I need Katsumoto and Chief Negro on this thread....

I'll like to learn from you guys...

Cheers...

shymexx: I need Katsumoto and Chief Negro on this thread....

I'll like to learn from you guys...

Cheers...

My Ijebu brother,

My contributions will be wholly from oral accounts. For various reasons, I have deep and rooted interest in Epe than I do Ikorodu, even though my heart beats passionately for everything Ikorodu.

So to all my lovely Ijebu people...Ijebu alare, eweso o!

First, I should ask why is Epe an Ijebu town and not an Eko town?

Negro_Ntns:

My Ijebu brother,

My contributions will be wholly from oral accounts. For various reasons, I have deep and rooted interest in Epe than I do Ikorodu, even though my heart beats passionately for everything Ikorodu.

So to all my lovely Ijebu people...Ijebu alare, eweso o!

First, I should ask why is Epe an Ijebu town and not an Eko town?

Me sef wonder o. More like The Ijebu people founded the town or they were simply by geographical location have to be part of Lagos. Anyway, Egba and Ijebu own several parts of Lagos

Negro_Ntns:
My Ijebu brother,

My contributions will be wholly from oral accounts. For various reasons, I have deep and rooted interest in Epe than I do Ikorodu, even though my heart beats passionately for everything Ikorodu.

So to all my lovely Ijebu people...Ijebu alare, eweso o!

First, I should ask why is Epe an Ijebu town and not an Eko town?

I think it's part of both towns, something like the best of both worlds...

Epe is to Lagos Island/Victoria Island what Harlem is to Manhattan...

I don't mind the oral accounts, sir...

Shymexx, thanks for bringing this up. Epe is an Ijebu town but it witnessed an influx of Lagos people when Kosoko was banished from Lagos.

My mother is from Ketu-Epe, close to Ejinrin. I spent some years as a kid in that part.

I also heard an oral account from my mum which I have been trying to know more about. There was a town called Olumodan in current Epe. It was close to Ejinrin and Itoikin some kilometers away from current Ketu-Epe.

My mum said it was a prominent coastal settlement and it was razed down during a battle between the settlers and European traders.

She told me there was a scarcity of salt and an argument ensued between the people and other European traders when the prince of the town was slapped by a white man.

This degenrated into a major conflict and the whole town burnt down. I was told the people of the town managed to run away with the King's crown to present day Ketu-Epe and Ejinrin environs.


I'll like to know more if there's a record of such.

Epe was under Ijebu province during the colonial rule. That was why Kosoko could seek refuge there because it was not under Lagos colony.

Now, the people who came with Kosoko are now known as Eko-Epe and the indigenous settlers are Ijebu-epes.


The Sarumis, Edus etc are Eko-Epes while the Agbalajobis etc are Ijebu-Epes. That explain why there's the Oloja of Epe (ijebu) and the Olu of Epe (Eko people).


I hope this helps!

The Ijebus began flexing their muscles as soon as they realized that their rivals were engaged in various wars – The Oyo were fighting the Kiriji wars and the Egbas were fighting the Oyo and Dahomey at the same time. Since they controlled the route to Lagos, they started maltreating the Oyo’s and Ibadans.
After Governor Moloney left Lagos, the colonial secretary, Denton, took over as acting Governor and proposed a treaty to the Awujale to open up the route to the hinterland. On the way to Ijebu ode, he was stopped and harassed several times. He was asked to leave his military escort behind and didn’t get to see the Awujale for four days even though he was in the compound of the Awujale.

Denton proposed to pay to Ijebus, all that accrued to them yearly from the tolls collected. The Ijebu chiefs refused to collect the gifts and Denton felt slighted. Carter was subsequently appointed governor and given full authority to deal with the Ijebus in 1891. He requested that the Ijebus apologize for the treatment meted to Denton which they did. Ijebu subsequently signed the treaty but still didn’t allow caravans to travel beyond Oru. The Ijebus then started making a series of demands
1. That Kuku, an Ijebu chief residing in Ibadan be expelled. Ibadan complied and Ijebu forces destroyed his house in Ibadan
2. That Rev Olubi of the CMS be expelled from Ibadan. Ibadan disagreed on the basis that Olubi had lived with them for over 40 years. The CMS sents gifts to Ijebu that were accepted but didn’t placate Ijebu.
3. Ibadan then demanded the head of Olubi and Rev Harding, who was another missionary in Ibadan. Ijebu demanded more presents and these were given by the CMS.
4. Next Ijebu demanded that Ibadan send some slaves for not complying with his order.

The British responded with canons to bomb Ijebu. Ijebu then signed another treaty which it had no intentions of honoring. Rev Williams who was returning to his post was turned back to Lagos by the Ijebu. The Ijebu ignored an ultimatum and began to prepare for war. The Egba then decided to offer their troops to Ijebu and fight the Brits together. Governor Carter sent a letter to the Egbas but they refused to read it. Ijebu foolishly then told the Egba that if they had not driven the British back to Lagos in 3 months, the Egba could join them.
The British used officers from England, soldiers Ghana (under Capt Bayley), Ibadan (Capt Toyan), Sierra Leone (Maj Madden), West Indians, & Hausaland (Capt Bower).

The Ijebus had expected the expedition to travel through Ito Ike but theu went through Epe, which was the longest route. The Ijebu moved their troops towards Epe and ambushed the Brits at Pobo. After the retreat of the Ijebus, all the surrounding villages were burnt down. The Ijebus ambushed again at Erebo and were repulsed. The Ijebus held their last stand at the River Yemoji in Imagbon. Here the British brought the full use of maxim guns and canons. By the time the British got to Ijebu Ode, it had been deserted except for the Awujale who was subsequently kept under house arrest.

Source: History of the Yorubas by Samuel Johnson

Negro_Ntns:

My Ijebu brother,

My contributions will be wholly from oral accounts. For various reasons, I have deep and rooted interest in Epe than I do Ikorodu, even though my heart beats passionately for everything Ikorodu.

So to all my lovely Ijebu people...Ijebu alare, eweso o!

First, I should ask why is Epe an Ijebu town and not an Eko town?

Because the Ijebu got to Epe and Ikorodu first Just as the Awori got to Ikeja, Iddo and other places.

Photographs please if there is any?.

Interesting...

Thanks Kats and Pcicero...

@Kats

Did the Egbas fulfill their promise to the Ijebus? And I thought the Ijebus also controlled the arms trade then, so they should have had canons as well... So, how come they were easily subdued by the firepower of the Brits??

Just so confused about all these Ijebu, Egba, Awori, Epe people,
Did they fall from heaven?

Paul John: Just so confused about all these Ijebu, Egba, Awori, Epe people,
Did they fall from heaven?

We're all the same Yoruba people - just trying to know more about my people's history...

Katsumoto:

Because the Ijebu got to Epe and Ikorodu first Just as the Awori got to Ikeja, Iddo and other places.

Thanks Katz! Take a look at the quote below and please tell us if what cicero has said here concerning the two Epes is true or false.

pcicero: Epe was under Ijebu province during the colonial rule. That was why Kosoko could seek refuge there because it was not under Lagos colony.

Now, the people who came with Kosoko are now known as Eko-Epe and the indigenous settlers are Ijebu-epes.


The Sarumis, Edus etc are Eko-Epes while the Agbalajobis etc are Ijebu-Epes. That explain why there's the Oloja of Epe (ijebu) and the Olu of Epe (Eko people).


I hope this helps!

shymexx:

We're all the same Yoruba people - just trying to know more about my people's history...

Oh! Good to know. Have no much idea about Lagos,Ogun people. Just enclaved with Osun, Oyo, Ekiti History.
no vex.

I'll also like to know the connection

pcicero: Epe was under Ijebu province during the colonial rule. That was why Kosoko could seek refuge there because it was not under Lagos colony.

Now, the people who came with Kosoko are now known as Eko-Epe and the indigenous settlers are Ijebu-epes.


The Sarumis, Edus etc are Eko-Epes while the Agbalajobis etc are Ijebu-Epes. That explain why there's the Oloja of Epe (ijebu) and the Olu of Epe (Eko people).

I hope this helps!

1. There was Ijebu Kingdom, not province at the time you referenced. The colonials were yet to get a foothold beyond just Eko. Provincial districts came later and Ijebu then became a province but much much later past the sojourn of Kosoko at Epe.

2. Is it not apparent that the establishment of Bini in Eko is being repeated here with the establishment of Eko in Epe?

3. What is the ancestry of the Olu, what lineage and dynasty is the throne?

Negro_Ntns:

Thanks Katz! Take a look at the quote below and please tell us if what cicero has said here concerning the two Epes is true or false.

It is true

The first Oloja on the Ijebu side was Sagbafara.The after 4 Olojas, the next ruler was called Bale Durosolu. Then after the rule of Bale Atoyegbe, Abidakun became the first Olu of Epe. Right after Abidakun, David Ajayi became Oloja. This was all on the Ijebu side.

On the Eko side Iyonda was the first Bale. Then after 11 other Baale's, Giwa became the first Olu of Epe.

The names of the titles were interchanged several times but the Ijebu side had near total control of the government of Epe until after the Ijebu were defeated at Imagbon. The Bales from the Eko side were apponted to the Epe central council in 1901 and the Oloja (Ijebu side) was also appointed to that council in 1902. But the Eko side had control of Epe.

Negro_Ntns:


1. There was Ijebu Kingdom, not province at the time you referenced. The colonials were yet to get a foothold beyond just Eko. Provincial districts came later and Ijebu then became a province but much much later past the sojourn of Kosoko at Epe.

2. Is it not apparent that the establishment of Bini in Eko is being repeated here with the establishment of Eko in Epe?

3. What is the ancestry of the Olu, what lineage and dynasty is the throne?

Sagbafara was the first Oloja and he was from Ijebu -ode but he met several others at Epe. Huraka, a man from Ife, was the first man at Epe. Others from Ilara, Olu, etc soon joined him.

Interesting . . .

shymexx: Interesting...

Thanks Kats and Pcicero...

@Kats

Did the Egbas fulfill their promise to the Ijebus? And I thought the Ijebus also controlled the arms trade then, so they should have had canons as well... So, how come they were easily subdued by the firepower of the Brits??

The Egbas couldn't fulfill their promise because Ijebu told them to wait 3 months. The war didn't last that long. Funny thing is that it was only the Egbas, of the Yoruba armies, who used canons. The tide at the River Yemoji was quite high but there was a small crossing that was low enough for men to cross through. This was where the Ijebus ambushed the Brits. They may have had the day but for the Gatlin and canons which the Brits used to clear the other side. The outcome could have been different if the Ijebu accepted the Egbas offer and used the Egba canons at that point.

Ijebu and Egbas controlled the routes to the hinterland. There was another route at Odo but that wasn't guarded by a powerful army. That was how the Ekiti's and Ijeshas got their arms.

So, how come they were easily subdued by the firepower of the Brits?? Shoe get size now.
You have to remember that the brits were using soldiers from various colonies to fight. They had more men and had more guns.

Thank Kats. You are a delight any day!

Katsumoto:


The Egbas couldn't fulfill their promise because Ijebu told them to wait 3 months. The war didn't last that long. Funny thing is that it was only the Egbas, of the Yoruba armies, who used canons. The tide at the River Yemoji was quite high but there was a small crossing that was low enough for men to cross through. This was where the Ijebus ambushed the Brits. They may have had the day but for the Gatlin and canons which the Brits used to clear the other side. The outcome could have been different if the Ijebu accepted the Egbas offer and used the Egba canons at that point.

Ijebu and Egbas controlled the routes to the hinterland. There was another route at Odo but that wasn't guarded by a powerful army. That was how the Ekiti's and Ijeshas got their arms.

So, how come they were easily subdued by the firepower of the Brits?? Shoe get size now.
You have to remember that the brits were using soldiers from various colonies to fight. They had more men and had more guns.

Carter demanded that Ijebu stop human sacrifice and allow free trade flow into the hinterland having paid Awujale 500 pounds a year in treaty. But things went funny because the Ijebu people were losing a lot of money due to this and resisted. Carter's battle was actually punitive and sent a clear message to all the other hard-heads of Yorubaland:" won't take shit from you guys"
Actually it was the rockets that did the Ijebu in. Good stuff man.

Thanks guys, interesting stuff...

The TRUE ACCOUNTS OF THE MASSACA at Imagbon

In May 1891 the British Acting Governor, Captain C.M. Denton C.M.G., left Lagos with an escort of Hausa constables (Hausas are from the Islamic north of Nigeria) to visit Jebu Ode to make agreements allowing the free passage of trade goods through Ijebu territory. However the Awujale refused to agree to the British requests and he also rejected the British presents given to him by Denton, doubtless fearing that to accept them would obligate him in some way.

London then instructed Lagos to obtain an apology from the Awujale for the perceived "insult" to Denton, and to insist on free right of way through the Awujale's territory. In January 1892 a representative of the Awujale went to Lagos to agree to the British demands, and in return the British granted the Ijebu 500 pounds annually to compensate for the loss of customs revenue. However the tribe was unhappy with this outcome as it did not wish to change its traditional methods and practices, particularly when threatened by foreigners.

A white missionary was allowed through Jebu territory but the second one who tried received a rough time and was sent back, as was a party of Ibadan porters attempting to come south through Jebu Ode. London now authorized the use of force, quickly sending out some special service officers from England to act as a military staff. One of these was Captain Edward Roderick ("Roddy") Owen of the Lancashire Fusiliers, a famous jockey at British race meetings.

Troops from along the West African coast were concentrated at Lagos. The Gold Coast Constabulary sent 150 men from Accra, the 1st Battalion The West India Regiment (the British garrison regiment for West Africa) sent a company from Sierra Leone. These troops joined 150 "Lagos Hausas" (mainly escaped slaves from the north of Nigeria that had been recruited and trained into an efficient unit now titled the Lagos Constabulary) and some irregulars from Ibadan, north of Jebu country.

The Inspector-General of The Gold Coast Constabulary, Colonel F.C. Scott C.B., was the force commander and on 12th May 1892 he moved his 450 armed men and 340 carriers by a flotilla of vessels and canoes up Lagos Lagoon, and landed at Epe without opposition. Scott's men had three 7-pounder field guns, two Nordenfeldt guns (hand-cranked multi-barrel weapons that fired in waves of rounds), two rocket troughs and a Maxim gun as fire support. At Leckie, near Epe, another 186 carriers were recruited.

(The West Indians were expert at using rockets, either for drawing enemy fire by firing them into likely ambush locations, or for setting village thatched roofs alight.)

The Jebus were believed to have up to 8,000 men and some old Snider rifles, but the tribe was not rated highly as fighters. This assumption was mistaken. The British left Epe on 16th May and marched to Pobo where it burned four villages but took 8 casualties. The next day the force reached Atumba and had to fight hard for half an hour. One Briton was killed and one wounded whilst 12 Africans were wounded. The Jebus lost heavily to machine-gun fire.

The advance continued with the Ibadan irregulars scouting ahead and the Gold Coasters and Lagos Hausa alternating daily as Advance and Rear guard. All Jebu villages found were torched. Colonel Scott was anxious to prove that the Gold Coasters and Hausas could fight as effectively as the regular West Indians, and so the latter were kept tucked away in the Main Column. The track to Jebu Ode that the British were following was the main trade route, and the outer edges where feet had tramped for hundreds of years were well rutted down, leaving a triangle of earth in the middle which had to be straddled by the marchers. Thick bush on either side forced the British column into a single file two miles long, allowing the Jebu to easily pick off soldiers and then disappear, leaving a corpse or wounded man blocking the track. As yet no white man had ever used this route and the Jebu fought hard to preserve that tradition.

On 19th May the Jebu made a determined stand on the north bank of a ford over the Yemoyi River, five miles south of Jebu Ode. The river here was 40 yards wide and sometimes over 4 feet deep (the Jebu had dug it deeper for this battle to create a difficult obstacle), and above and below the ford the river narrowed and ran through impenetrable bush. The southern approach to the ford ran through a gorge that prevented the British from manoeuvring off the track. The enemy warriors were located on both sides of the river, and the narrowness of the track being used made it extremely difficult for the British to bring up and concentrate their heavy weapons. The Ijebu were determined to prevent the British from crossing the ford and as warriors were shot down or ran out of bullets fresh relays of men from the rear replaced them.

Scott ordered his Hausa advance guard across the river but they did not want to move. It was believed that the Jebu had made a human sacrifice to the goddess of the river in order to obtain the goddess' support in repelling the invaders. Finally a machine gun was brought up to the river bank and Scott ordered the West Indian Regiment company under Major George Colquhoun Madden to storm the ford. The crossing was successful, and once the Hausa had observed that the river goddess was inactive then they too crossed and engaged the Jebu. By now the guns and rockets had struggled up the congested track and these fired into likely Jebu positions until resistance ceased.

The remainder of the force now crossed the ford and advanced half a mile to Imagbodon village where Scott took stock of the situation. Since they had left Epe the British had lost 56 men killed and 30 more wounded including three white officers, one of them being Roddy Owen at the river crossing. Although the Jebu had lost around 700 warriors at the ford, mainly to machine-gun fire, thousands more remained at large ready to fight.


Therefore next morning as the march resumed Scott's Advance Guard was surprised to meet envoys from the Awujale offering submission. The Ijebu admitted to losing a thousand warriors and seven chiefs and were anxious to stop the burning of any more villages. The tribe accepted defeat and, in the words of the Awujale, they were "no fit for fight with white man".

A few hours later Jebu Ode had a Union Flag flying over it, the Awujale's palace was being used as the British officers' mess and the surrounding buildings housed the soldiers. Scott banned looting but this order antagonised the Ibadan irregulars who had to be disarmed. Flying columns marched along the trade routes declaring them open, Roddy Owen commanding the one that went north to Oru to destroy the Ijebu toll gates there. The West Indians marched back to Lagos declaring that south-westerly route open also.

Before marching away and leaving a garrison in Jebu Ode the British burned part of the city including the Fetish House. The Ijebu were great believers in dark practices and had slaughtered thousands of sacrificial victims in order to placate evil spirits (good spirits could be ignored as they did no harm). After ritual torture the victims were beheaded, buried alive or nailed to trees by their heads. After the latter the bodies were thrown into a special pond but the skulls were left adorning the trees in the fetish groves.

What a thread

The account written by Samuel Johnson is too favourable to the Europeans to be believable. Eventually we will write ALL of our stories our selves.

The Ijebus fought hard but they were no match for the modern machine gun that was unleashed on the war chiefs and fighters. A movie should be made about this episode.

Hi guys. I'mdoing a research on the history of Eko Epe. Please who was the first Olu of Epe and when did he reign. I saw on the thread that there was a baale for Eko Epe before there was an Olu. Please who were these baale and when did reign? Thanks

Lets not forget OBA DAVID AJAYI was installed as the first oloja of epe. He was liked by all because of his intelligence and his ability to interprete for the British. his reign was for 33 years. He died in 1978. He was the brother of bale sanusi, The bale of imagbon alade.

The history of epe's throne has always been incomplete, the ruling families have used money to try and erase the names of the other rulling families. Its saddening.

My name is PRINCE OLUMIDE ANTHONY AJAYI, son of PRINCE PAUL TUNDE AJAYI GREAT GRANDSON OF OBA DAVID AJAYI the first Oloja of EPE

Katsumoto:


Sagbafara was the first Oloja and he was from Ijebu -ode but he met several others at Epe. Huraka, a man from Ife, was the first man at Epe. Others from Ilara, Olu, etc soon joined him.

OBA DAVID AJAYI was the first Oloja of epe. Go to epe and ask questions

Strong kingdom

Op at what point did Oduduwa fall from the sky and crushed his skull? Is it before or after the war?