Just stumbled on this piece, written by Oritseweyinmi Oghanrandukun St Ifa . So much we never knew about Lagos.

IN THE BEGINNING

Some time far forgotten in human memory, the founder of Lagos, Ogunfuminire left Ife-Oodaye to settle by the Coast. The place he settled is today called Lagos or Eko. Eko was a pure Yoruba territory (Johnson history of the Yoruba; Ife cradle of the Yoruba Race; the Ifa Oracle System and many other historians and traditionalists know about this story. Wande Abimbola, Obayemi Ade and a host of Yoruba historians know about this.

ABUSE OF THE WORD OBA IN PRESENT YORUBA SOCIOLOGY AND THE ARROGANCE OF ‘OBA” OF LAGOS

Oba of Lagos is not an Oba and he knows it. He is an Olu. What is the difference? Obas are the first generation kings who are direct descendants of Oduduwa. They are only sixteen who can claim to be Obas – the Oonirisa – the Alaiyeluwa, who alone is the soul of Oodua Oramfe; the Alafin of Oyo, the Olu Iwo of Iwo etc.

Oba of Lagos is an Olu. Who is an Olu? The Olus are the second generation kingdoms in Yoruba land. The first sixteen Obas gave birth to the Olus. For example, the Oba of Lagos dynasty was birthed by the Oba of Benin who was a first generation Yoruba king, although he is ruling over non-Yoruba Edo people. Oba of Lagos came into being in 1601 during the reign of Oba Orogbua of Benin (Egharevba 1948), before then, the descendants of Ogunfuminire were ruling.

Olu of Warri is an Olu; his dynasty was birthed in 1480AD during the reign of Oba Olua of Benin, before then the Okotumu people were ruling(Pessu 2013). Of the sixteen children, these are the most senior – Olowu of Owu, Alaketu of Ketu, the king of Orangun,Onisabe of Sabe, Onipopo of Popo, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba of Benin.

These kings occupy a territory from Nigeria. Benin, and Togo, Some kings who are not Yoruba at all qualify to be called Olu. Some of these are – Obi of Onitsha, son of Oba of Benin, Obi of Aboh, son of Oba of Benin, the king of Accra who came from Isekiri . Since these kings are descended from Oba of Benin they are technically Olus, just like the Oba of Lagos.

LAGOS WAS NEVER A KINGDOM
Yes, you heard me well, Lagos was never a kingdom. A kingdom is governed by a king who before 1914 was able to conquer others and put them under him. Lagos was too weak to achieve that feat, rather it was colonized by Bini and later Isekiri, whence they had the Eyo(Awankere) masquerade.

ISEKIRI FIRST CONQUERORS OF THE LAGOS AREA

Contrary to popular beliefs, the Bini were not the first colonialist in the Lagos areas, the Isekiri were. In 1520 Olu Irame rose as a power and with help of Portuguese weapons, he was able to chase Olagwe and Amapotu to the Epe area in Lagos.

He effectively took control of those areas. The Ilaje intelligence report testifies to this fact. ( THE BENIN FACTOR IN THE HISTORY OF LAGOS Written by R.O. AJETUMOBI Ph.D; Roth 1903 etc). Scientific parameters to confirm this fact These Epe people see themselves as Isekiri and Ilaje. Olagwe was at Ode-Isekiri and was driven by Olu Irame – the lion king. They still use Isekiri in celebrating their masquerades in the Epe area. Their language is more akin to Isekiri than any other language.


BINI CONQUEST – 1601

The Bini took over Isale-Eko from the Awori(Aunis in Portuguese document) in 1601. Take note that the Bini and the Isekiri did not conquer the same area. While the Isekiri concentrate in the Epe axis, the Bini took over Lagos (Eko)

1786 – THE WAR TO END ALL WARS

1786 was the big war of the coastal states. The Oba of Benin, jealous of the fort built by the French in Ugborodo, decided to beg the Awori(Aunis) (Ifediora 1999; Sagay undated, Captain Landolphe 1796)to help them fight the Isekiri. In that same period, the French and the British had a war back home (Ian Morris 2010). Isekiri defeated the Bini-Lagos-British coalition and sold the chiefs of Lagos as slaves in Calabar.

REASONS WHY ISEKIRI WON THE WAR

Isekiri had more experience in maritime war. They had subdued the Ijaws of Kabo, Kumbo, Mehin and Tarakiri in a war of the Niger Delta, between 1730-1770). It was a series of wars which the Isekiri were progressively winning in order to control the trade of the Niger River. The area stretches from Bomadi in Delta state to very near Yenagoa(an Epie Edoid speaking town in Bayelsa). It was in these series of wars that Isekiri became masters of the western and central Niger Delta, having boundaries with Nembe in Bayelsa state, at the River Pennington (Talbot 1903also reported in Burton,). See Moore 1936, Alagoa 1972, Honsbira and St.Ifa 2011 for more information about the wars of the Niger delta.

Bini as a power was much weakened in the 18 th century when these wars were taking place. Isekiri had annexed the western Niger delta from Bini control. Tribes like Urhobo – Okpe – Isoko were under Isekiri tutelage. It was during this period that the Bini adopted primogeniture as a system of government. Isekiri and Aboh kings that left Benin before this era do not practice primogeniture. It was during these series of wars for over 40 years that Oguni Atogbuwa was born; who became the founder of Aghalokpe in 1770.

It was during these wars and as a result of these wars that western Urhobo people ran from the Erhowa area of the river Niger to stay in their present habitat. These people are Okpe, Uvwie etc. Oghara, Agbassa and Jesse came later in 1850(Miller Intelligence Report) Isekiri had silenced Aboh in the western Niger Delta and become the major power during the time of Olu Irame, 1520 (Moore 1936). But the Aboh are trying to show they were the winners of the war. Hear them “They also constitute the ruling houses in Aboh up to this day. They are Ojugbeli, Ogwezi, Ossai and Ozegbe. The kings of Aboh, unlike the tradition in Benin, retain their names after ascending the throne. Succession to the throne also does not follow the rule of primogeniture.

During the immigration movement from Benin to the present day Aboh, two major oppositions were encountered during the course of establishing the town. First was the Iwele people who were of the Itsekiri stock and the Akarais. After overcoming the challenge of opposition through fierce battles, the Benin immigrants took possession of the land, blessed with the knowledge of Benin architecture, they built Benin-like houses and constructed roads in the new town”.( https://osborg./2015/05/29/aboh/ ). But Isekiri won the war because the Isekiri are the owners of the Osimiri juju, at Idumu Iwele) in Aboh. A defeated people cannot establish a religion for their victors.

Isekiri acquired Portuguese weapon which was decisive in their defeat of their neighbours(Ilaje intelligence report Ekeh 2008, etc)

CONCLUSION

Oba of Lagos is an Olu. Some Olus rose to overcome some Obas like Olu Erejuwa who defeated the Bini-Awori-British coalition in 1786, using the mastery of Iyatsere Okorodudu, and Ologbosere Eyinmisan. The present prominence the Oba of Lagos is enjoying is due to the fact that Lagos was the capital of Nigeria, and later the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. Lagos was never a kingdom the Olu of Lagos never captured anyone in history not even people of his closest vicinity. Lagos was just a Bini outpost and from 1786 an Isekiri outpost. It was not progressive until it was made a headquarter in 1914

http://globalpeacearithmetic..co.ke/2017/05/oba-of-lagos-olu-not-oba-yoruba-state.html?m=1

cc: onuwaje
Sanchez01
Fratermathy
Konquest
mynd44
Seun
macof

I'm coming

georjay:
I'm coming

its long o, hope u have patience.

Efewestern:


its long o, hope u have patients.

patience is my name

f

Well
I agree with the first part
But this is the first time am hearing the itsekiris conquered lagos

jupiterx:
Well
I agree with the first part
But this is the first time am hearing the itsekiris conquered lagos

I have heard about it but don't see it as what holds water

Well dis piece is just off and on.

It is a post just to throw jabs at d Lagos Monarchy

This is pure science fiction.
Itsekiri themselves were part of the Benin Kingdom.

Some ancient maps of Benin Kingdom:

This one dates to around 1699:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8595525w/f1.item.r=Benin.zoom

An other map of Benin made in the 17th century once again:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530530714.r=Benin?rk=214593;2

An other map of Benin from the 17th century:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8595583b.r=Benin?rk=193134;0

This one date to the 19th century:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8469390z/f1.item.r=Benin.zoom

An other map from the 17th century:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8595527q/f1.item.r=Benin.zoom

And you "agree" with the first part because ? You saw evidence ?
The person who wrote this was writing a pro-yoruba pro-itsekeri work of fiction.
None of this ever happened.

jupiterx:
Well
I agree with the first part
But this is the first time am hearing the itsekiris conquered lagos

Tales by moonlight, next

historyworld031:
And you "agree" with the first part because ? You saw evidence ?
The person who wrote this was writing a pro-yoruba pro-itsekeri work of fiction.
None of this ever happened.

How re you sure non of them happened?, because it didn't suit your own narrative?, The person who wrote this is an itsekiri man, and you can see how be broke everything down. Agreed he over exaggerated the strength of his people, and also the part where he said Urhobo was under itsekiri tutelage was never true. The urhobos already existed before the itsekiri was founded.

I concur with the Oba title, only top monarch like oba of Benin, oni of ife etc can be called oba, the rest are olu.

The op also gave some proof, you can ask the epe people of Lagos if they weren't conquered by the itsekiris.

historyworld031:
This is pure science fiction.
Itsekiri themselves were part of the Benin Kingdom.

Some ancient maps of Benin Kingdom:

This one dates to around 1699:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8595525w/f1.item.r=Benin.zoom

An other map of Benin made in the 17th century once again:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530530714.r=Benin?rk=214593;2

An other map of Benin from the 17th century:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8595583b.r=Benin?rk=193134;0

This one date to the 19th century:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8469390z/f1.item.r=Benin.zoom

An other map from the 17th century:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8595527q/f1.item.r=Benin.zoom

in a bid to champion your Benin Supremacy over others, you denied the existence of other kingdom, no doubt the Benin had influence over Others, from Lagos to Delta to even anambra, but at the end of the 18th century the Benin kingdom was already weak.

Also the itsekiri kingdom was recognize by everyone, even the British.

onuwaje:

I have heard about it but don't see it as what holds water

not everytime we come across articles such as this, the guy made some valid points.

Scientific parameters to confirm this fact These Epe people see themselves as Isekiri and Ilaje. They still use Isekiri in celebrating their masquerades in the Epe area. Their language is more akin to Isekiri than any other language.

so which part you don't believe, the part that Lagos was never a kingdom or the part itsekiri conquered some part of Lagos.

Weak ? You dey craze ? Benin Kingdom fought against the british empire in the 19th century.
Benin Kingdom gave the british the hardest fight they met in the region.
It is well known that warri was a vassal state to the Benin Kingdom.

Efewestern:

but at the end of the 18th century the Benin kingdom was already weak.

Have you redefined proof to mean something else ?
My friend you want to tell me that in 2018 a man magically discovers things which happened several hundred years ago and which weren't written down in the period in which they happened.
Did the itsikeri guy do some time travel ?
Look this is a work of fiction and stop your nonsense of telling me to "go and ask the Epe people if they weren't conquered by itsikeri". They have no access to your friends time machine.
And for your information the title Oba is 100% Edo, the yoruba copied it.
Also the ooni of ife was a nobody before the british colonial rule. The british empowered him in order to use him as their puppet.
In precolonial days who gave a F**k about the ooni of ife ?

Efewestern:


How re you sure non of them happened?, because it didn't suit your own narrative?, The person who wrote this is an itsekiri man, and you can see how be broke everything down. Agreed he over exaggerated the strength of his people, and also the part where he said Urhobo was under itsekiri tutelage was never true. The urhobos already existed before the itsekiri was founded.

I concur with the Oba title, only top monarch like oba of Benin, oni of ife etc can be called oba, the rest are olu.

The op also gave some proof, you can ask the epe people of Lagos if they weren't conquered by the itsekiris.

historyworld031:
Weak ? You dey craze ? Benin Kingdom fought against the british empire in the 19th century.
Benin Kingdom gave the british the hardest fight they met in the region.
It is well known that warri was a vassal state to the Benin Kingdom.

You don't need to throw insult to pass your point, At the end of the 18th century the Benin Kingdom was no longer powerful, I will trash this later.

As for your other claim, Benin kingdom do not extend to warri, the itsekiris only pay respect to The Benin Throne. The iwerre was an autonomous region, and with the help of the Portuguese they were able to break free of any Benin influence and expanded their territory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Warri

So your source is wikipedia ?
How old are you ?
My generation wrote wikipedia and we are smart enough to never use it as source.
I myself, I have written a dozen wikipedia pages.
Conclusion, you are a kid.
Warri was a vassal state of Benin Kingdom which is why your itsikeri brothers took the portuguese to their overlord: Omo n'Oba n'Edo.
The guy who wrote your wikipedia page just wrote a story which fits his ethnic chauvinism.

Efewestern:


You don't need to throw insult to pass your point, At the end of the 18th century the Benin Kingdom was no longer power, I will trash this later.

As for your other claim, Benin kingdom do not extend to warri, the itsekiris only pay respect to The Benin Throne. The iwerre was an autonomous region, and with the help of the Portuguese they were able to break free of any Benin influence and expanded their territory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Warri

historyworld031:
Have you redefined proof to mean something else ?
My friend you want to tell me that in 2018 a man magically discovers things which happened several hundred years ago and which weren't written down in the period in which they happened.
Did the itsikeri guy do some time travel ?
Look this is a work of fiction and stop your nonsense of telling me to "go and ask the Epe people if they weren't conquered by itsikeri". They have no access to your friends time machine.
And for your information the title Oba is 100% Edo, the yoruba copied it.
Also the ooni of ife was a nobody before the british colonial rule. The british empowered him in order to use him as their puppet.
In precolonial days who gave a F**k about the ooni of ife ?

Relax, I don't have time to argue about who is more influential between your oba and oni, or how the oba title came about.

I Saw a post of how the itsekiris conquered far away Region, and I decided to share, If you think the op is Lying you can also explain how the ilajes got to Lagos, how come Epe are celebrating Itsekiri masquerades, My point is that there's an atom of truth in this post.

Nope, no atome of truth, just some conspiracy theory.
America has fake news while we have fake history.
The common denominator is that they both originate from conspiracy theorists.

Efewestern:


Relax, I don't have time to argue about who is more influential between your oba and oni, or how the oba title came about.

I Saw a post of how the itsekiris conquered far away Region, and I decided to share, If you think the op is Lying you can also explain how the ilajes got to Lagos, how come Epe are celebrating Itsekiri masquerades, My point is that there's an atom of truth in this post.

historyworld031:
So your source is wikipedia ?
How old are you ?
My generation wrote wikipedia and we are smart enough to never use it as source.
I myself, I have written a dozen wikipedia pages.
Conclusion, you are a kid.
Warri was a vassal state of Benin Kingdom which is why your itsikeri brothers took the portuguese to their overlord: Omo n'Oba n'Edo.
The guy who wrote your wikipedia page just wrote a story which fits his ethnic chauvinism.

My post has nothing to do with my age, this is a public forum and I brought this topic out for matured minds to discuss. am a lover of history.

But the way you just jump into conclusion without reasoning the points raised by the young man says a lot about you.

@ bolded, no doubt Benin Influenced almost all tribes from Lagos to ondo, to Delta, to Anambra, and even to far away Rivers, but that doesn't mean those places where under the control of the Oba of benin.

Just read the maps which I posted, that is actual proof.
I don't know if you are aware but we were visited by people who could write and who wrote down what they saw.
Their texts are available in several european libraries.
The lands which composed the Benin Kingdom are not in any way a mystery.
This is not subject to debate.

Efewestern:


My post has nothing to do with my age, this is a public forum and I brought this topic out for matured minds to discuss. am a lover of history.

But the way you just jump into conclusion without reasoning the points raised by the young man says a lot about you.

@ bolded, no doubt Benin Influenced almost all tribes from Lagos to ondo, to Delta, to Anambra, and even to far away Rivers, but that doesn't mean those places where under the control of the Oba of benin.

onuwaje:
Well dis piece is just off and on.

It is a post just to throw jabs at d Lagos Monarchy

And also at the entire Western Niger Deltan tribes.

historyworld031:
Nope, no atome of truth, just some conspiracy theory.
America has fake news while we have fake history.
The common denominator is that they both originate from conspiracy theorists.

You can't just conclude that this is fake, do you know the itsekiri history more than the itsekiris?, A point was raised, counter the point, if you can't counter it then don't just conclude that everything written is fake .

Read what I have already written.
The story comes with no proof, therefor it has already countered itself.
Except from that, the invasion of the Benin Kingdom by britain was due to the fact that the Oba of Benin controled all the trade in the region.
Meaning that all took orders from ...

Efewestern:


You can't just conclude that this is fake, do you know the itsekiri history more than the itsekiris?, A point was raised, counter the point, if you can't counter it then don't just conclude that everything written is fake .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfEzw61Yx9w

historyworld031:
Read what I have already written.
The story has comes with no proof, therefor it has already countered itself.
Except from that, the invasion of the Benin Kingdom by britain was due to the fact that the Oba of Benin controled all the trade in the region.
Meaning that all took orders from ...

So many flaws in the op, like what he wrote about the urhobos are entirely false, but that's not the reason I brought it here, this was actually my first time of hearing the itsekiris conquered some part of Epe in Lagos. wanted to know more.

As for the benin Kingdom let's just say I agree with whatever you say.

You guys who keep pupping up all these laughable stories, you really don't know how advanced the Benin Kingdom was. Just do a google image research on pre-colonial Benin Kingdom, that will tell you what you need to know.
If not for the fact that the british burnt down Benin City (The capital of Benin Kingdom, it is still called Benin City today), it would be the mervel of west africa today, and it would have more tourists than paris.

historyworld031:
You guys who keep pupping up all these laughable stories, you really don't know how advanced the Benin Kingdom was. Just do a google image research on pre-colonial Benin Kingdom, that will tell you what you need to know.
If not for the fact that the british burnt down Benin City (The capital of Benin Kingdom, it is still called Benin City today), it would be the mervel of west africa today, and it would have more tourists than paris.

It's such a shame that the British are yet to compensate the people of Benin for desicrating their homeland and culture, and stealing their artefacts.

History never forgets... The pains of Ovoramwen Nogbaisi lives on today. No matter what any of us thinks of the Benin kingdom, we can never deny the fact that it was a major political & cultural epicentre in the entire Southern Nigeria! Who was the Olu of Warri before the Oba?

Oba gha to kpe-e!

fratermathy:


It's such a shame that the British are yet to compensate the people of Benin for desicrating their homeland and culture, and stealing their artefacts.

History never forgets... The pains of Ovoramwen Nogbaisi lives on today. No matter what any of us thinks of the Benin kingdom, we can never deny the fact that it was a major political & cultural epicentre in the entire Southern Nigeria! Oba gha to kpe-e!

Ise

Efewestern:


not everytime we come across articles such as this, the guy made some valid points.



so which part you don't believe, the part that Lagos was never a kingdom or the part itsekiri conquered some part of Lagos.

The part where the Itsekiri conquered Lagos. It cud be true it cud be false but i am neutral on that postulations cos I don't have concrete details on it