Who are the real Lagosians?
Are the real Lagosians ‘saro’ descendants from
Olowogbowo, or a member of an old Brazilian family
from Oke-popo or “Aguda”, or a member of old
chiefly families-like Oluwo, Bajulaiye, Ojora, Oniru,
Oshodi etc. could a Lagosian be one of the Muslims
who have lived in Obalende since the end of the
Asante wars. (Member of the West African frontier
Force of Captain Glover in 19th century) or is it one
that lives on Siriki street near the central mosque? In
the sense and according to the school of thought, any
of these people can be called true lagosians, yet the
cultural spectrum the groups cover reveals the
variety and heterogeneity of Lagos.
To understand this view or conclusion of these
notable scholars on Lagos, one must appreciate that
the answer lies in the history of Lagos itself. A code
study will reveal two key factors that are interwoven,
that is the development of the city and its society
and added to these two, was also the element of
trade.
Foundations which were based on the various
successive waves of immigration that was intra and
inter continental. Each wave of immigration from the
earliest beginning brought about the creation of
various settlement on the island. Increase and
rapidity of these waves which were as a result of
different but interrelated events, brought about an
expansion that was to spread beyond the island to its
environs.
Each group of immigrants concentrated in the areas
or quarters named after them. They also brought
with them their various religion and culture, which
they practiced. All these elements of geographical
space, religion and cultural practice, have survived
and became woven into the rich tapestry of the
heritage of the Lagosians. Descendants of the
settlers who were born and grew up in Lagos have no
connection with the places of their past ancestry. The
most information they have is from ‘stories’ passed
down through the generations as attested to by a
Lagosians, Mrs. Efunjoke Coker (M.F.R), in her
autobiography.
The majority of the immigrants came from the
surrounding Yoruba area and the hinterlands,
bringing new religions the Ogboni cult, Islam for
instance was introduced in the 18th century, new
institutions and customs (from Benin and
elsewhere). These development of trades, both
peaceful and slave trade brought first of all the
indigenous people of the surroundings and
hinterlands and later the Portuguese, French Dutch
and British and further wave of repatriated freed
slaves from the Americans, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
These people Brazilians, Caribbean and Europeans
brought aspect of their cultures, Christianity and
Western Education.
From the first wave of the settlers in the 15th
century to the first half of the 19th century, four
(quarters) were separated from the Europeans, the
educated Africans (Saros & Akus), the Brazilians and
the indigenous community. By far, the earliest and
the most important and without which the other
quarter could have existed was the Isale-Eko quarter,
here that the aboriginal Aworis descendants of Olofin
of Isheri led by Aromire carefully settled in dry choice
sites.
This nuclear settlement was between Itolo and
Idumagbo lagoon including Ebute Ero in Isale Eko.
With the help of place names and oral tradition, the
extent of this important (quarter) of Lagos may be
delineated. It must have been extended to Ofin area
to Ebute Ero, the heart of Isale Eko to that part of
Lagos named Victoria street after Queen Victoria of
England during the colonial era renamed Nnamdi
Azikiwe after independence. The original was Ehin
Ogba (behind the fence) indicating that it was
outside the inhabitant part of town, according to oral
tradition, it was indeed the dumping ground for
corpses of paupers and those class of children
regarded as mysterious ‘Abiku’ ( born to die). The
unceremonious burial being regarded as a kind
deterrent to these children from dying so often. It
was jungle then and seldom traversed. The history of
Lagos had been chequered affected by the powerful
influence of Dahomey on the West and Benin on the
East. According to P.D Cole and A.B Aderibigbe, the
expansionist policy of these kingdoms, forced more
people living between them to emigrate to Lagos.
The Aworis were soon joined by other Yorubas, there
was the considerable Ijebu population at Idumagbo,
substancial body of immigrants from Ota who first
came in search of trade at Obun Eko, but eventually
settled at Idumota named after them. An extension
of the premier, but with its own distinctive feature
was Ofin. Its main center was Itolo squre with the
Onitolo and the descendants of the earliest
inhabitants. Outside this centre was Offin Ile in Ijebu
Remo territory. The unique feature of this whole area
was the internal water way formed by the Offin canal,
the Elgbata creek and Itolo, which made the canoe an
effective means of transportation. The second stage
was marked by the military encounter between the
invading army from Benin and Olofins men of Iddo
Island. There was a protracted struggle until the era
of Oba Orhogbua of Benin sent his grandson Eskipa
(Ashipa in Yoruba) to further consolidate Benin
influence and to firmly establish a vice royality.
Authorities are divided in opinion, whether the new
government was first based at Iddo and was moved
by the third king in the dispensation Gabaro to Lagos
Island, or whether it was from the beginning of this
existence that it seized the Island of Lagos, avoiding
Iddo Island with its tradition of resistance to Benin
influence.
According to the ‘Idejo” source-they, the Bini people,
did not conquer them- they were invaded to settle
disputes among the sons of Olofin. According to this
source, the facts that the Obas of Lagos ‘owned’ no
land in Lagos which is disposed of exclusively by the
Yoruba Idejo chiefs, and that the Idejo chiefs did not
perform any administrative duties on behalf of the
Oba and took to the mainland in time of war leaving
the Oba to defend Lagos, do not suggest an original
Benin conquest. They suggest a shadowy tributary
relationship, occasional intervention in an Obaship
that quickly became indigenously Yoruba and
independent in Lagos. Lagos external relations where
conducted with no reference to Benin. According to
Benin source, Oba Orhogbua, during his punitive
expedition against recalcitrant vassal states in about
1550 made his war camp (Eko) on Lagos Island and
from there attacked his enemies for many years.
Anyway the origins of the Benin connection is
obscure and laden with controversy. It probably
originated in a vice- royalty from the mid 16th
century.
It is strongly believe that the king and his retinue of
Benin adviers and warriors first pitched their camp in
the area known as Enu Owa with the celebrant Oju
Olobun’ now a ‘national shrine’, but at the beginning
a spiritual symbol of supremacy of the Oba of Benin.
The truth of this belief is attested to by the fact that
the coronation of an Oba is not regarded as valid,
without the performance of ‘kikam’ (ikanse) at this
same place. That Lagos derived its name “Eko” from
Orhogbuas camp should not be seen as contradicting
the claim of Yoruba sources that Olofin and his
subjects regarded Lagos as “Oko” farm. Oba Gabaro
did more that start a tradition. By choosing for his
permanent abode, the very site for which Aromire
had made his ‘red paper’ farm3, this Oba showed
remarkable political acumen. A new regime had
indeed arrived but was housed on the soil prepared
by Aronire, the first settler on the Island and the son
of Olofin, whose sway the new order has come to
displaced. This was a visible evidence of the factor of
continuity and change in history. Indeed it had been
pointed out that ‘Oko” and ‘Eko’ marked two distinct
periods and waves of immigration in the history of
Lagos, the earliest Awori Yoruba settlement and rule,
and of Bini hegemony, ‘Eko’ supplanting ‘Oko’ once
the Bini were in the ascendant.
The similarity between the two words must have
facilitated this transition in the minds of the people.
Also a new nucleus of chiefs, royal courtiers and
warlords was established, not based on possession of
land like the Idejo, but on service to the Oba. They all
lived, each in his own Iga, a lesser version of the
Oba’s palace. The area of Isale-Eko, thus delimited,
was the hub of Lagos politics. Its focus was the Iga
Idungaran. Here dwelt both the Awori and bini
aristocracies. Despite the conflicting myth both
aristocracies made adjustment between Yoruba and
Benin political structures and traditions. The local
Yoruba aristocracy reserved the right to opt out of
the political struggles in which the political struggles
in which Benin counterpart might engage. This right
was always threatened by increased intermarriage
and the growing power of the Oba. There was the
considerable Ijebu population and there was the hard
core settlers from Idoluwo Ile, who came with the
Obanikoro, head of the Ogalade Class of Chiefs who
gave their name Idoluwo to their present abode.
Here dwell also the most influential of those who took
part in the peaceful commerce. Although the 18th
and 19th centuries saw the beginning and
dominance of the Trans Atlantic Slave trade, it is
often erroneously assumed that the more natural
kind of commercial trade did not play a vital role in
the relationship between Lagos and her neighbors.
The available oral evidence against that, on the
contrary, the nucleus of the system of periodic
markers could be discerned in the proceeding the era
of the slave trade even at the height of the slave
trading period the ‘legitimate’ type of trade,
especially in the articles of domestic consumption,
held its own. The antiquity and indispensable nature
of Ebute Ero and Obun Eko market for trade of large
area of Lagos hinterland, was of the most notable
Lagos market, for peaceful commerce, it also acted as
a forum for social activities other than commerce – in
the Roman sense of the word. The periodic markets
of Badagry patronized by the people of Lagos and the
surrounding countries no doubt, received greater
prominence after the British ‘pax’ but were not
created by it. The market noted for the profusion of
foodstuff brought to Lagos by traders from Potto
Novo is now immortalized in the street named Poto
Novo Market Street. It should not be thought that
effects of Bini hegemony were limited to the
aristocracy. The ordinary citizens must have felt the
impact of the changes that came in its wake. Even
right from its formative stage, there was systematic
consultation between the Oba and his Chiefs, for
example the institution of ‘Osa Iga’, when important
chiefs were expected at the palace and at which
important affairs of the state were discussed. The
absence of chiefs from this particular meeting was
interpreted a san act of rebellion against the king.
There was the ‘Ilupeju’- literally a meeting of the
whole town – which enable proposals from the Oba to
be published and commented upon by eminent
personalities in the community. The strong tradition
of the ancestors worship in the religion, the different
order or class of chiefs surrounding the court of the
oba, are Bini elements, and important strands in the
web of traditional culture of Lagos.
Two principle factors are responsible for the rapid
rise in population and the importance of Lagos as the
commercial center in the second half of the 19th
century; one was the abolition of the slave trade and
the consequent introduction of the British preventive
squadron to patrol the West Coast. This increased the
risk and cost of the Atlantic Slave trade from the
traditional West Coast slaving ports and thereby help
in rise of small towns like Lagos and Badagry, which
were till then, not heavily frequented points on the
coast, therefore not heavily patrolled by the
squadron) it offered traders relatively safe and cheap
ports for the evacuation of slaves. More so the
hinterland of Lagos was quite disorganized, during
the early part of the 19th century. Oyo Empire was
breaking up a result of its own internal inadequacies,
conflicts, and pressure of the Fulani from the North.
This pressure led to general disorder in the interior, it
also brought about the fall of the Oyo Empire in
1835, and the resultant rise of Ibadan a military
power. These circumstances brought about more
waves of migration of those escaping from the wars,
to find refuge in relatively peaceful Lagos, such as
the Egbas, Egbados and Aworis. Inn terms of
population, various parts of Lagos itself and the
mainland benefited vastly from these movements of
people. These circumstances first acted in the
interest of Lagos and Badagry, which now prospered.
However this advantage eventually became a liability
of another kind in that it strengthened the stand of
those ready to bring pressure on the British
government to use the pretext of the illegal ( and in
the 1850’s diminishing) trade in slaves, to reduce
Lagos to a colony by mid 19th century.
The second factor in this development was the
gradual opening up of the interior for both
missionaries and business. The activities of the
missionaries in Abeokuta area were already
extensive prior to the reduction of Lagos in 1861
Reverend Townsend (agent of the church Missionary
Society), Mr. Robert Campbell (later of the Lagos
Press) and Mr. Samuel Crowther Jnr had all been
seeking expanded roles for missions and for the
returning slaves in the Abeokuta area. Indeed it is
well known, both Christian and business pressure
was behind the final decision of the B5rirish
government to support Akintoye and his Badagry
allies against king Kosoko. Their activities in
Abeokuta hinterland and the prospect of
intermediary trade between Abeokuta and Lagos led
to the increase in the number of rescued or
emancipated slaves from Sierra Leone and Liberia,
Brazil and Cuba who either desired or could be
encouraged to return to their homes in Yoruba land.
The creation of the British ‘Pax’ in 1861, when British
annexed Lagos, further accentuated the influx of
peoples to various parts of the colony. The prevailing
peace in British Lagos, induced a large number of
Yoruba to forsake their homeland plagued with
internecine was and to seek their fortunes in the
colony. An example, after the destruction of Ijaye
town, as result of war which ended 1862 a large
number of Ijaye refuges found a new home in the
Oke Arin section of Lagos named Ijaye court and Ijaye
Street after them.
www.oshodi.org/history/lagosians.html
Are the real Lagosians ‘saro’ descendants from
Olowogbowo, or a member of an old Brazilian family
from Oke-popo or “Aguda”, or a member of old
chiefly families-like Oluwo, Bajulaiye, Ojora, Oniru,
Oshodi etc. could a Lagosian be one of the Muslims
who have lived in Obalende since the end of the
Asante wars. (Member of the West African frontier
Force of Captain Glover in 19th century) or is it one
that lives on Siriki street near the central mosque? In
the sense and according to the school of thought, any
of these people can be called true lagosians, yet the
cultural spectrum the groups cover reveals the
variety and heterogeneity of Lagos.
To understand this view or conclusion of these
notable scholars on Lagos, one must appreciate that
the answer lies in the history of Lagos itself. A code
study will reveal two key factors that are interwoven,
that is the development of the city and its society
and added to these two, was also the element of
trade.
Foundations which were based on the various
successive waves of immigration that was intra and
inter continental. Each wave of immigration from the
earliest beginning brought about the creation of
various settlement on the island. Increase and
rapidity of these waves which were as a result of
different but interrelated events, brought about an
expansion that was to spread beyond the island to its
environs.
Each group of immigrants concentrated in the areas
or quarters named after them. They also brought
with them their various religion and culture, which
they practiced. All these elements of geographical
space, religion and cultural practice, have survived
and became woven into the rich tapestry of the
heritage of the Lagosians. Descendants of the
settlers who were born and grew up in Lagos have no
connection with the places of their past ancestry. The
most information they have is from ‘stories’ passed
down through the generations as attested to by a
Lagosians, Mrs. Efunjoke Coker (M.F.R), in her
autobiography.
The majority of the immigrants came from the
surrounding Yoruba area and the hinterlands,
bringing new religions the Ogboni cult, Islam for
instance was introduced in the 18th century, new
institutions and customs (from Benin and
elsewhere). These development of trades, both
peaceful and slave trade brought first of all the
indigenous people of the surroundings and
hinterlands and later the Portuguese, French Dutch
and British and further wave of repatriated freed
slaves from the Americans, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
These people Brazilians, Caribbean and Europeans
brought aspect of their cultures, Christianity and
Western Education.
From the first wave of the settlers in the 15th
century to the first half of the 19th century, four
(quarters) were separated from the Europeans, the
educated Africans (Saros & Akus), the Brazilians and
the indigenous community. By far, the earliest and
the most important and without which the other
quarter could have existed was the Isale-Eko quarter,
here that the aboriginal Aworis descendants of Olofin
of Isheri led by Aromire carefully settled in dry choice
sites.
This nuclear settlement was between Itolo and
Idumagbo lagoon including Ebute Ero in Isale Eko.
With the help of place names and oral tradition, the
extent of this important (quarter) of Lagos may be
delineated. It must have been extended to Ofin area
to Ebute Ero, the heart of Isale Eko to that part of
Lagos named Victoria street after Queen Victoria of
England during the colonial era renamed Nnamdi
Azikiwe after independence. The original was Ehin
Ogba (behind the fence) indicating that it was
outside the inhabitant part of town, according to oral
tradition, it was indeed the dumping ground for
corpses of paupers and those class of children
regarded as mysterious ‘Abiku’ ( born to die). The
unceremonious burial being regarded as a kind
deterrent to these children from dying so often. It
was jungle then and seldom traversed. The history of
Lagos had been chequered affected by the powerful
influence of Dahomey on the West and Benin on the
East. According to P.D Cole and A.B Aderibigbe, the
expansionist policy of these kingdoms, forced more
people living between them to emigrate to Lagos.
The Aworis were soon joined by other Yorubas, there
was the considerable Ijebu population at Idumagbo,
substancial body of immigrants from Ota who first
came in search of trade at Obun Eko, but eventually
settled at Idumota named after them. An extension
of the premier, but with its own distinctive feature
was Ofin. Its main center was Itolo squre with the
Onitolo and the descendants of the earliest
inhabitants. Outside this centre was Offin Ile in Ijebu
Remo territory. The unique feature of this whole area
was the internal water way formed by the Offin canal,
the Elgbata creek and Itolo, which made the canoe an
effective means of transportation. The second stage
was marked by the military encounter between the
invading army from Benin and Olofins men of Iddo
Island. There was a protracted struggle until the era
of Oba Orhogbua of Benin sent his grandson Eskipa
(Ashipa in Yoruba) to further consolidate Benin
influence and to firmly establish a vice royality.
Authorities are divided in opinion, whether the new
government was first based at Iddo and was moved
by the third king in the dispensation Gabaro to Lagos
Island, or whether it was from the beginning of this
existence that it seized the Island of Lagos, avoiding
Iddo Island with its tradition of resistance to Benin
influence.
According to the ‘Idejo” source-they, the Bini people,
did not conquer them- they were invaded to settle
disputes among the sons of Olofin. According to this
source, the facts that the Obas of Lagos ‘owned’ no
land in Lagos which is disposed of exclusively by the
Yoruba Idejo chiefs, and that the Idejo chiefs did not
perform any administrative duties on behalf of the
Oba and took to the mainland in time of war leaving
the Oba to defend Lagos, do not suggest an original
Benin conquest. They suggest a shadowy tributary
relationship, occasional intervention in an Obaship
that quickly became indigenously Yoruba and
independent in Lagos. Lagos external relations where
conducted with no reference to Benin. According to
Benin source, Oba Orhogbua, during his punitive
expedition against recalcitrant vassal states in about
1550 made his war camp (Eko) on Lagos Island and
from there attacked his enemies for many years.
Anyway the origins of the Benin connection is
obscure and laden with controversy. It probably
originated in a vice- royalty from the mid 16th
century.
It is strongly believe that the king and his retinue of
Benin adviers and warriors first pitched their camp in
the area known as Enu Owa with the celebrant Oju
Olobun’ now a ‘national shrine’, but at the beginning
a spiritual symbol of supremacy of the Oba of Benin.
The truth of this belief is attested to by the fact that
the coronation of an Oba is not regarded as valid,
without the performance of ‘kikam’ (ikanse) at this
same place. That Lagos derived its name “Eko” from
Orhogbuas camp should not be seen as contradicting
the claim of Yoruba sources that Olofin and his
subjects regarded Lagos as “Oko” farm. Oba Gabaro
did more that start a tradition. By choosing for his
permanent abode, the very site for which Aromire
had made his ‘red paper’ farm3, this Oba showed
remarkable political acumen. A new regime had
indeed arrived but was housed on the soil prepared
by Aronire, the first settler on the Island and the son
of Olofin, whose sway the new order has come to
displaced. This was a visible evidence of the factor of
continuity and change in history. Indeed it had been
pointed out that ‘Oko” and ‘Eko’ marked two distinct
periods and waves of immigration in the history of
Lagos, the earliest Awori Yoruba settlement and rule,
and of Bini hegemony, ‘Eko’ supplanting ‘Oko’ once
the Bini were in the ascendant.
The similarity between the two words must have
facilitated this transition in the minds of the people.
Also a new nucleus of chiefs, royal courtiers and
warlords was established, not based on possession of
land like the Idejo, but on service to the Oba. They all
lived, each in his own Iga, a lesser version of the
Oba’s palace. The area of Isale-Eko, thus delimited,
was the hub of Lagos politics. Its focus was the Iga
Idungaran. Here dwelt both the Awori and bini
aristocracies. Despite the conflicting myth both
aristocracies made adjustment between Yoruba and
Benin political structures and traditions. The local
Yoruba aristocracy reserved the right to opt out of
the political struggles in which the political struggles
in which Benin counterpart might engage. This right
was always threatened by increased intermarriage
and the growing power of the Oba. There was the
considerable Ijebu population and there was the hard
core settlers from Idoluwo Ile, who came with the
Obanikoro, head of the Ogalade Class of Chiefs who
gave their name Idoluwo to their present abode.
Here dwell also the most influential of those who took
part in the peaceful commerce. Although the 18th
and 19th centuries saw the beginning and
dominance of the Trans Atlantic Slave trade, it is
often erroneously assumed that the more natural
kind of commercial trade did not play a vital role in
the relationship between Lagos and her neighbors.
The available oral evidence against that, on the
contrary, the nucleus of the system of periodic
markers could be discerned in the proceeding the era
of the slave trade even at the height of the slave
trading period the ‘legitimate’ type of trade,
especially in the articles of domestic consumption,
held its own. The antiquity and indispensable nature
of Ebute Ero and Obun Eko market for trade of large
area of Lagos hinterland, was of the most notable
Lagos market, for peaceful commerce, it also acted as
a forum for social activities other than commerce – in
the Roman sense of the word. The periodic markets
of Badagry patronized by the people of Lagos and the
surrounding countries no doubt, received greater
prominence after the British ‘pax’ but were not
created by it. The market noted for the profusion of
foodstuff brought to Lagos by traders from Potto
Novo is now immortalized in the street named Poto
Novo Market Street. It should not be thought that
effects of Bini hegemony were limited to the
aristocracy. The ordinary citizens must have felt the
impact of the changes that came in its wake. Even
right from its formative stage, there was systematic
consultation between the Oba and his Chiefs, for
example the institution of ‘Osa Iga’, when important
chiefs were expected at the palace and at which
important affairs of the state were discussed. The
absence of chiefs from this particular meeting was
interpreted a san act of rebellion against the king.
There was the ‘Ilupeju’- literally a meeting of the
whole town – which enable proposals from the Oba to
be published and commented upon by eminent
personalities in the community. The strong tradition
of the ancestors worship in the religion, the different
order or class of chiefs surrounding the court of the
oba, are Bini elements, and important strands in the
web of traditional culture of Lagos.
Two principle factors are responsible for the rapid
rise in population and the importance of Lagos as the
commercial center in the second half of the 19th
century; one was the abolition of the slave trade and
the consequent introduction of the British preventive
squadron to patrol the West Coast. This increased the
risk and cost of the Atlantic Slave trade from the
traditional West Coast slaving ports and thereby help
in rise of small towns like Lagos and Badagry, which
were till then, not heavily frequented points on the
coast, therefore not heavily patrolled by the
squadron) it offered traders relatively safe and cheap
ports for the evacuation of slaves. More so the
hinterland of Lagos was quite disorganized, during
the early part of the 19th century. Oyo Empire was
breaking up a result of its own internal inadequacies,
conflicts, and pressure of the Fulani from the North.
This pressure led to general disorder in the interior, it
also brought about the fall of the Oyo Empire in
1835, and the resultant rise of Ibadan a military
power. These circumstances brought about more
waves of migration of those escaping from the wars,
to find refuge in relatively peaceful Lagos, such as
the Egbas, Egbados and Aworis. Inn terms of
population, various parts of Lagos itself and the
mainland benefited vastly from these movements of
people. These circumstances first acted in the
interest of Lagos and Badagry, which now prospered.
However this advantage eventually became a liability
of another kind in that it strengthened the stand of
those ready to bring pressure on the British
government to use the pretext of the illegal ( and in
the 1850’s diminishing) trade in slaves, to reduce
Lagos to a colony by mid 19th century.
The second factor in this development was the
gradual opening up of the interior for both
missionaries and business. The activities of the
missionaries in Abeokuta area were already
extensive prior to the reduction of Lagos in 1861
Reverend Townsend (agent of the church Missionary
Society), Mr. Robert Campbell (later of the Lagos
Press) and Mr. Samuel Crowther Jnr had all been
seeking expanded roles for missions and for the
returning slaves in the Abeokuta area. Indeed it is
well known, both Christian and business pressure
was behind the final decision of the B5rirish
government to support Akintoye and his Badagry
allies against king Kosoko. Their activities in
Abeokuta hinterland and the prospect of
intermediary trade between Abeokuta and Lagos led
to the increase in the number of rescued or
emancipated slaves from Sierra Leone and Liberia,
Brazil and Cuba who either desired or could be
encouraged to return to their homes in Yoruba land.
The creation of the British ‘Pax’ in 1861, when British
annexed Lagos, further accentuated the influx of
peoples to various parts of the colony. The prevailing
peace in British Lagos, induced a large number of
Yoruba to forsake their homeland plagued with
internecine was and to seek their fortunes in the
colony. An example, after the destruction of Ijaye
town, as result of war which ended 1862 a large
number of Ijaye refuges found a new home in the
Oke Arin section of Lagos named Ijaye court and Ijaye
Street after them.
www.oshodi.org/history/lagosians.html