₦airaland Forum

and she was right. u de Fulani/Hausa think power belongs to u. de good outcome of dis is dat such thoughts unite de northerners

Following the showdown at a public function on Tuesday in Lagos between the Ooni of Ife, oba adeyeye and his Lagos counterpart, oba Akinolu; with the majority asking for the head of the latter for showing royal disrespect for the ancestral stool of the Yoruba patron, oduduwa, I am prompted to clarify from historical point of view why the castigated king should not be held irresponsible for his reservation to accord the ooni the respect other yoruban kings are historically deemed to accord to him, the ooni. please read on and reason with me.

The Name "LAGOS"

Lagos means "lakes" in Portuguese, the
language of first European-settlers known
to visit the settlement, then already
inhabited by the Awori, in 1472. From
the first contacts with the region until the
early 20th century, another Portuguese
name for the city that was interchangeably
used was Onim, finally abandoned in
favor of Lagos.


Founding of Lagos

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


Lagos as a Tributary to
the Benin Empire

From the crowning of Ado as its first Oba,
Lagos (then called Eko) served as a major
center for slave-trade, from which then Oba
of Benin Ado and all of his successors for
over four centuries supported - until 1841,
when Oba Akitoye ascended to the throne of
Lagos and attempted to ban slave-trading.
Local merchants strongly opposed the
intended move, and deposed and exiled the
king, and installed Akitoye's brother Kosoko
as Oba.
At exile in Europe, Akitoye met with British
authorities, who had banned slave-trading
in 1807, and who therefore decided to
support the deposed Oba to regain his
throne. With the success of the British
intervention, in 1851 Akitoye was
reinstalled as Oba of Lagos. In practical
terms, however, British influence over the
kingdom had become absolute, and ten
years later, in 1861, Lagos was formally
annexed as a British colony.
Colonial Lagos as
capital of Nigeria
The British annexed Lagos as a colony in
1861. The remainder of the Benin Empire -
i.e., modern-day Nigeria - were seized by
the British in 1887, and when the British
established the Colony and Protectorate of
Nigeria in 1914, Lagos was declared its capital

CONCLUSION- it is obvious from the above narration that the oba of lagos obviously knows the history of his ancestors more than the ones calling for his head. and it is also obvious from the lack of emotions on the part of the well educated ooni that he understands the stance of oba akinolu on why he shouldn't expect the loyalty showered on him by other Yoruba leaders from him.
I am Cyracus Idinoba no'vhio'giso