₦airaland Forum

Debo Adetula

SalomonKane:
The same Oba Akintoye who has the support of Madam Tinubu? This is different from what I was taught in Cultural Art in primary 5 and 6.

I still remember the stories somewhat...

naptu2:
3) Origins of the Lagos Civil War

Oba Idewu Ojulari was advised by the chiefs of Lagos to commit suicide (according to tradition) in 1832, because he was seen as an avaricious king who was too concerned with the trappings of power. Ojulari did not have children, so his younger brother, Prince Kosoko, expected that he would be crowned king. However, the Eletu Odibo of Lagos (traditional prime minister) who is the chief that is responsible for crowning the oba, did not like Kosoko, so he crowned Oluwole as king instead.

Kosoko was furious and led his warriors to invade Lagos Island. Kosoko's forces were defeated by the forces of Oba Oluwole and the Eletu Odibo. Kosoko fled and went into exile in Whydah in present day Benin Republic.

When Oba Oluwole died, Prince Akitoye was crowned as the Oba of Lagos in 1841.

Akitoye brought a lot of changes to Lagos. He banned the slave trade and encouraged Lagosians to trade in other goods. He also abolished the practice of paying tributes to Benin (the Benin lineage of obas had died out by this time and the obas of Lagos were yoruba. Oba Akinsemoyin had no son when he died and he also had no brother, only a sister, Erelu Kuti. So it was decided that Erelu Kuti's son, Ologun Kutere should inherit the throne, thus ending the Benin line of Oba of Lagos in 1749. Ologun Kutere's father was Alagba, an Ijesha priest from Ilesha).

Popo Aguda, Saro, etc.

It was also around this time that many slaves that had been freed returned to Lagos. Many of them could remember where they came from. Some chose to return to their original home towns, some remembered Lagos as the last place that they were in before they were put on the slave ships, while some did not remember at all, but chose to stay in Lagos.

The Popo Aguda were slaves that returned from Cuba and Brazil. Most of these returnees had been stone masons and builders in Brazil and Cuba and they built most of the gothic and latin houses you see in Lagos.

They settled in the Campos and Popo Aguda area of Lagos (Campos Square is named after G. Hilario Campos, a cuban returnee).

Some of the returnees changed their names to african names (eg, Adeyemo Alakija who was originally name Placido Assumpcao), while many also chose to retain their portuguese names (eg the Santos, Pereira, Pinheiro, Emanuel, da Rocha, Dasilva, Marquis, Fernandez and other such families of Lagos).

The Popo Aguda brought elements of brazilian culture to Lagos. They introduced the carnival to Lagos in the 1800s. They were also staunch catholics and they built many catholic institutions like St Mary's Private School, St Gregory's College and Holy Cross Cathedral.

The saros are former slaves that served in british colonies. Most of them were educated and worked in the service sector (law, surveying, education, etc). They were mostly protestants (particularly anglicans and methodists). They settled in the Olowogbowo area of Lagos (near the Elegbeta Channel). Many of took on african names, but some of them also retained their english names and so you have families like the Nelson, MacGregor, Paine, Savage, etc.



Return of Kosoko

In the interest of peace, Akitoye also sent Chief Oshodi to search for Kosoko and bring him back to Lagos. This was a grave mistake.

There were many businessmen and women who did not like Oba Akitoye because he abolished the slave trade. Business people like Madam Tinubu had become very wealthy from the slave trade. Prince Kosoko was also a renowned slave trader.

These business people encouraged Prince Kosoko to stage a coup and overthrow Oba Akitoye in 1845. Kosoko had been furious that he was overlooked a second time when a new oba was being crowned.

Oba Akitoye fled to Badagry. The Lagos Civil War had begun. Some of the cannons that were used during the civil war are on display at the Iga Idungaran (Oba's palace) today.

The slave trade flourished in Lagos while Kosoko was Oba.

The british asked Oba Kosoko to sign a treaty that he would ban slave trade, but he refused. They also approached Akitoye (who had previously banned slave trade) and he accepted to sign the treaty.


The british were also lobbied by many former slaves (especially the saros) to end the slave trade in Lagos.


Bombardment of Lagos

On November 25th, 1851, the British Consul for the Bight of Benin, John Beecroft arrived the Elegbeta Channel and the Lagos Lagoon at the command of four warships and 180 marines. They opened fire on Lagos with their cannons, but were not able to take control of the city from Kosoko's forces (Kosoko's forces also had their own cannons and they returned fire).

Then on the 26th of December, Commodore Henry William Bruce (later Admiral, Sir Henry William Bruce) arrived with a much larger force including the warships HMS Penelope (a frigate and Commodore Bruce's flagship), HMS Bloodhound, HMS Teazer and many attack boats.

They bombarded Lagos and set fire to many parts of the city. The british deposed Kosoko and exiled him. Akitoye arrived Lagos at the head of warriors from Badagry and was able to reclaim his throne.

On January 1st, 1852, Oba Akitoye went aboard HMS Penelope to sign the great Lagos - Britain treaty, banning slave trade in Lagos and establishing a british consulate (embassy) in the city. The treaty also guaranteed military protection for Lagos.

Kosoko's forces tried unsucessfully to retake the city in August 1853. Oba Akitoye died in September 1853 and his son, Prince Dosunmu, suceeded him.

naptu2:
I was trying to remember this man's name yesterday, but I couldn't. Then today, as I'm about to go out, I suddenly remember his name.

There are many returnees that contributed to the growth of Lagos, but I'm going to use him as an example because his story is related to many of the events that I wrote about yesterday.

1) Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/A_portrait_of_James_Pinson_Labulo_Davies%2C_photographed_in_London_in_1862.jpg


JPL Davies was born in Bathurst, Sierra Leone. His parents were from Abeokuta, but they had been captured and sold into slavery. They were eventually rescued by the british naval squadron and taken to Sierra Leone.

He attended CMS Grammar School in Freetown, became a teacher and eventually enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was a lieutenant on HMS Bloodhound when it bombarded Lagos in 1851. He was wounded in action during the bombardment. He retired from the navy in 1852 and became a merchant ship captain and eventually settled in Lagos in 1856.

CMS Grammar School

JPL Davies was a good friend of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther and he provided the seed funds for the creation of CMS Grammar School (the first secondary school in Nigeria) in April 1859, when he provided £50 (equivalent of about N 1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment for the school. With the seed funding Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on June 6, 1859 (remember that this was before Lagos was colonised. The treaty of cessation was signed in 1861).

In 1867, Davies contributed another £100 (N2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund. Other contributors to the CMS Building Fund were non Saros such as Daniel Conrad Taiwo AKA Taiwo Olowo who contributed £50. Saro contributors also included men such as Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Foresythe who contributed £40. The CMS Grammar School in Freetown, founded in 1848, served as a model.

Cocoa farming

JPL Davies was also the first cocoa farmer in West Africa. He obtained cocoa seeds from a brazilian ship in 1879 and 1880 and set up a prosperous cocoa farm in Lagos.

He was married to Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was originally from what later became Benin Republic, but was sold into slavery. She was rescued by the british and became Queen Victoria's god daughter.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/A_portrait_of_James_Pinson_Labulo_Davies_and_Sarah_Forbes_Bonetta%2C_photographed_in_London_in_1862.jpg


2) St Gregory's Grammar School

The saros/protestants now had their secondary school, so the agudas/catholics also wanted their own secondary school (they already had several primary schools).

The agudas wrote several letters to Rome seeking for permission to set up a catholic secondary school. They were prepared to build it, but they wanted permission and priests and teachers who would teach in the school. In 1868 their request was granted after the usual exchange of petitions and letters between them and the home mission.

St Gregory's Grammar School was established in 1876 (St Gregory's Grammar School became St Gregory's College in 1928).

Note that the first colonial government secondary school in Lagos (Kings College) was only set up in 1909.

naptu2:
You've mixed up Oba Kosoko and Oba Akitoye. It was Kosoko that was supported by Madam Tinubu.

obiageIi:
Amazing thread.

ademoladeji:
I wish I could follow this thread

obiageIi:
Let's hope Ishilove and naptu2 keep updating it

Ishilove:
Naptu2 is up to the task

Ishilove:
Pure steel and blood...

Ogun Ahoyaya or Ogun Agidingbi is translated 'Boiling Battle' because of the shell fire unleashed from this bringer of war and misery.This cannon was one out of many deployed by British troops under the command of Commodore Henry William Bruce to depose Oba Kosoko (vehemently pro slavery) and install Oba Akitoye ('allegedly' anti slavery).

There were actually 2 battles in late 1851 directed at ejecting Oba Kosoko who was neck deep in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Under the pretext of abolishing the immoral slave trade, Great Britain, urged by many locals such as Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, chose to intervene in Lagos' internal affairs, changing the landscape and history of Lagos (and Nigeria) forever.

BATTLE 1: The first attack on November 25 1851 was hastily organized and led by Commander Forbes who underestimated Oba Kosoko's defences of about 5,000 men and received a superb drubbing.

BATTLE 2: On December 24 1851, the British Navy would have their revenge during the Boiling Battle. Troops (including a young African named Lt James Pinson Labulo Davies) under Captain Jones aboard HMS Bloodhound and HMS Teazer piloted by an African named John John cruised the river down to Iga Idunganran, the Oba's Palace where on December 26th they attacked the palace by land and by sea. By December 27 1851 Ogun Ahoyaya was over with Oba Kosoko soundly defeated and chased away from Lagos to make way for Oba Akitoye, who signed the Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos on January 1, 1852.

The British lost 2 officers and 13 men while 5 officers (among them Lt Labulo Davies) and 70 men were wounded. I have not come across any documentation that enumerates the Lagos casualties.

After James Pinson Labulo Davies retired from the British Navy and settled in Lagos where he became one of the most wealthy Lagosians in the 19th century. In Lagos he was popularly known as "Captain Davies". To top it up, he later married Queen Victoria's adopted goddaughter, the rescued Ijesha slave Sarah Bonetta Forbes

naptu2:
I forgot to add that one of the saros that encouraged the British to end the slave trade in Lagos was Samuel Ajayi Crowther.

He met Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and urged her to bomb Lagos. He told the queen about the evil effects of slavery (remember that he was once a slave), told her that Lagos under Kosoko had become a haven for slave traders and that it was having a devastating effect on the entire West African coast. He told her that the only way to stop it was to bomb Lagos and remove Kosoko.

avicky:
Ahoyaya sounds like Awoyaya.

J'étais ici.

SalomonKane:
The same Oba Akintoye who has the support of Madam Tinubu? This is different from what I was taught in Cultural Art in primary 5 and 6.

I still remember the stories somewhat...

ImperialYoruba:
Awo is a corruption of the grammatically correct Aho.