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Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? - Culture - Nairaland

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Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by fishbone11(m): 11:56pm On Apr 08, 2015
HISTORY OF LAGOS
Lagos is the largest city and former capital of Nigeria
and the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa.
LOCATION
Modern-day Lagos is now a state in South-Western
Nigeria. It is bounded on the west by the Republic of
Benin, to the north and east by Ogun State with the
Atlantic Ocean providing a coastline on the south.
AREA
Lagos has a total of 3,577 square kilometers; 787
square kilometers is made up of lagoons and creeks
including: Lagos Lagoon , Lagos Harbour, Five Cowrie
Creek, Ebute-Metta Creek, Porto-Novo Creek, New
Canal, Badagry Creek, Kuramo Waters and Lighthouse
Creek.

THE NAME LAGOS

Lagos means "lakes" in Portuguese, the language of
first European-settlers known to visit the
settlement,then already inhabited by the Awori
people, in 1472. [1] From the first contacts with the
region until the early 20th century, another
Portuguese name for the city that was
interchangeably used was Onim, [2] finally
abandonned in favor of Lagos.
Prior to Lagos being adopted, the settlement was
called Eko by its Kingdom of Benin conquerors, which
stems from either Oko (Yoruba: "cassava farm"wink or
Eko ("war camp"wink.

Founding of Lagos

According to the oral history of Lagos, at some point
around 1300-1400 CE, the Oba (King) of the Benin
Empire - who used to send trade expeditions to
Ghana, where spices were traded - heard from one of
his traders complaints about the way she was being
treated by the Awori who lived in the area of current
day Lagos. The Oba of Benin then sent a trade
expedition by sea to engage with the Awori people,
who nonetheless declined to engage and attacked the
mission sent by Benin.
Upon hearing this as the mission returned to Benin
City, the Oba of Benin commanded the assembling of
a war expedition, led by Ado, a Benin Prince, which
headed to the settlement of the Awori (current-day
Lagos; then called Eko by the Benin people) and
demanded an explanation.
On getting there, Ado and his army were more than
well received - the Awori from Lagos asked Benin
Prince Ado to stay there and become their leader.
Ado agreed, on the condition that they surrendered
their sovereignty to the Oba of Benin, to which the
Awori people of Lagos agreed.
Upon hearing this, the Oba of Benin gave his
permission for Prince Ado and the expedition to
remain in Eko with the Awori. The Oba of Benin later
sent some of his chiefs, including the Eletu Odibo,
Obanikoro and others, to assist Ado in the running of
Eko.

Lagos as a tributary to the Benin
Empire

From the crowning of Ado as its first Oba, Lagos
(then called Eko) served as a major center for slave-
trade, from which then Oba of Benin Ado and all of
his successors for over four centuries benefitted -
until 1841, when Oba Akitoye ascended to the throne
of Lagos and tried to ban slave-trading.
Local merchants strongly opposed the intended move,
and deposed and exiled the king, and installed
Akitoye's brother Kosoko as Oba. [3]
At exile in Europe, Akitoye met with British
authorities, who had banned slave-trading in 1807,
and who therefore decided to support the deposed
Oba to regain his throne. With the success of the
British intervention, in 1851 Akitoye was reinstalled
as Oba of Lagos. In practical terms, however, British
influence over the kingdom had become absolute, and
ten years later, in 1861, Lagos was formally annexed
as a British colony.
Colonial Lagos as capital of Nigeria
The British annexed Lagos as a colony in 1861. The
remainder of the Benin Empire - i.e, modern-day
Nigeria - were seized by the British in 1887, and
when the British established the Colony and
Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914, Lagos was declared
its capital.
Lagos maintained its status as capital when Nigeria
obtained its independence from Britain in 1960. Lagos
was therefore the capital city of Nigeria from 1914
until 1991, when it was replaced as Federal Capital
Territory by planned city of Abuja, built specifically for
such purpose.
Currently
Until today, the Oba of Lagos is the head of all the
Kings in Lagos State and his status is different from
other Oba's most of whom were later given back their
crowns and staff of office only within the last 40
years. Those who got their crowns back were the
original land owners (Olofin's children). Modern-day
Lagosians have so intermingled that no single tribe or
people can claim it even though the predominant
language is Yoruba.
The present day Lagos state has a higher percent of
this sub-group who allegedly migrated to the area
from Isheri along the Ogun river. History has it that
the Awori were actually from Ife, the cradle of
Yorubaland. The Awori people are a peaceful people
initially not taken to warfare. Due to war, those from
the hinterlands, like the Ekiti, ran towards Isheri,
which at that time had more than one Olofin
(Alafin)who were heads of settlements about
1400AD.
With the fleeing people from the hinterlands most of
them scattered again, some to Iro, to Otta, Ado,
others to Ebute Metta i.e. three landing places -
Oyingbo, Iddo Island and Lagos Island (Eko). The
Olofin that brought those who went to Ebute-Metta
was Ogunfunminire later known as Agbodere. With
the full commencement of the war about 2000 moved
to the nearest island of Iddo, others to Otto Awori or
Otto Ijanikin towards modern-day Badagry. Those
from Ekiti Aramoko came to Ebute-Metta, Iddo and
then Ijora.
After the demise of Agbodere, the name Olofin
became the name used to remember him while a title
of Oloto was given to his successor. With one of his
sons becoming the Oloto his other children parted
ways to what is known as visible settlements in
present-day Lagos.
Until the coming of the Benins, Lagos's geographic
boundary was Lagos Mainland. Lagos Island, the seat
of the Oba of Lagos, then consisted of a pepper farm
and fishing posts. No one lived there. The name Eko
was given to it by its first king, Oba Ado, during its
early history; it also saw periods of rule by the
Kingdom of Benin.
Eko was the land area now known as Lagos Island
where the king's palace was built. The palace is
called Iga Idunganran, meaning "palace built on the
pepper farm". Oba Ado and the warriors from Benin,
as well as some of the indigenous people who sought
safety, settled down in the southern part of Eko called
"Isale Eko", Isale literally meaning bottom, but must
have been used to indicate downtown (as in
Downtown Lagos).

Notable events

The first king of Lagos, Oba Ado, apart from having
two sons also had a daughter Erelu Kuti, who begat
Ologun Kutere , who later became king. Shokun his
brother, who was more aggressive and whom the
Erelu suspected could plan a palace coup, was given
a chieftaincy title, "Onile-gbale", and a palace just
behind the king's palace. This was the first time that
a Chief would be appointed and installed at the same
time as a King's coronation. See also http://
www.eraffoundation.org/erelukuti.php
Oba Akitoye who ceded Lagos to the British was oba
Kosoko's uncle. Oba Akitoye was the first Oba not to
be buried in a Bini. Prior to this, all the Kings of lagos
were buried in Bini. They passed on taxes to the Oba
of Bini until the British came and explained that there
was no need to send taxes to Bini anymore especially
as the Binis themselves were paying taxes to Britain.
It was during his reign that the direct influence of the
Binis on Lagos ended.
Oba Kosoko believed in the slave trade and was at
loggerheads with the British, hence his dethronement
and flight, first to Badagry and later to Epe, Nigeria
where he founded kingdoms that still exist today.

Main article: Oba of Lagos

Ashipa (1600–1630) died on the way back to
Benin
King Ado (1630–1669) first King of Lagos
King Gabaro (1669–1704)
King Akinsemoyin (1704–1749)
Eletu Kekere (1749)
King Ologun Kutere (1749–1775)
Adele Ajosun (1775-1780 & 1832-1834)
Eshilokun (1780–1819)
Oba Idewu Ojulari (1819–1832)
King Oluwole (1836–1841)
King Akintoye (1841-1845 & 1851-1853)
Oba Kosoko (1845–1851)
King Dosunmu [Docemo] (1853–1885)
Oba Oyekan (1885–1900)
Oba Esugbayi Eleko (1901-1925 & 1932)
Oba Ibikunle Akitoye (1925–1928)
Oba Sanusi Olusi (1928–1931)
Oba Falolu (1932–1949)
Oba Adeniji Adele (1949–1964)
Oba Adeyinka Oyekan II (1965–2003)
Oba Rilwan Akiolu (2003–present)

Colonial-era
Main article: Lagos Colony
Modern-day Lagos was founded by the Bini in the
sixteenth century. It was later called Eko. The
Portuguese explorer Ruy de Sequeira who visited the
area in 1472, named the area around the city Lago de
Curamo ; the present name is Portuguese for "lakes".
An alternate explanation is that Lagos was named for
Lagos, Portugal - a maritime town which at the time
was the main center of the Portuguese expeditions
down the African coast and whose own name is
derived from the Celtic word Lacobriga.
Flag of Lagos Colony
It was a major centre of the slave trade until 1851,
when Great Britain , which had abolished slavery in
1807, bombarded and established a treaty which
ushered in the British Consular Period.[4] Lagos was
annexed by Britain via the Lagos Treaty of Cession in
1861 ending the Consular Period and starting the
British Colonial Period. The remainder of modern-day
Nigeria was seized in 1886[ citation needed ]
POST COLONIAL
Lagos street, ca. 1910
When the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria was
established in 1914 Lagos was declared its capital.
Lagos experienced rapid growth throughout the
1960s and 1970s as a result of Nigeria's economic
boom prior to the Biafran War. This continued
through the 1980s and 1990s up to the present date.
Lagos was the capital of Nigeria from 1914 - 1991
when the capital was moved to Abuja . Abuja is a
capital like Washington, DC in USA and Brasilia in
Brazil in that it was built from scratch specifically to
be a capital.
In 1991, Ibrahim Babangida, the Military President
and other government functions moved to the newly
built capital. This was as a result of intelligence
reports on the safety of his life and what was later to
be termed his hidden agenda, which was the plan to
turn himself into a civilian president. He finished what
was started by the Murtala/Obasanjo regime. The
change resulted in Lagos losing some prestige and
economic leverage. However, it has retained its
importance as the country's largest city and as an
economic centre.
In 2002, accidental explosions killed more than 1,000
people. In 2012, 163 people died when a McDonnell
Douglas MD-83 crashed into a local furniture works
and printing press building.
SOURCE: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lagos
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by richol(m): 12:08am On Apr 09, 2015
lagos is for good peace loving nigerians...for identity go to badagry nd ask.
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by CHM11: 12:11am On Apr 09, 2015
Nice..I didn't see where mallams came into this beautiful history...all I see is south south nigeria and south west and obviously the south east people have history relating to majority of the south south too....


I still don't understand why mallams keep leading us since 1940!!!..they have become masters of 'DIVIDE AND RULE' and we here in the south keep falling into their play like sheep every time....
Kaaaaai...abokis are smart oh

1 Like

Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by Nokiae5: 12:34am On Apr 09, 2015
guy you read history for school.abi na C&p
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by kolomax(m): 12:40am On Apr 09, 2015
Are you fvcking kidding or adulting me OP did you just mention igbo as part of those whom own Lagos Is like saying igbo's are the owner of PH

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Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by Mcowubaba: 12:46am On Apr 09, 2015
Me nd my Family...mbok!!!!
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by Nobody: 12:53am On Apr 09, 2015
Those who read history. Should know the relationship between BENIN,lagos and ile ife...


I don't know and have not read any igbo history apart of that of the biafra war
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by fishbone11(m): 11:19pm On Apr 10, 2015
You can see the binis have a very good contributions to the existence of Lagos as an entity. Even the first king of Lagos was from Benin. Although the first inhabitants of Lagos are the Aworis, but today so many different tribes has occupied Lagos to the extent that the Aworis are not fully recognized.
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by fishbone11(m): 11:23pm On Apr 10, 2015
CHM11:
Nice..I didn't see where mallams came into this beautiful history...all I see is south south nigeria and south west and obviously the south east people have history relating to majority of the south south too....


I still don't understand why mallams keep leading us since 1940!!!..they have become masters of 'DIVIDE AND RULE' and we here in the south keep falling into their play like sheep every time....
Kaaaaai...abokis are smart oh
Obviously, other tribes especially the Igbos in terms of trade has contributed to the development of today's Lagos not mainly the Yorubas as people are meant to believe
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by fishbone11(m): 11:27pm On Apr 10, 2015
kolomax:
Are you fvcking kidding or adulting me OP did you just mention igbo as part of those whom own Lagos Is like saying igbo's are the owner of PH
Did u read the history before concluding? Did anyone said Igbos are the owners of Lagos? we are only trying to clarify the notion of the igbos playing a part to the existence of Lagos today.
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by absoluteSuccess: 5:45pm On Apr 11, 2015
fishbone11:

Obviously, other tribes especially the Igbos in terms of trade has contributed to the development of today's Lagos not mainly the Yorubas as people are meant to believe
No Yoruba person buy goods that 'Igbo and other tribes developping Lagos' have to sell in Lagos, hence Yoruba failed to participate in the development of Lagos.

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Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by Nobody: 3:43pm On Apr 12, 2015
The struggle for the ownership of Lagos is real.

Smh. undecided
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by macof(m): 9:38pm On Apr 12, 2015
fishbone11:
You can see the binis have a very good contributions to the existence of Lagos as an entity. Even the first king of Lagos was from Benin. Although the first inhabitants of Lagos are the Aworis, but today so many different tribes has occupied Lagos to the extent that the Aworis are not fully recognized.

just note that Lagos here is the Lagos island not Lagos state


Aworis are still important o, don't underestimate landowners..although it's not only Awori found in Lagos state
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by Ghost01(m): 8:03am On Apr 13, 2015
Just as there's a difference between Ondo town and Ondo State, there's a difference between Lagos Island (Eko) and Lagos State.

And at different times in their history, Akure, Ado-Ekiti, Owo, Ilaje, etc too were under the Benin Empire.

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Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by absoluteSuccess: 2:14pm On Apr 13, 2015
Op, thanks for your refurbishment of Awori history of the Island. Now you wont get this on wikipedia: Since Lagos Island was so important to Benin for conquest, tell me a parallel version of this your story that the Awori people keep. Or is it their version that pop up on wikipedia?

This should correspond with the Benin version. If you can't, then you are holding to a straw you take for a history. I am a descendant of Oba Ado, I can tell you Ado in Lagos history is a prince of Sango, not a prince of benin.

Who was Ado's father in Benin, who was his mother?

You people are 'intellectual thieves'. This was the tradition that John Losi, an historian from Lagos recorded, which involves 'Aina Elewure', but now you have it transformed.

Why do you love to steal Yoruba story only to use it to enslave Yorubas? What exactly is the grudge with Yoruba that you guys must always be on her heels? There wont have been issues if the Yoruba is not significant to you people.

Tell me this is another Ekaledheran/Oduduwa saga, bunch of intellectual robbers.

Efrebor, you go wound o angry angry
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by macof(m): 1:31am On Sep 04, 2015
absoluteSuccess
you often speak of being a descendant of Ado. ..are you sure it's the same man of the island? how was he influential in Ota side where you come from?
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by absoluteSuccess: 1:28pm On Sep 04, 2015
macof:
absoluteSuccess
you often speak of being a descendant of Ado. ..are you sure it's the same man of the island? how was he influential in Ota side where you come from?

Ado is the name of the leader of the search party that discovered what is today Aworiland. You can find that in Odu Osa Meji.

Osa welewele omi orun...
...adia fun Oba Ado, ejigbara Ileke,
Tin lo ree bawon mule ibudo,

Won ni ko kaki mole o jare, ebo ni ko se.
Ogbo riru ebo o ruu, o gberu atukesu otuu,
Ogbo tiharara, ebo ha fun.

Olanu koto,orin awo lo bo sii lenu,
Ese ti o na, ijo faa.

Owa bere sini yin awon awo re, oni,
Awa donile, Aoku mo, awa dopitan ile,
Awa donile bi Ado, adigba oke,
Ale gboingboin.

Ado in my place of birth is known as "Onitako" he is the first Olofin Ado, or leader of the settlers from Iseri. He was companion of Oduduwa, known and revered as Alamuwa in Ado scheme of things. Ado is also known at one point in time as Ileh Ife, Ado-Ife, Ado-Amuwa and Ado-Odo.

When I say I am a descendant of Ado, I am alluding to the scepter of leadership of Ado among Awori. Also I am from Iga Isolo, Ado, the house is adjoining the palace of Olofin at Ado Odo. That's my birthplace. The Isolo are the keeper of the royal court so to say. Osolo and Bajomu are kin.

I once tell a friend I am from Ado, he said 'where in Ado?', I said 'Iga Isolo', he said, 'nope you are not from Ado, you are from Ota', I said 'why, how?', he said 'the Osolo family were from Ota'. I was confused. I know we have primordial link with Ota, but that we are from ota beats me.

One day I was studying Ota history, so I found out that the first Olota was Osolo, meanwhile at Ado, it is Osolo that crowns Olofin. He also act as the mouthpiece for Olofin. the friend who told me we are from Ota was connecting this dot for me, his mum was from Isolo (Ado) too.

finally, Ado is the one and the same hero, founder of Awori.

It is possible to have duplicate upon duplicate names of the same hero, and thus fill the pages of history with variant names of the same man and stretch his existence in sequence across thousands of years, whatever is easy is good, but it is not the best.

Now remember what Ifa says of Oba Ado

Ejigbara Ileke: this is the praise-phrase in Awori's cognomen, Omo Iwaju Oloko tii sowo, eyin Oloko tii s'ejigbara ileke. Ejigbara ileke is twofold bead across the body, as the Egun people used to wear it, from inception, we have sense of regal, and I can't assume this to be mistake.

Awa donile: The Awori regards themselves as 'omo abule sowo', 'omo onile'. Forget about 'land-thugs', this is as old as our hisory. If you look at a line in our Oriki, you find out that the Olokos were on the sea to make money from discovering lovely habour, a commerce inclined oriki.

Oba Ado, the mouthpiece of the Oloko was responsible for this line of Oriki. He was the one that claimed that he and his compatriots has become landowners. We took after this lot to become omo onile.

Aoku mo: In my town, wori woku is like saying "apc=change" so the saying is "wori woku=orisha Ado" that is the spiritual slogan of "Owun elekule"
Elekule simply means "only the weak are scare of death" Elekule are the traditional religious institution of Ado.

Wori woku comes from Oba Ado, it is a phrase he coined (and it means wori= focus on discovery, woku=focus on death). Oba Ado may have meant to say he and his team were on the journey that may cause their death or lead to discovery.

So he change the notion to "Aokumo" when they now discover the coastland.

Oba Ado discovered the Yoruba coast, he was the son of Olukoso. There is one Oba Ado, and the one whose history I am tracking is my ancestor. Lagos did not always have skyscrapers from inception, hence it is not the overall or different from other Awori enclave.
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by macof(m): 6:14pm On Sep 04, 2015
I would have suggested that Ese Ifa was talking about Oba of Benin. ..but considering the oriki I have to agree with you

You however confused me on this :
Ado was companion of Oduduwa.
Son of Olukoso. .. he cannot be both

And I think the Olota is a son of Osolo rather than being Osolo himself

Bottom line is that Ado is a founding father of the Awori..am just trying to connect the dots with the Ado we hear of in the island

Btw I've come across claims that Ashipa was from Iseri and not Bini
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by absoluteSuccess: 7:53pm On Sep 04, 2015
macof:
I would have suggested that Ese Ifa was talking about Oba of Benin. ..but considering the oriki I have to agree with you

You however confused me on this :
Ado was companion of Oduduwa.
Son of Olukoso. .. he cannot be both

And I think the Olota is a son of Osolo rather than being Osolo himself

Bottom line is that Ado is a founding father of the Awori..am just trying to connect the dots with the Ado we hear of in the island

Btw I've come across claims that Ashipa was from Iseri and not Bini
All you stated are the way it is, my idea of sticking with Yoruba rather than hobnobing with Edo helped me find out more about Ado. You know some sentiments in 19th century makes the Awori believe they came from bini, but the truth is, there was once one big empire that stretch across west africa, the empire went down into splinter city states. Most ideas that was current at the lost empire are what we have in common as a people today. Thats my ulterior believe.
Re: Who Are The True Lagosians? The Yorubas, Igbos Or The Benins? by Rivertemz: 10:44pm On Sep 04, 2015
Yorubas are the reason why lagos exists for everyone
PERIOD

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