The Ownership of Lagos: Going Theoretical.
There is ongoing controversy? Debate? Argument? Well, you can call it anything you like. It centers on the ownership of Lagos and the contending parties are the Yorubas and The Binis. All the contending parties have thrown their evidence in the open to convince anybody that cares of their right to claim ownership of the former capital of Nigeria. Several people have written what could be called their own version on the topic. This paper then tries to scrutinize the evidence being adduced by the two parties against the backdrop of two theories of ownership. The first is what could be called ‘first come, first serve’ being thrown up by the Yorubas and the ‘right of conquest’ as claimed by the Binis.
Geographically, Lagos is situated south to the Yoruba hinterland and west to the Binis. Every time people say ‘Lagos’ one should wonder what they mean. Is it Lagos as a state or Lagos as an administrative division? Currently, Lagos State has 5 administrative divisions namely: Lagos, Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu and Epe. There is no controversy over the ownership of the last 4 but Lagos. In fact, there is no controversy over the ownership of some Local Government areas within the controversial Lagos Division like Surulere, Lagos Mainland and Yaba. The controversial ones are Lagos Island Local Government and some parts of Eti-Osa Local Government.
Professor Kunle Lawal of blessed memory and a host of others have established through their various works like Urban Transitions in Africa that the first set of people to arrive and settle in and around the controversial Lagos are the Aworis, a Yoruba sub-group. As if acting on a prearranged accord, almost all of them acknowledged that Benin once conquered the land and established the dynasty that rules till date. These assertions make the job of unraveling the ‘elusive’ owners of Lagos easier. Now, to the main issue.
Using the theory of who arrived first is not just unfair on the Binis but cannot hold water when looked at from the perspective of state formation, possession and development. The Western European states realized the importance of not just laying claim to a territory as the first to reach there but effective possession and protection of the subjects. Thus, there were protectorate territories. What is more! There was no agreement between the Binis and the Yorubas on which theory of ownership to adopt in laying claim to Lagos. Assuming the contending parties belong to the same ethnic group, it could have been a different, straightforward matter. It is not the fault of the Binis that the Aworis couldn’t repel them (Binis) when the former conquered them. Using right of conquest, the Aworis lost ownership of Lagos when the Binis conquered them.
One area that the proponents of right of conquest in explaining the ownership of Lagos either refuse to look into or lack capacity to appreciate is that whatever right Bini had over Lagos was lost in 1851 when British conquered it. Bini did not come to the aid of Lagos, her supposed possession, when it was conquered in 1851 and annexed 10 years later. Two scenarios could have played out then. It is either Bini lacked the military capacity to protect her possession, Lagos, or that the territory had been abandoned by Bini. It doesn’t make logical sense that British forces were not contending with Bini forces in 1851, neither did Bini raise eyebrow in 1861 when Lagos was annexed, yet the supporters of Bini claim she owned and still owns Lagos.
It is noteworthy that some Bini traditions were discontinued by Lagos. A good example is the abolition of the practice of taking the remains of the Oba of Lagos to Bini for burial. The abolition of some Bini traditions was an informal way of showing the end of Bini’s possession of Lagos. The formal end was when Lagos faced the invading British forces by herself in 1851. It was King Dosunmu of Lagos that signed the treaty that ceded Lagos to the British in 1861 and not the Oba of Bini. There is no evidence that he, Dosunmu, was fronting for the Oba of Bini or that he took permission from the former before signing. This could only be interpreted to mean that Lagos was completely independent of Bini as far back as mid 19th century. It now beats one’s imagination when some still sing the song “Bini owns Lagos”.
Yes! It is true that Bini conquered and ruled Lagos for some time but it is also true that Bini either lost interest in continuing the possession or that she lacked the capacity to continue. Whatever the situation was, it is safe for the Aworis to claim ownership of Lagos right now because their influence in Lagos is more prevalent on the polity than any other claimants to it like the Binis, Ijebus, Mahins, Egbas, Ogus etc. Bini’s adventure in Lagos is tantamount to colonization and it has ended. When colonialism ends, the autochthonous owners claim the land just like Nigerians sent Britain packing and took control of their lands in 1960.

Olatoye Jibola Ganiu.
A graduate of History,
Lagos State University,
Ojo, Lagos.
jibolatoye@yahoo.com
07054043435.