₦airaland Forum

PhysicsQED: Why do people keep throwing around Egharevba's name when they haven't bothered to read him?

Egharevba said the Binis came from Egypt before this Osahon guy was even born. The Yorubas have their Egyptian or Near eastern fantasies as well so it's nothing out of the ordinary for southern Nigeria.

By the way I hold Egharevba in infinitely higher esteem than this Osahon chap, so don't misrepresent my views. I only posted on this topic to find out about the Yoruba-Kanuri entanglement, since what you guys are talking about now is no longer interesting.

Beaf: There are no intellectual minds here to discuss with. Its just going to turn into one of those silly boko harem threads where things are plucked out of thin air and putrid anuses without the least understanding, while id!otic assertions are made with no backing. So I'm out.

PhysicsQED:

That wasn't any kind of 'attack'. It was light teasing at best. Unlike Osahon I'm not interested in any mythical Edo Egyptians. I want to hear about Yoruba-Kanuri interactions. Don't disappoint.

bokohalal: If that is how and what you feel to make you a man then there is no need talking with, or to, you even in real life.I do not think any human individual or group is sub anything to another.

PhysicsQED: This again?

This is a boring topic now. Talk about something more interesting. Negro ntns, tell us about Yoruba-Kanuri interactions. You had quite a story last time when it came to Dan Fodio, Gobir, and Yoruba. I want to see if you can outdo your previous tale.

CyberG: None of those is Acceptable!! Every NON-NAATIVE must compulsorily leave! No need to create another problem that will come full circle in another 100 years!

Give them an inch and before long, they will take the whole ph.ocking village.

bokohalal: No Yoruba history has been able to fill that gap.They can tell tales of migration from Inner Mongolia(for all I care) but cannot explain Oduduwa reasonably.The Binis can!
Naiwu Osahon is not all correct but Benin oral tradition has been consistent about Oduduwa.

That was the best you could come up with?

Host Maimuna:
Yes. Okay, in the information you shared you indicated that there were certain tasks and work slated for women empowerment which is altogether now under one umbrella of network called WODESA. Overall, you accomplished many goals tailored towards family and the society in general and then once you left power these empowerment groups were all disbanded. At the time and your focus on the domestic programs were there any plans to create and institutionalize these strategies in ways that they outlast the regime, did you not think of a lasting continuity into the future?

shymmex: Bruv, Ijebus have always been Yorubas - and we'll always be proud Yoruba.. Don't forget most of the Yoruba leaders of the past, and some of the present are Ijebus (Chief Awolowo, Pa Adesanya, Prof. Wole Soyinka etc.). We're Yoruba people and we're proud of our Yoruba heritage.

What I was talking ablour has to do with the politics of Lagos state itself - but that's a story for another day. My bad, I didn't know the thread was about Eko proper - I thought it was about Lagos state as a whole. I'm sorry for derailing your thread.

Onlytruth:

The East would leapfrog Mexico in health accessibility human kidnapping IMMEDIATELY.
The East would also likely leapfrog Mexico in education armed robbery.
Suffice it to say that Mexico may not be richer in GDP fake merchandise and manufactured goods per capita than the East, even if that Eastern country is only comprised of 5 SE states!

One development, that should not escape us is the reaction of the ‘Idejo’ the original land owners of Lagos to the cession of Lagos to the British by Oba Dosumu. According to Takiu Folami a local historian of Lagos, there was violent reaction to the treaty of the Idejo. This opposition was based on the Idejo’s contention that Dosumu was not a land owner and as such could not give over their land to the British as he could only exercise such right over the Lnd given to him by the Idejo. The British had to concede by issuing a notice to the effect that the Idejo would not be deprived of the ownership of their land. It was only after this notice that the Idejo reluctantly agreed to the treaty.

CEFOLASS - CENTER FOR LAGOS STUDIES

OVERVIEW
Written by Administrator

Saturday, 09 August 2008 07:49

Lagos State is renowned as a melting point of peoples and cultures. The evolutionary and transformational history of the various groups and communities in Nigeria cannot be adequately written without due reference to the land and people of Lagos State. This is reinforced by the fact that the bulk of the major issues and discussions on the socio-political and economic situations from the colonial to post colonial Nigeria, revolved around Lagos and its environs.

Although in territorial size, Lagos remain the smallest state in Nigeria, ironically it is the most populated and most congested. The rate of population growth right from the era of establishment of stable polity has increasingly placed pressure on the available human and material resources, as well as determined the nature and pattern of socialization, economy, politics and religious life and social problems. It is against this background of the inhabitant of the state that the poverty alleviation project of the World Bank focused on Lagos State in year 2003.

Despite the plethora of literature on Lagos, little is known on the transformational history of the major groups in the state as well as its contribution to national development. The aborigines of the state have slim remembrance of the past; the later migrants and settlers who have benefited in various ways from the state and have sometimes contributed to her problems have no adequate knowledge on the land and people of the state. This has accounted for wrong information and misinterpretation of the various groups and communities in the state. Of such erroneous viewpoints are that ‘Lagos is no man’s land’, Gbogbo wa la L’eko \’we all own Lagos’. These assumptions rest on fallacy rather than historical reality.

Knowledge however, is the only vaccine that we have for ignorance, this is why the effort of Dr. Kunle-Lawal , the honourable commissioner for Education, Lagos State, Dr. A.O.K. Noah, the Provost of the College and Mr. Akeem Ajose-Adeogun, the then Deputy Provost are highly commendable for establishing the Centre for Lagos Studies (CEFOLAS) on August 2001 through the Academic board. This was a major complement to the effort of History Department of the College that commenced the Awori studies in 1994.

Eleko also fell out with the colonial government when he accepted the invitation from the Central Mosque to approve the appointment of Bashorun Balogun and others. The government believed that this was a purely muslim affair that should have been done in the Central Mosque with its blessings rather than with Eleko’s approval. The government held on to this and used the opportunity to avenge itself for Eleko’s defiance over the water rate levy. It thus withdrew recognition and suspended the Eleko’s stipend. Instead of making life more difficult for Eleko as the colonial government had believed, so as to make him change his mind, the suspension made Eleko more popular. Market women flooded Eleko’s palace with foodstuff, while Chief Oluwa (an Idejo chief) and other members of the Ilu committee made sure that the Oba was financially and materially self sufficient. This was a slap on the face of the colonial government. Seeing this, Yesufu Omo Oba led a pro-government group to the government asking for Eleko to be deposed, while the lawyer Egerton Shyngle led another faction which defended Eleko’s action in approving the Central Mosque appointment. As a result, Eleko was reinstated by Sir Hugh Clifford in 1919.

Finally, the controversial trip of Herbert Macaulay and Chief Amodu Tijani Oluwa to London over the Apapa land case and the statement made by Macaulay to the British press were to have significant effect on the Eleko affair. While in London, Macaulay gave a statement to the British press, saying that Eleko (whose grandfather had ceded Lagos to the British) was the head of seventeen million Nigerians and that Eleko was earning less than the lowest paid European gardener in Lagos, that the pension promised Eleko’s grandfather, Dosunmu, had never been paid, while the colonial government had neither rebuilt his Iga (palace) nor renovated it. This provoked serious reaction from the British government, as the British press played up the statement.

Meanwhile, the colonial government in Lagos was at Eleko’s throat over Macaulay’s statement in London. Eleko denied knowledge of the statement, but admitted giving his staff of office to Oluwa according to native customs. Although his press release of the denial appeared in the newspapers, the government would only be content if Eleko’s bell-ringers (town crier) went round with a denial written on behalf of Eleko by Henry Carr. Eleko bluntly refused. The colonial government reacted by withdrawing its recognition of Eleko as a native chief and stopping his stipend.

On June 10, 1925, nineteen princes (known to be pro-government) signed a letter demanding that Eleko should quit the palace within fourteen days. Their letter was signed by eleven literate princes, while the remaining eight affixed their thumbprints. Another letter was sent to Eleko on June 26 notifying him that Ibikunle Akitoye had been chosen to replace him.

The government sanctioned the deposition and ordered that Eshugbayi should leave Lagos. The Eleko did not comply with the order and on August 8th another order was made against the Eleko. He was thus arrested and exiled to Oyo. Sanusi Olusi was then appointed Oba by the Colonial Government.

Eshugbayi took his case to the Privy Council in London and he was assisted by Herbert Macaulay, who was hell-bent on remedying the damage done to the Eleko by a care free Governor-General.

On reviewing the customary laws of Lagos on the deposition of Eleko and the appointment of another oba, the Privy Council in London found rightly that British administrators in Lagos were beginning to act lawlessly. It stated that no validity could be given to a Lagos custom by the whimsical action of the Nigerian Governor-General of Lagos Colony, because, “it is the assent of a community that gives validity to a customary law”. Hence, the court said that the deposition of Eshugbayi Eleko was completely contrary to customary law. Mr Olusi was politely asked by the Lagos colonial authorities to leave Iga Idungaran soonest. This he did on Wednesday June 28, 1931.