The knowledge has been in public domain that Abia state's tributary at Obuaku is nearer to the Atlantic Ocean than the Port Harcourt's. King Jaja actually used the maritime pathway to haul palm oil down the beachhead.

Having stated that, the ports at Port Harcourt and Akwai Ibom, If allowed to operate at maximum capacity, would solve Igbo merchants' problems.
The outcome would be that:

a) the proximity of these ports to the Igbo hinterland is very negligible.

b) the long distance from the east to Lagos which precipitated the need to reside in Lagos would not be there anymore. Most Igbo merchants would enjoy doing their businesses in the comfort of their palatial mansions in the east currently left for the cockroaches.

c) The city of Aba would by default become one of the biggest container terminals in Nigeria given her proximity to Port Harcourt. A distance that is about that of Tin Can Island to Oshodi.

d) Most Igbo businesses would wind down to maintaining subsidiaries in Lagos.

e) Land patronage by the Igbo in Lagos would decline.

f) the need to buy land from these contiguous port cities would not increase from what it currently is.

g) Upsurge in real estate business in Igboland

h) the removal of railtracks from the "Exclusive list" to the "Concurrent" would put SE states under pressure to link the states with rail lines.

i) More air traffic at the well-built Anambra airport. And as well as Imo and Enugu etc.

Donvictor2015:
Alex Otti is from arochukwu

And what does that mean? Respect where he said he come from? You guys have REFUSED to learn your lessons in the face of the unnending accusations against the Igbo. Spits!

melonsgroup:
The only investment a Yorbba man has in Igbo land are chu€ch branches.

What about the lands on which these church branches were built? There are so many of them in Igboland! Were they not bought from the Igbo land owners? Then, where is this accusation that Igbos don't sell lands to non indigenes coming from?

There are many things I don't understand in this whole bullshit!

IDENNAA:



You have been sold a dummy. These people have internal jealousy for the Igbo man which precipitate into hate

Jesus!!

gabbytabby:
Igbomen only want to marry 16 to 24 year old and the more under 20 the better. Even men over 50.

A lot of their graduate women over 25 do not have a lot of options. Become a Prostitute , marry a semi illiterate of the Igbo extraction or chase after men of other tribes. Yes they chase.

They are so unreasonable and selfish even in providing suitors for their women.

Having interacted with you over the years on property section with my previous moniker, I couldn't believe what am reading from you. Are you this low?

Shouldn't you be promoting at home those norms that helped you survive overseas?

Strengthen those values which made Nigerians enjoy the right of citizenship; right of residency, right of employment, right of property ownership and the right of political aspiration overseas. We have Kemi Badenoch, Chuka Umunna etc. all soaring in the UK's political circles.

Please, eschew ethnic profiling. Promote love and peaceful coexistence.

He promised years ago that if given the chance to be governor, he would build a Lekki-like city on the Omambala River plains. He'd already promised to link the whole local governments in the state with rail tracks and other eye popping promises. He must start them within the remaining three years. "The Dubai and Taiwan of Africa" must be seen to have been started.

So, Ndi Anambra must not allow him to escape the promises. As a "big brain" in economics, he's expected to show the superiority over Mbadinuju, Obi, Nigige and Obiano.

.

Premium Times Opinion

Umaru Altine, a cattle dealer, had left the Sokoto province to sojourn in Enugu. There he married an Igbo Lady, Esther, and was president of the Enugu branch of the youth wing of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). He was a completely detribalised Nigerian.


Benjamin Cardozo, an American jurist and philosopher, has said, “history, in illuminating the past, illuminates the present and in illuminating the present, illuminates the future.”

The story of Nigeria is a deep, intriguing and enchanting metaphor. Its glorious past sharply contradicts its current political conundrum. A Fulani man from Sifawa in the Sokoto Caliphate, Mallam Umaru Altine, was elected as the first mayor of the city of Enugu, the heart land and heart beat of the Igbo nation, in 1952. He was in office till 1958.

Enugu is the capital of the old Eastern Region of Nigeria.

Umaru Altine was a product of Dr. Azikiwe’s political nationalistic and cosmopolitan outlook. He was a pan-Nigerian. His faith in one Nigeria was unshakable and unquestionable. He was Altine’s guide, pathfinder and mentor.


As a descendant of Uthman Dan Fodio, Altine could have equally emerged as Sultan of Sokoto, one day, but he preferred the life of trading, travel and adventure. He had earlier joined the Army and worked briefly with the Railways.

He had also played politics in the Tambuwal District of the Sokoto Province, before his eventual sojourn in the coal city of Enugu. He was handsome, always dressed impeccably and had a magnetic aura.

In Enugu, he wore the popular babariga, with a turban, and on some occasions he wore suits, as the functions of office, demanded.

In Enugu, he went to church, when his duties as mayor demanded this, and he also went to do the kick off at stadia as mayor, whenever invited.

Without losing his identity, he smoked, loved the native Igbo Nsala Soup with fresh fish, and according to his wife, Esther, he had a high sense of personal hygiene and good command of English, Fulfude, Hausa and Igbo languages.


Umaru Altine’s feats would have been unattainable, but for the encouragement and supports of the NCNC leader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was a consummate politician, and a cosmopolitan and urbane pan-Nigerian.

Azikiwe wanted to use Altine’s story, or his entry into Enugu politics, to teach a lesson and tell the story of a Nigeria that could only grow, and prominently too, without ethnic, religious or tribal divides.

Azikiwe’s life had equally been chequered. He was born on November 16, 1904 in Zungeru, in present day Niger State, to Obed-Chukwuemeka Azikiwe and Rachel Chinwe Ogbenyeanu. Obed was, at the time, a clerk in the British colonial government.

Zik started his elementary school education in Zungeru, and ended up in Onitsha where his father had sent him, in order to learn, understand and speak his indigenous Igbo language. He later attended Hope Waddell Training College, Calabar and ended up at the Methodist Boy’s High School in Lagos, for his Secondary education.

In Lagos, he courted the friendship of children of prominent Yoruba aristocrats like George Shyngle, son of Egerton Shyngle; Francis Cole and Ade Williams (a son of the then Akarigbo of Remo). These connections were, thereafter, of immense benefits to his political career.

Azikiwe travelled to America for his University education and obtained various degrees from Howard University in Washington D.C, the University of Pennsylvania and Colombia University, respectively, before returning to Nigeria in 1934.

He became an active member of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM), the foremost nationalist organisation in the country then, and supported Adeniran Akisanya, as the NYM candidate, for a vacant seat in the Legislative Council in 1941, which had been vacated by Sir Kofo Abayomi, who resigned from his position to pursue further studies in Ophthalmology in the United Kingdom.

The leadership of the NYM had supported Ernest Ikoli, an Ijaw man, to succeed their former president, Kofoworola Abayomi. Azikiwe, disappointed by this choice, resigned his membership of the NYM and accussed the leadership of disdain for the Ijebu members.


In the Western Region, Umaru Altine had a soul mate in Emmanuel Ebubedike, an Igbo man from Ozubulu town, in present day Anambra State. He was the honourable member representing Ajeronmi/Ifelodun/Badagry Constituency in the Western Region House of Assembly.


Interestingly, Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola and a host of other youths supported Ernest Ikoli, against the choice of Adeniran Akisanya by Dr. Azikiwe.

Akisanya, bemoaning his subsequent loss, described Awolowo and Akintola as “misguided youths.” He later became the Odemo of Isara. Zik became a co-founder of the NCNC in 1944 and its secretary general in 1946, with Dr. Herbert Macauley as the president. Dr. Azikiwe took an active part in Lagos politics and his newspaper, The West African Pilot, was very prominent during that period.

The militants in the Zikist Youth Movement, as led by Osita Agwuina, were Raji Abdala, Kolawole Balogun, M.C.K Ajuluchukwu and Abiodun Aloba, whose pen name was Ebenezer Williams.

In the politics of Lagos and its environs then, the Igbos and Zik’s acolytes held sway. Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemesi), Chief Theophilus O.S Benson, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Chief Olu Akinfosile, and Chief Richard Akinjide, were distinguished and notable Yoruba politicians in their life-times, and were equally close confidants of Dr. Azikwe. T.O.S Benson (who later became Nigeria’s first minister of Information) had earlier won the Yaba Federal seat for the NCNC and in 1964, he ran again as an independent candidate, to defeat his former constituency secretary, Maduagwu Moronu, an Oba man of the Igbo nationality, as a candidate for the Yaba Federal seat.

Zik won a seat to the Western Regional House of Assembly, representing Lagos, and would have been the first premier of the Western Region in 1952, as he was already coasting home to victory, if the Action Group had not boosted its memberships with the support of the Ibadan People’s Party, the Ondo Improvement League, the Otu Edo People’s Party and other splinter groups, to secure a majority in the Western Region House of Assembly, following the advent of the Macpherson Constitution of 1951.

The Ibadan political maverick, Adegoke Adelabu, Dr. Olorunimbe and T.O.S Benson, were his ardent supporters. As a result of this loss, Zik returned to the Eastern Region, and by displacing the Ibibio man, Professor Eyo Ita, who was majority leader of the Eastern Region House of Assembly and leader of government business, he succeded Ita. With the election of 1954, Zik became premier of the Eastern Region.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe became the governor general of Nigeria on October 1, 1960, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa being the prime minister, and he was the first Nigerian appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the first president of Nigeria in 1963, when the country became a federal republic.

In Enugu, a Northerner, Babasule was equally prominent in politics about this time and was president of the Stranger Elements Movement in Enugu. He synergised and supported Altine’s cause.

In 1956, a group in the NCNC had also presented D.T Inyang as a candidate to run against Altine, in the election to the Municipal Council. Inyang was easily trounced by Altine to continue in office as mayor of Enugu Municipal Council. Interestingly, he won re-election as an independent candidate. He was also, at that time, still very close to the Sultan Sadiq Abubakar of Sokoto, who went on to reign for 50 years (1938 to 1988). Umaru Altine had grown up in the Sultan’s Palace.

On November 10, 1956, Umaru Altine was elected as president of the NCNC branch in Enugu without any opposition. He was in office, comfortably and confidently, until 1958.

In the Western Region, Umaru Altine had a soul mate in Emmanuel Ebubedike, an Igbo man from Ozubulu town, in present day Anambra State. He was the honourable member representing Ajeronmi/Ifelodun/Badagry Constituency in the Western Region House of Assembly. In May 1962, he was the member, who on the day of the crises in the House of Assembly, prominently pitted his support for the continuation in office of Samuel Lodoke Akintola as premier of the Western Region.

The crises that erupted on the floor of the parliament eventually led to the dissolution of the parliament and government of the Western Region, followed by the setting up of the Majekodunmi Emergency Administration between May 29 and December 31, 1962 by the federal government and the Tafawa Balewa administration.

Dr. Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, aside from being a member of the Senate of the National Assembly, was also Tafewa Balewa’s friend, confidant and private medical doctor.

Ibadan, as a result of its rising growth, economic development, and its accommodating nature, became a colony of large migrant populations. The Igbos settled in Mokola, Ekotedo and Inalende in the early 1920s, whilst Sabon-gari was planned in 1917 and completed in 1920. The overcrowding of Sabon-gari, originally meant for the Hausas, had led to the development of Mokola, to settle Nupe and Igbira migrants from northern Nigeria. The late Waziri Nupe, Alhaji Bello Muhammed Bagudu, grew up and settled in Mokola, Ibadan, until in later life when he relocated to Bida. He was a member of Ibadan Municipal Council in the 1950s. His son, Senator Isa Mohammed, who also grew up in Ibadan, attended Igbo Elerin Grammar School, founded by the late Ibadan monarch, Oba Odugade Odulana. He was a senator representing the Niger Central Constituency of Niger State in the National Assembly, between 1999 and 2007.

As an interesting corollary, a non-Ibadan native, J.M. Johnson (1912-1987), born in Lagos of Lafiaji/Brazilian extraction, returned to civil life in Ibadan after the Second World War and became a bank clerk and later a business man. He eventually joined politics, through which he got elected into the Ibadan District Council and later became the first and only non-indigene to serve as chairman of the council.

From his political life in Ibadan, Johnson became a federal minister in 1956, and served in Internal Affairs, Labour, Social Welfare and Sports ministries. He also acted twice as prime minister in the NCNC and NPC coalition government. He was instrumental to the first World Boxing Title fight in Africa, which took place in Ibadan, Western Nigeria, between Dick Tiger and Gene Fullmer at the Liberty Stadium in 1963. In the same year (1963), he retired from politics by declining to contest in the general elections.

Nigeria is a very complex country. Our problems did not start yesterday but about 1894. Lord Lugard came here as Major Lugard and he was not originally employed by the British government, but by charter companies. He was first with the East Indian Company, then with the Royal East Company, and thereafter the Royal Niger Company. It was from the latter Company that he transferred his services to the British government.

According to Agu, “our history before that time did not reflect its towering achievements in terms of Nigerian unity. I was going to name a public institution after him, but time did not allow for that…” But Gab was glad to note that, “a street was named after the late mayor somewhere in the coal camp in the city of Enugu during the First Republic.”


The interest of the Europeans in Africa and indeed in the enclaves later known as Nigeria was purely economic. Even till date. Nigeria was created out of territiroes that were British spheres of interest, for business.

In 1898, Lord Lugard formed the West African Frontier force, initially with 2000 soldiers. He then became an imperialist.

When Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force, about 90 per cent of his recruits were from the Middle Belt in Northern Nigeria.

His dispatches to London between 1898 to 1914 were quite interesting. A number of these dispatches led to the amalgamation of 1914. The Order-in-Council was drawn up in November 1913, and this was signed and came into force in January 1914. In those dispatches, Lugard said a number of things, which are the root causes of significant problems in Nigeria, yesterday and today.

Mary Shaw, a journalist, was Lugard mistress, and she actually suggested to him, in the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, the name, Nigeria.

The British needed railways, from the Coast to the North of the country, in the interest of British business. The amalgamation of the Southern and the Northern protectorates became of crucial importance to this business interest. Benin was conquered in 1896. This made the creation of the Southern protectorate possible on January 1, 1900. Sokoto was not conquered, until 1903. After the conquest, the British were then in a position to create the Northern Protectorate. Unfortunately, what the British amalgamated in 1914 was the administration of the Northern and Southern Protectorates, and not the people.

Obafemi Awolowo once called Nigeria “a mere geographical expression”, while Sir Ahmadu Bello called the country, “a mistake of 1914.”

In the furtherance of British economic interest, the colonial administration started railway services from Iddo, Lagos in 1896 and the line got to Ibadan in March 1901, when the Dugbe Train Station was opened. And from there, the rail line went North, exiting at Nguru, in what was known as the Lagos to Nguru line.

As a result of the discovery of coal in Enugu in 1906, by an engineer, Mines Albert Kitson, the British developed a city port, known as Port Hacourt in 1906, and developed a rail line from there to Enugu, for the evacuation of coal from the Enugu mines, back to the port, for onward shippment to the United Kingdom, in 1913.

As at 1956, there were about 8000 miners in Enugu. Then coal was like crude oil, as an essential economic commodity. There are hardly any miners in the coal city presently.

The Port Harcourt rail line traversed Enugu and ended or exited at Kaura Namoda in Maiduguri.

Port Harcourt was actually named after Lord Lewis Vernon Harcourt, former Secretary of State for the colonies (1910 to 1915). Both Lagos-Nguru and Porthacourt-Kaura Namoda rail lines have a total span of 3506 kilometres of narrow rail track.

In fond memory of the first ever mayor of Enugu, Umaru Altine, Agu Gab, in his capacity as chairman of Enugu North Local Government, invited the Umaru Altine family to Enugu in 2004, to celebrate the achievements of their late father.

According to Agu, “our history before that time did not reflect its towering achievements in terms of Nigerian unity. I was going to name a public institution after him, but time did not allow for that…” But Gab was glad to note that, “a street was named after the late mayor somewhere in the coal camp in the city of Enugu during the First Republic.”

Alhaji Umaru Altine, certainly deserves more.

Despite the history of its birth in 1914, its hiccups and challenges and leadership deficits, coupled with its inability or refusal to restructure, despite strident and trenchant calls, Nigeria has certainly come to stay. And in the fondest memory of pan Nigerians like Mallam Umaru Altine, there may be need to re-echo with relish and undisguised affection, and deep nolstagia, Nigeria’s old National anthem:




https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2020/10/29/mallam-umaru-altine-first-mayor-of-enugu-municipal-council-1952-1958-by-femi-kehinde/

Princessdainty:
Every man have gay tendencies. A male center of gravity is in his rectum.

If you can't show any medical journal to support the position, then ascribe the hypothesis to your person.

Antiurchins:
Ever since the creation of ESN and Unknown gunmen getting to three years now if they are not killing none believers A.K.A saboteurs they are killing rival ESN if they are not killing rival ESN they are killing army if they are not killing army they are killing police if they are not killing police they are killing who didn't sit at home.

Keep deceiving yourself even with your ESN since how many years you can't show us one of these fulani. Are they ghost or what.

Go to the North if u want to see Fulani killers.

There is no fulani killers in Igbo land. If there is catch one for us atleast for once

I endorse this post.

If the news is authentic, it should be something to rejoice about. They've spilled the blood of the people they purport to liberate. They've introduced values and practices that were alien to Igbo; BEHEADING. And finally crippled the economy of the region through the coercive "sit at home". I welcome the development.

Abass07:
“I’m not challenging who they declared, I’m not challenging whatever the outcome, I’m challenging the process.”

This guy is conceding already. Reality is getting dawned on him.

It's a statement laced with legal reasoning. It may be well above your understanding. IF THE COURT ACCEPTS THAT THE PROCESS WAS FLAWED, THE OUTCOME BECOMES, BY DEFAULT, FLAWED.

I urge every Igbo person or friends of Ndigbo to NOT contribute to this discussion. Must you be trapped each time?

Absolute rubbish. What if Obasanjo was adopted...Would anyone stand in his way to claim any entitlements due to his adopted family or excercise his rights and priviledges as a legitimate son of the soil?

Here, the mother was Egba or Yoruba! It is his right to choose to be Yoruba or Igbo if this story is true. This is bunkum.

princemillla:
A renowned historian, Prof. Banji Akintoye, tells TOBI AWORINDE that the Awori were the first settlers and owners of Lagos

What is your take on the ownership of Lagos?

When people say ownership, I find that difficult to understand because ownership belongs to the people who first settled in it. And the people who first settled in Lagos — I don’t think anybody is disputing that they are the Awori subgroup of the Yoruba nation. The Awori are a subgroup of the Yoruba, just as the Ijebu, Ikale, and Ekiti are subgroups. Those are the people who first settled in Lagos with the Ijebu close to them towards the North and East and the Egbado close to them towards the North and West. So, I don’t think there is anybody disputing that. In fairness to the Oba of Lagos, I don’t think he’s saying any other group but the Awori are the owners of Lagos because there is no basis for saying that. What he has been saying is that at some point in the history of Lagos — not when Lagos was founded as a human settlement, but many centuries later after Lagos had become a kingdom — people who first settled in these places were not kingdoms; we know that from Yoruba history. We know it from the Edo history too. The first Edo people who settled east of Yorubaland were not a kingdom; they were just a scattered people in the forest. The Yoruba were scattered people in the forest too. It was not until more than 3,000 years that kingdoms began to emerge in these forests among the Yoruba first, then among the Edo, and so on. And it wasn’t until the kingdoms had existed for hundreds of years that the Edo had contact with the kingdom of Lagos and became involved in the royal family of Lagos.

Does that mean there was a kingdom in Lagos before Oba Ado and the Bini came to Lagos?

Of course, there was an Awori kingdom in Lagos before any contact with the Bini. Let me put the story a little clearly. The Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, Urhobo, Nupe, Tiv, Igala, Idoma, and so on, from our archeological research and linguistic research, we believe that though all those peoples evolved along the banks of the Middle Niger up to the confluence with the Benue and that at some point in 3000-2000 BC they began to spread out from there and gradually, the Yoruba, Edo, Nupe, Igbo, Igala, Idoma, Igbere evolved, and so on. People then went out roughly from 3000 to 1000 BC, spread out and gradually occupied the country that became the Aro. The Yoruba, which happened to be the largest of these groups, spread out roughly southwards and westwards and occupied what is now Yorubaland, from the Yoruba in Kogi, west of the Niger, that is, Lokoja — southwards, all the way to the coast, what is now the islands of Lagos and westwards into what is now Benin Republic, Togo Republic and even a little bit of Ghana. That’s the Yoruba homeland. Every group had its own homeland. The Edo had its own homeland, a little smaller than that of the Yoruba, to the east of the Yoruba. And there were no kingdoms; these were just people that were coming as agricultural communities, evolving and getting better. About 900 AD, the Yoruba started to evolve kingdoms; they ruled themselves by kingdoms and the first kingdom to be created was Ife. From Ife, people went out and created other kingdoms in the Yoruba forest. The kings were not the creators of the people. The people were (already) there. So, it is not that the king is the owner of the people; the people were there. A prince would come from Ife, establish a kingdom among the people and become the king of the people.

When you say, for instance, ‘the Owa of Ilesa,’ the Owa of Ilesa did not create Ijesa people. The Ijesa people were there. The Owa of Ilesa came from Ife. Or you say ‘the Ewi of Ado Ekiti.’ The Ewi is not the creator of the people of Ado. The people were there. A prince came from Ife and became the ruler over the people. That’s how the kingdoms were created in Yorubaland. The same thing (in) Benin; the Edo people were there in their own share of the forest and then, according to Edo and Yoruba traditions, a prince came from Ife and helped the Edo to establish the type of kingdom that the Yoruba were establishing at about the same time.

What do you make of the argument that when the Awori came to Lagos, the Benin royalty had established some form of influence?


There was no influence at all. When the Yoruba people came, there were no people in the forest. They took it over. When the Edo came to their own part of the country, there were no people there. They took over that country. When the Igbo came to their part of the forest, they took over the forest. There was nobody living there before them at all. So, there was no Edo living anywhere beyond the Edo forest. It was later, when they founded a kingdom and the kingdom became strong — especially because, then, about 1450, the white man began to come along the coast of West Africa, establishing trade and so on — that the Edo kingdom became rich as a result of the trade because they had a little slice of the coast and a port from which the Europeans used to bring goods and so on. So, the Edo became a major trading people and that’s why they became strong. It was at that time that they began to have contact with other people; it was not before.

Are you saying the Awori kingdom preceded the Bini kingdom?

Of course! There was a kingdom in Aworiland just as there was a kingdom in other parts of Yorubaland. In fact, there were two kingdoms: there was the kingdom of Ota, which was older than the Lagos kingdom.

SUNDAY PUNCH has spoken to a number of Awori descendants, some of whom say the Awori people did not exist as a kingdom until they accepted the Bini royalty who created a form of government for the Awori. Is this accurate?

No, the Awori (already) had a kingdom. We don’t know exactly how it came that the Edo had a part in the government of the Awori kingdom. Apparently, we historians are different from people who tell stories of their parents, their families and so on. I have stories of my own family too. I come from the royal family in Ado Ekiti and I can tell stories and so on, but a historian looks at those stories, interprets them, relates them to stories from other places, looks for any documentary evidence that can be found — archeological evidence or evidence from historical linguistics — and you can put it together and create a story that is nearer the truth than any traditional stories that my parents might have told me. So, what you hear from a lot of people who are telling stories of Lagos are stories they heard from their parents. As a historian, I don’t say there is anything wrong with those stories, but I say they are incomplete as a means of interpreting the history of Lagos State because you have to bring other information that you know.

The information that we know, for instance, broadly, is what I have repeated; the various peoples of the West African coasts, especially the eastern parts of the West African coasts, starting from the Igbo in the east, to the Ijaw, the Yoruba, the Ebira, the Nupe, the Igala, the Idoma, and so on, all took possession of their part of what is now Nigeria at roughly the same period of history. Sometime before the fourth millennium — that is about 4000 BC—they started to take over those territories and the Yoruba went all the way to the coast. They came to the coast not only in Lagos; they came to the coast in what is now the Ilaje country, the southern part of Ondo. They came to the coast in a part of Ikale and in Itsekiri. The Itsekiri are Yoruba. So, the Yoruba were in all those places. Later, about the 9th Century AD, the Yoruba began to evolve kingdoms. That was a new development in their political history. So, kingdoms arose all over Yorubaland — and towns. The kingdom of Lagos was one of those Yoruba kingdoms that evolved from about the 9th Century AD to about 1600 AD. So, there was a Yoruba kingdom, that is, an Awori kingdom, in Lagos. There was an Awori kingdom in Isheri. There was an Awori kingdom in Ota which is believed to be the oldest.

Lagos was an Awori kingdom, but many centuries later, the trade with Europeans on the coast made the Edo kingdom of Benin strong. They became interested in the trade along the coast, so as to be able to take more part along the coast. It was at that time that they first came to Lagos. And they were not the first people to come to Lagos to take advantage of the trade. The Ijebu, the Ilaje, the Ijaw and others came. So, there was nothing different about them (Edo).

First of all, there was an Awori people who occupied the coast — I want you to be clear — from about the fourth millenium BC until about the 9th Century AD. Among the Awori people on the coast on the island of Lagos, there evolved a kingdom, one of the Yoruba kingdoms evolving all over Yorubaland. About the same time, the Benin kingdom also evolved in its own part of the forest. It was not until many centuries later that the Benin kingdom had contact with the Lagos kingdom. To make it a little clearer, if the Lagos kingdom evolved, say, in the 12th Century AD, which was about the same period the Benin kingdom was evolving in its own place, how do you then say that it was the Bini who then came to create Lagos kingdom. They didn’t create Lagos kingdom. The Awori people created their own kingdom. That’s the truth of the matter and we know the names that they had in their traditions as the founder of their kingdom and so on. But in about 1600, now with Benin a strong and rich state from the trade, they came into contact with Lagos and we don’t know exactly what happened. There are all sorts of stories. Some people say, ‘The king of Benin came and conquered the Lagos kingdom!’ There is no truth in that. There was a large Benin trading community in Lagos, just as there were large Ijebu and Ijaw trading communities in Lagos, because Lagos was becoming attractive as a place of trade. So, according to the stories that we historians hold to be nearer the truth, there developed a succession dispute between two Awori princes for the throne, and somehow — it’s not clear — the Edo community assisted one of the princes and it was in the year 1600 AD.

How can you say categorically that 1600 AD was the year this happened?

We have something that a German, who was a trader in Lagos in 1603, wrote about war in Lagos. He didn’t say that anybody came to invade Lagos. He said there was war in Lagos, and so, we historians say that is the succession dispute that became a war and the Edo community helped one prince against the other. And the Edo community became, in some way, part of the governance of the Lagos kingdom.

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Do you think that willingness to help one of the princes was because of the economic gains by the Edo?

No, apparently it was some general sort of thing with people helping whatever side they wanted to.

So, it wasn’t about political or economic dominance?

No, not so much. So, about that time, the Edo became involved in the royal family of Lagos and a lot of Edo traditions and cultural accretions then came. For us to be able to study the history of our people, we historians have to be able to read the archives of other people. So, I had to study Portuguese, a little bit of Spanish and Italian because we need to be able to read (their languages). These people came to our land so we can go after the little bits of information they had on our land in their archives, in their countries. For instance, a Portuguese trader in Lagos in 1533 mentioned Ijebu Ode. So, I had to go and read it there. He said, ‘From this point, about 10 leagues to the interior, there is a large town called Geebou’ — that is Ijebu — ‘and it is surrounded by a great wall.’ Ijebu Ode has one of the largest city walls on earth. It already had those walls by the time this man, Pacheco Pereira, came to Lagos in 1533. So, the duty of the historian is to try and tell the people our history and what we know about Lagos history is that it became a great trading centre; people from all sorts of places, even people from outside what is now Nigeria — Ajah people from places like Epe, Ouidah, Allada and others came to Lagos to trade too. It was as a result of that that the kingdom of Badagry emerged in about 1730.
Having said that, there are certain things that I must say: first, all this talk about Edo and Yoruba as if they were different and hostile is not true. The Edo and the Yoruba were very culturally close. In fact, until the 20th Century, the information at our disposal as historians is that the Edo and the Yoruba didn’t really see each other as different people; they were just one people: Edo people all (were) over Yorubaland and Yoruba traders everywhere in Edo. According to one of our historians who has studied the matter, even the palace of Benin was bilingual for most of its history.

What languages were they speaking?

They spoke the Edo and Yoruba languages. And according to the Edo and Yoruba traditions, the royal family of Benin is part Yoruba, part Edo. A Yoruba prince went from Ife and helped to create a kingdom. We Yoruba don’t say, ‘He went and conquered Edo.’ The idea of conquest is attractive to young people. But the historian knows that things don’t always happen by conquest. No doubt, he (the Yoruba prince turned Edo king) was a great warrior because later, he went and created another kingdom in Yorubaland; he was the same prince who went and created the kingdom of Oyo Ile in the north of Yorubaland, which became the centre of a great Yoruba empire: this (the prince) was Oranmiyan. And when he had settled down, he said he was going home and he had a son who was old enough to be king — some young man, maybe a teenager — he asked them, ‘Make this one your king because I’m going to my own people.’ That is the tradition we have from both Yoruba people and Edo people. The oldest writing on it was by Egharevba, an Edo historian, in the 1920s. He wrote that the man came, helped to establish a kingdom for the Edo people because they were fighting one another when he came. He made some people friends, subdued those who were troublesome, created a kingdom and later left, leaving his son who was of a Benin woman to be their king.

So, it’s all mixed up and this story of Lagos — the Yoruba and the Edo do not see each other as different at all. They think they are just one people and there is a lot of intermixture between the Yoruba and the Edo. The Yoruba monarchical system is actually what they adapted. Yoruba and Edo culture and arts are all mixed together. The similarities are very profound. I think what we should be talking about really are the similarities and closeness, rather than trying to create a picture of divergence, difference and conflict. Between the Edo and the Yoruba, there was no such thing.

There were large numbers of Edo people in many Yoruba towns. I can sit here and tell you the Yoruba towns where there were large Edo trading communities. In Akure, Ado Ekiti, Owo, many of the towns in Akoko, there were large Edo trading communities. And then, in Benin, there were large Yoruba trading communities there. The two peoples intermixed, so if an Edo became king in a place, it didn’t look odd to the people. The king of Ikere Ekiti can claim to come from Benin but he doesn’t talk about it. He’s the king of Ikere and he doesn’t make the type of noise that we hear in Lagos. Or do we hear the Oba of Benin saying, ‘I was originally from Ife.’ He’s too busy exuding the pride that ‘I’m the king of Benin’ and I think that’s what the king of Lagos should learn to do — behave like the other kings from the Yoruba or Edo worlds who happen to be ruling among people who might not be originally ethnically their people but who are ruling among them and are therefore one of them.

So, it’s all mixed up and this story of Lagos — the Yoruba and the Edo do not see each other as different at all. They think they are just one people and there is a lot of intermixture between the Yoruba and the Edo. The Yoruba monarchical system is actually what they adapted. Yoruba and Edo culture and arts are all mixed together. The similarities are very profound. I think what we should be talking about really are the similarities and closeness, rather than trying to create a picture of divergence, difference and conflict. Between the Edo and the Yoruba, there was no such thing.

There were large numbers of Edo people in many Yoruba towns. I can sit here and tell you the Yoruba towns where there were large Edo trading communities. In Akure, Ado Ekiti, Owo, many of the towns in Akoko, there were large Edo trading communities. And then, in Benin, there were large Yoruba trading communities there. The two peoples intermixed, so if an Edo became king in a place, it didn’t look odd to the people. The king of Ikere Ekiti can claim to come from Benin but he doesn’t talk about it. He’s the king of Ikere and he doesn’t make the type of noise that we hear in Lagos. Or do we hear the Oba of Benin saying, ‘I was originally from Ife.’ He’s too busy exuding the pride that ‘I’m the king of Benin’ and I think that’s what the king of Lagos should learn to do — behave like the other kings from the Yoruba or Edo worlds who happen to be ruling among people who might not be originally ethnically their people but who are ruling among them and are therefore one of them.

If you’re ruling over the kingdom of Lagos, you’re a Lagos man and that’s the most important thing. The fact that you came from Benin is not important really. If you’re the king of Ikere, you’re the leader of the Ikere people and you don’t start to behave as if there is a dichotomy between you and the people you rule. Listen, the kings of Britain are from Germany. They don’t talk about their being German. That is the way the world is. I think that it’s a pity that in Lagos, people are talking about these things. It is of no importance. What is important to the world is that you are the king of this great city of Lagos.

What are your thoughts on the argument that Lagos is no man’s land?


https://punchng.com/lagos-belongs-to-awori-the-bini-met-them-there-akintoye/?amp

"No, the Awori (already) had a kingdom. We don’t know exactly how it came that the Edo had a part in the government of the Awori kingdom".

Sir, at the bolded, in your attempts to revise history, you injected a doubt in your very submission. Lagos Island was founded by the Edos, simple

renderme:



And oba of Lagos has said he never said dt. Manipulative propagandists. One would think they even like this oba akiolu.

For God's sake, what is important about liking or disliking Akiolu?

renderme:

Shut up and say what U know O. There was no time binis ever settled in Lagos island (Eko). The indigenes of Lagos island were ALWAYS aworis. The Benin monarchy had a war camp on Lagos island wt soldiers, they didn't have any indigenes there at all.

I don't join issues with minions. The history of Lagos is way above your comprehension.

Direct your anger, rudeness and horrible upbringing to Akiolu the Oba of Lagos.
[img] https://guardian.ng/sunday-magazine/lagos-oba-traces-origin-to-benin/ [/img]

VeryWickedGoat:
This is why we say Lagos is a no-man's land because the true Lagosians are not even pure Nigerians.

Lagosians are slaves that returned or escaped from Brazil, Jamaica, Benin, Togo, Liberia & co. Some of these slaves are even Igbo, Calabar, Benin, Ijaw slaves that were transported via Badagry. Their names are mostly Portuguese or English like Pedro, Rhodes, Williams, Campos, Bucknor & co.



Tinubu, Obanikoro, Sanwo-Olu and co are typical Osogbo names!!

Lagos is not a no man's land. Original Lagos Island indigenes were Binis. However, the island is geographically closest to the Yorubas. It's history is that of migrations and cross migrations.

Most of the slave returnees can be found in port and river port cities in Nigeria. In Onitsha the Doherty, Williams, Costa, Kuti, Moore, Venn, Johnson families etc formed the ninth village called Ogbe Otu. These families were related to their name sakes in Warri and Lagos. However, the modern descendants no longer nuture the affinity.

Learned colleague Dr Ikpeazu is overly qualified to retrieve the mandate of Nigerians. However, operating in a society with weak institutions, riddled with a compromised legal system is very difficult.

In fact the current political scenario will shake the foundation of the Nigerian legal system and its constitution. Whatever is the final decision would make a historical legal precedent. The status of the FCT obviously would be tested. Civilised nations often avoid its institutions from triggering constitutional crises. And here is INEC doing precisely that

In saner climes, the Supreme court can ONLY depart from its previous ruling if two similar cases presents different facts. Does it apply in this matter? NO. The facts have not changed; Abuja demands that a winning candidate must win 25 percent of her popular votes. The apex court reaffirmed this as recent as 2008.

It is a statutory requirement which was as well reaffirmed in a case law.

OneNigerianist:
I thought as much. This is a constitutional issue not a tribunal issue. More states should join too.
Although the issue of not securing 1/4 in Abuja would have made more sense in the supreme court, i didn't see it here.

It would have legalised the purported victory in the states APC are claiming...

stevnwigw1:
To wike that stranger you sold your brother to will not trust you

We must stop all these clannish statements. What about the Yorubas that voted for Obi? So, they sold Tinubu as well? Obi was and is a Nigerian project.

Yusuf Alabi the teenager boy who stood in front of Obi's convoy represents the diversity of Obi's voters. Hence I am begging Ndigbo to not emotionally divert this election to an Igbo thing.

It is NOT. And the majority of Igbos understood it.
They are pushing you people to the ethnic trap, understand it.

Goodmarlian:
They feel igbos are outnumbering in the southwest and buying up their lands,they support one Nigeria ,they join the north to fight igbos in the Biafran war to make sure igbos stay in Nigeria now they are complaining bitterly over it why didnt awolowo support igbo seccession in the 60s unfortunately there is nothing they can do it about it,this election passed a strong message igbo population is bigger than what they thought.

Could you please delete this post ASAP, when shall we behave like other Nigerians?

eruchboy:
💯💯💯
Incoming governor-elect
Please 🥺🙏 vote

I hope Rhodes-Vivour is putting up a good security because he is up against a man notorious for killing opponents. Funsho Williams.

Tinubu hates Lagos indigenes!

He deserves to be shot. This is a clear threat to human lives.

ChybuzzDD:


I like how you kept Lagos separate.

Lagos was first a Portuguese slave trade post, then a British colony and eventually a Nigerian federal capital.

No one should lay claim to it or boast that his lazy forefathers built it, when they couldn't even give it a name.
The Portuguese slavemasters named it 'Lagos".

All the more than 500 ethnic groups of Nigeria are profoundly represented in the population of Lagos. Times like this are not when any group can confidently make any prediction as to how the residents would vote. That's why I excluded it.

ahiboilandgas:
south east 10.4 = kano + kaduna 10.7 ( all pro tinibu state) we dey look una.

And where is the place of the two Fulanis Atiku and Kwankwaso in your calculations?

SOUTH WEST 9.3 Million
SOUTH EAST 10.4 Million

Lagos 6.2 Million

Interesting times

SOUTH WEST 9.3 Million
SOUTH EAST 10.4 Million

Lagos 6.2 Million

Interesting times

Good

SOUTH WEST 9.3 Million
SOUTH EAST 10.4 Million

Lagos 6.2 Million

Interesting times

Good

SOUTH WEST 9.3 Million
SOUTH EAST 10.4 Million

Lagos 6.2 Million

Interesting times