos. This then became a regular practice until the British, the Dutch, the German and Italians entered the slave trade in 1530’s.3 According to J.F.A. Ajayi, in his book, Christian Mission in Nigeria, 1841 -1891, in early 16th century, about 900,000 slaves were exported to America, alone, and of this number, those from the present Niger Delta constituted 8 percent.
On the African side the first people to become involved in the slave trade were the Ijo near the “slave rivers”.4 It should be recalled that by 1699, the slave trading system has expanded from primeriro, Escrovos, Binin, Forcados and Ramos to Bonny city state in the present River state, and to the western Niger Delta (now
Delta, Edo and Ijo territories in Ondo States). According to Pacheco Pereira’s brief but valuable description of trade with the Ijo in the Rio Real (i.e., the Bonny and the New Calabar River) was probably based upon personal observation. Canoes carrying up to eighty men – “the largest in all Guinea”.5 The expansion continued so rapidly that by 18th Century, most of the slaves bought in the Benin River were obtain from Itsekiri and Urhrobo areas.6 A rent in the veil of anonymity that covers most of these unfortunate reveals the names of a small number of female slaves handed over to an official in Sao Tome in May 1528: Caterina Xare, Isabel Ybou, Catarian Equa, Maria Ouziqua, Maria Usobou. This handful of names throws some light on the origin of slaves. Caterina Xare was probably an Ibibio from the right bank of the Cross River. Isabela Ybou was clearly an Igbo, while Caterina Equa and Maria Ouziqua would seem to have belonged to the Kwa of Cross River area; Maria Usobou can be identified as an Urhobo.7 The crisis precipitated by rival groups for the trade in slave’s supremacy led to the dispersal from Binin by most warriors. Some of these Binin warriors were to found Lagos in the sixteenth Century purely for the purpose of furthering their exploitation of the Niger Delta human resources.
As R. O. Ajetumobi summed it, a major theme in the historical development of coastal Yoruba land in the sixteenth century was the collapse of many settlements as a result of Benin interests and military incursion into the region. The exact date when the Benin regular expedition began in the region of Lagos and Awori was not known. What is clear is that the region had long been affected by the events in the interior, thus making Awori land the refuge of those seeking social security. There are many conjectures as to the presence of Benin military personnel in the region of Lagos in the sixteenth century. A Benin source recorded by Talbot, says that the first Benin settlers were part of an invading army which was unable to return to Benin and therefore encamped in Lagos at a place called Ogulata which is possibly a corruption of Ebute-Metta. Another tradition posits that it was Oba Orhogbua who, in about 1550 made his camp, Eko, on Lagos Island. What seem incontrovertible is that the Edo had already had camps and satellite states in Ikale and Ilaje areas before the major expedition to the Awori country. Though, the
power of the Benin kingdom was impressive as early as the second half of the fifteenth century during the reign of Oba Ewuare, Benin occupation and subjugation of Lagos and its neighbourhood did not start until the sixteenth century when Benin troops and traders took effective control of the coastal region from the Niger Delta in the East to Porto Novo in the West.
Ewuare ascended to the throne of Benin in the early fifteenth century bringing the kingdom into a splendid period of successful and rapid expansion. With a formidable military arsenal, strong, well equipped and battle-ready army, Benin became a terror and lord of her neighbouring settlements. She successfully laid the tradition of imperial annexation of coastal Yorubaland. This interest was reinforced in the 1550 as a result of the relative peace at home and the growing European trade on the coast which Benin wanted to control. The need for areas of economic control, security, free flow of coastal trade, as a result of the need to secure the base for harnessing goods from the inland made the control of Lagos a necessity for Benin. By the opening of the sixteenth century a large section of eastern Yoruba land had come under Benin influence and the Ilaje territory on modern Ondo state served a passage to the far western coast in the area of modern Lagos. Thus, the areas between Lagos and Porto Novo became the focus of Benin military activities till the seventeenth century. In this century, Mahin, an Ilaje community founded by immigrants from the neighbourhood of Itsekiri were destroyed, while Isheri Olofin, Lagos, Ido, Ebute Metta, Oto-Olofin and other coastal Yoruba communities in the area fell to superior Benin invading army.
The era of warrior kings was terminated in the 17th century with the reign of Oba Ehengbuda who died on his way to Lagos, after him, priests and aristocratic rulers began a prolonged civil war which encouraged the flight of many families and soldiers to different parts of Lagos state. At the western extreme, the situation was such that the colonies were disbanded as a result of ineffective military and personal ambitions. The immediate effect of this was the widespread dispersal of Benin cultural traits. Added to this, the rise of Agaja Trudo of Dahomey (C. 1704-1740) and his coastal military in Porto Novo, coupled with internal disorder
in Benin was decisive factors in the emergence of many Yoruba settlements founded by people of Benin origin in Lagos state. Other settlement in the region were founded by warriors, brave hunters, fugitives, refugees and adventurous individuals from other parts of Nigeria but such groups were not shielded from the effects of Benin militarism and cultural imposition.
The influence of Benin pervades every sphere of life of the Yoruba of the coast especially Lagos. The name of some of their towns, their folk tales, rituals, dialects, music, regal goods and dances in varying degrees portray evidence of close interaction with Edo. This is a manifestation of the nature of Benin relations with coastal Yoruba land from about 1500 onwards. Benin invasions of the region of Lagos were profound in shaping the socio-political, economic and culture history of the Yoruba settlement in the area. Oral traditions and archival source materials show that not all the Yoruba settlement in the area were actually founded by people of Benin origin. The Benin-Awori settlement were founded in the region of Aworiland by Benin imperial troops; Ojo, Iba, Idoluwo, Obanikoro, Ijanikin, Oto-Awori, Gbanko, Osolu, Omore, Ibiku, now Ibiye among others have rich traditions linking the origin of most of them to Benin in spite of recent attempt to link some of them with interior Yorubalands. Until the opening of the twentieth century possession of white caps and Abere (Scepter) as a symbol of authority confirm royal linkage with Benin.8
The rulers of Lagos since them have all descended from the Benin worrier Ashipa (Eshikpa) who was the first king of the town (c. 1600 - 1630) and held the title of Oba also styled Eleeko, although the aristocracy is Yoruba since the town was founded on the site of an earlier Yoruba settlement. Ashipa’s son built his palace on Lagos Island, and his grandson moved the seat of government to the palace from the Iddo peninsula. In 1730 the Oba of Lagos invited the Portuguese slave traders to the Island, and soon a flourishing trade developed.9 As the Niger Delta slaves were used for the foundation of Lagos, so was the oil palm resources from the Niger Delta exploited for the sustenance of Lagos in the preceding years and this commercial interest were to lead to the annexation of Lagos by Britain on 6 August 1861. And on 5 March 1862 Lagos was declared a Colony. What can clearly be deduced from the foregoing is that the founding of Lagos was precipitated by the desire of the Oba of Benin to have an unhindered access root to Sao Tome and Principe and the Gold Coast for the disposal of his slaves whom were principally procured from the Niger Delta hinterland.
Consequent upon the foregoing, Lagos was incorporated into southern Nigeria in February 1906, and became the capital of the protectorate of Nigeria in January 1914. This was in obvious furtherance of Britain’s primary policy of opening markets for its manufactured goods in West Africa and expanding commerce in palm oil in the nineteenth century.
Seminally, in Nigeria–Early British Imperialism: The Colonial Legacy by “mongabay” it has been observed that international trade in palm oil began at the turn of the nineteenth century while that of palm kernel developed only after 1832. Palm oil became the principal cargo for slave ships after abolition of the slave trade. In the early 1870s exports of palm oil from the Niger Delta were 25,000 to 30,000 tons per annum and by 1911 the British West African territories exported 87000 tones. The export of palm kernels also began in 1832 and 1911British West Africa alone exported 157,000 tons of which about 75 percent came from the Niger Delta.10 It is thus, preposterous to hear Femi and other commentators argue on the contrary.
Further still, R. S. Smith in his “To the Palavas Island”, opined that, slave trade and palm oil trade was together in the first half of the century leading to the growth of important trading organizations and Lagos town itself.11 Also, writing on the economy of Lagos since 1800, R. J. Gavin & Wale Oyemakinde have, after a painstaking research, surmised that, the palm oil and kernels crop remained the export mainstay.12 No wonder Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye swept Lord Laggard’s Revenue Allocation Formula and Derivation Principle of the time, accusing it of being a subtle way of rubbing resources of the Niger Delta for the upkeep and administrative cost of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, for which Lagos was the capital.13
Finally, Mann affirmed that, the British invasion and occupation of Lagos in 1851 were both the result of the country’s campaign to end the slave trade and of economic self-interest in the trade in palm oil. These two elements would then contribute to the expansion of British international trade and to the stability of the country14 – Nigeria which emerged there from.
Lagos and the entire Awori and Ijebu region owes its development to the interaction between various Yoruba and non-Yoruba speaking groups who related with one another and after the twentieth century, the uniqueness of the ecosystem and abundant resources had given special attraction to immigrants who were absorbed into the local population before the colonial era. An observation of the region today gives the impression of that of a ‘united group of settlements’.15
Nothing best supports the foregoing averment than the formation of The Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) in 1933.The economic depression of the decade 1930- 40 led to decline in national revenue, retrenchment, unemployment and hardship, and these factors were aggravated by the influx of school leavers. All these factors led to the establishment of the N.Y.M. which was initially known as the Lagos Youth Movement founded by Dr. J. C. Vaughan, Ernest Ikoli, Samuel Akinsaya and H.O. Davies and other radical educated Nigerians. According to Adekunle Aromolaran, in 1941, the President of the Nigerian Youth Movement, Dr. Kofo Abayomy resigned and two founding members, Ernest Ikoli, a Rivers man from Ijaw and Samuel Akinsanya, a Yoruba man, were to contest for the Presidency. During the electioneering campaign, Dr. Azikiwe used his Press, the West African Pilot, to support the candidacy of Samuel Akinsanya. But the leaders of the N.Y.M. later elected Ernest Ikoli.16
Conclusion
The seeming historical inaccuracies in Femi Fani-Kayode’s unbridled outburst that the major institutions of the south-west (Lagos in particular) were solely developed by “the diligence, hard work, industry and sweat of the Yoruba people” is thus regrettable and should be seen as a deliberate attempt by a desperate man at whipping up ethnic sentiments and bias with a view to gaining cheap political point and as such, should be condemned as a cacophony beaming out of one that lacks the sense of history.
Refereces
1Anene, J. C . & Brown G. (ed), 1966, Africa in the Nineteenth & Twentieth Centuries: A Handbook for Teachers and student. Ibadan University Press.p.95-96
2Preboye, P.I.C. 2005, The Core Delta: Iduwuni Clan. Ibadan, Rural Development Nigeria Ltd.p.182
3Etekpe, A. 2008, Colonialism: The Root Cause of Conflict is the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. In, International Conference on the Nigerian State, Oil Industry and the Niger Delta. Port Harcourt, Harrey Publications Company.p.88
4Ryder, A. C. F. 1980, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. In, Groundwork of Nigeria History. Ibadan, Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria)Plc.p.237
5Ibib.p.238
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