Long live our elders!!
LET LAGOS STATE BE -
by FEMI OKUNNU

GE DE GBE L’EKO WA.

Let us go back to Memory Lane. WHO ARE THE LAGOSIANS? The Aworis were the original settlers in Eko, called “Lagos” by Portugese adventurers. The “Idejo ” class of chiefs – Olumegbon, Oluwa, Oniru, Onisemo, Oloto, Aromire, Elegushi, Ojomu, Onikoyi, Onisiwo, Ojora, Onitolo, Onitana – were the landowning chiefs who along with their families and followers settled in different parts of Lagos and the environs in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were the original land owners of Lagos.

Then came the Bini invasion. All the Obas of Lagos, starting from Oba Ado, were of Bini origin. So is Oba Alaiyeluwa Akiolu I, the present Oba of Lagos. Ki ade pe lori, Ki bata pe lese. In Amodu Tijani v. Secretary, Southern Provinces where the question before the court was whether full compensation should be paid to the Appellant (as Chief Oluwa of Lagos) for compulsory acquisition of Apapa, the Privy Council (the highest court of jurisdiction for British Colonies) held: “About the beginning of the eighteenth century the island of Lagos was held by a Chief called Olofin. He had parcelled out the island and part of the adjoining mainland among some sixteen subordinate Chiefs, called “Whitecap” in recognition of their dominion over the portions parcelled out of them.

About 1790 Lagos was successfully invaded by the neighbouring Benins. They did not remain in occupation, but left a representative as ruler whose title was the “Eleko”.

The successive Elekos in the end became the kings of Lagos, although for a long time they (1. See, pp. 1-22 of Political and Cultural Perspectives of Lagos by H.A.B. Fasinro) acknowledged the sovereignty of the king of the Benins, and paid tribute to him. The Benins appear to have interfered but little with the customs and arrangements in the island….The Binis (Edos) who accompanied Ado to Lagos settled mostly in Isale Eko, in particular at Iduntafa, Idunmagbo, Idunshagbe, Idunmota, Idunmaigbo.

The word “Idun” means “area”. The Akarigbere class of chiefs (or civil chiefs) are also of Bini origin. They are: Eletu Odigbo, Eletu Iwashe, Eletu Ika, Ologun Agbeje, Ologun Adodo, Eletu Awo, Ologun Agan, Ologun Atebo, Ologun Igbesodi, Ologun Ide Okoro. So also are the Abagbon class of chiefs or war chiefs : Ashogbon, Bajulaiye, Saba, Bajulu and Bashua3. They and their families have Benin blood flowing in their veins and arteries. Incidentally, the installation of an Oba of Lagos, as well as that of each whitecapped Chief of Lagos, bears the hall mark of the installation of the Oba of Benin.

The ceremony at Enuowa tells eloquently our Benin heritage. The installation of the Obi of Onitsha bears similar heritage. Another set of original settlers in Lagos were the “Nupe” or “Tapa” from present day Niger State. They settled at Idunshagbe, Ita Agarawu, Oko Awo, and most especially at Ita Oshodi, popularly called Epetedo. The Oshodi Family are of Tapa origin. Successive Chief Imams of Lagos are Nupe; so also are many prominent families in Lagos.

And the Brazilian Quarters! The Pereira, Marinho, Da Silva, Sho Silva, Salvador, Ramos, Peregrino, Ferreira, Agusto, Pinheiro, Campos, Da Rhocha, Da Costa, Gonzalez, Martins, Vera Cruz and Pedro families – all returnees from Brazil in the early 18th centuries whose ancestors were taken into slavery mostly from Yoruba land and Dahomey (Benin Republic). They settled mostly at “Popo Aguda” 1/4
There  are  the  Saros  especially  from  Freetown in  Sierra  Leone –  Savage,  Williams, Carew,  Caulcrick  and  Cole  families,  et  al.  They  settled  at  Olowogbowo  area  of Lagos.  The  Saros  were  immigrants  from  Sierra  Leone  either  as  descendants  of slaves  from  Cuba  or  Brazil,  or  freed  slaves  who  first  settled  at  Free  Town  in Sierra  Leone  and  then  emigrated  to  Lagos.

There  were  waves  of  Yoruba  settlers  also  as  Ago  “Ijaiye”,  Ijesha  Tedo,  Agodo Egba,  Agidingbi,  Shomolu  and  such  other  areas  of  Lagos  will  testify.   And  of  course,  the  Ijebus  in  Epe  and  Ikorodu.  And  the  “Eguns”  in  *Badagry*.  All  of them  were  original  settlers  of  Lagos  State.   All  these  people,  and  more,  make  up  Lagos.  They  are  the  “Lagosians”. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  Lagos  is  a  Yoruba  state  because  Yoruba  is  the common  language  among  its  people,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there  is  a large  percentage  of  its  people  whose  ancestral  languages  were  Bini  or  Tapa.  The same  argument  can  be  said  for  millions  of  Fulanis  in  Sokoto  State  or  Adamawa, Gongola,  Kano  or  Katsina  State  who  are  no  less  Fulani  in  origin  just  because  the common  language  of  these  Fulanis  in  those  states  is  Hausa,  and  not  Fulani.  The Binis  and  the  Tapa,  the  Potoki  (Brazilians)  and  the  Saros  have  adopted  Yoruba  as their  common  language  in  the  same  way  as  the  Fulanis  have  adopted  Hausa.

As  we  are  all  aware,  Lagos  State  was  the  first  British  Colony  established  in  1861 in  modern-day  Nigeria,  followed  by  the  Protectorate  of  Southern  Nigeria  and the  Protectorate  of  Northern  Nigeria  in  1900.  Lagos  Colony,  including  Ikeja,  Epe and  Badagry  divisions  remained  under  a  separate  administration  from  the  two Protectorates  or  three  Regions  (1946  -  51)  until  1951.  The  last  British Commissioner  for  the  Colony  was  Mr.  E.A.  Carr  under  the  Richards  Constitution (1946).  And  his  deputy  was  Major  J.C.  Allen.

LAGOS  SPOKE FOR NIGERIA. Lagos  was  the  centre  of  Nigerian  politics  from  the  proclamation  of  the protectorate  in  1900  until  1950.  Lagos  was  Nigeria!  Herbert  Macaulay  (who founded  the  Democratic  Party  in  1922),  Nnamdi  Azikwe,  Ibiyinka  Olorunnimbe (all  of  Democratic  Party  /  NCNC  Alliance)  and  James  Churchill  Vanghan,  Kofo Abayomi,  Akinola  Maja,  H.O.  Davies,  Jubril  Martins,  Ernest  Ikoli  (Nigerian  Youth Movement,  founded  in  1933),  and  before  them  people  like  Orisadipe  Obasa, Kitoyi  Ajasa,  Haratio  Jackson  dominated  the  political  scene  in  the  early  20th century.  

3 Then  Obafemi  Awolowo  entered  the  scene,  on  the  demise  of  NYM  and  the formation  of  Action  Group  at  Owo  in  1951.  Nnamdi  Azikwe’s  NCNC/Democratic Party  Alliance  and  Action  Group  dominated  Lagos  politics  until  the  1966  military coup  d’etat. With  India  gaining  her  independence  from  Britain  in  1947,  agitation  for  self government  for  Nigeria,  especially  by  the  Lagos  politicians,  continued  apace. The  Richards’  constitution  (1946  –  51)  did  not  go  far  enough. The  new  Governor  of  Nigeria,  Sir  John  MacPherson  (1948  –  54)  summoned  the first  assembly  of  representatives  of  the  people  of  Nigeria  at  Ibadan  in  1950  to discuss  the  political  future  of  the  country. This  led  to  the  MacPherson Constitution,  1951  –  1954.

TEMPORARY  MERGER WITH THE WEST With  regard  to  the  future  of  Lagos  Colony,  the  majority  of  the  delegates  at  the Ibadan  General  Conference  decided  that  Lagos  Colony  should  not  be  merged with  any  Region;  rather  Lagos  should  remain  as  the  capital  of  Nigeria. 2/4

Firstly, I would like to thank all Lagosians, especially our supporters for coming out to vote yesterday for us. I’m convinced that with you in our corner, a NEW Nigeria is imminent. However, I am saddened by the confirmed reports of violence and gross disenfranchisement of voters who only wished to perform their civic duty.

Attacks on polling units, voters, and our party agents are totally antithetical to what we stand for & what Lagos truly represents.

I just casted my vote at my Polling Unit in Anifowoshe, Ikeja.

State Capture must end!! Every Lagosian’s voice, lives and properties matter

Èkó E dìde!!

~ GRV. Please come out & vote, we are working very hard & implementing security countermeasures, if you haven’t voted yet please don’t let yourself be disenfranchised, remain steadfast & please come out, thugs have been chased away in multiple areas.
A fight for freedom is never won… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

On saturday, when most polling units were deserted, churches were full, speaking in tongues.I wont criticize this, but we must understand Religion is excellent for individual self development but it retards growth of the collective except the church takes a practical stand. Religion is a nice pressure valve, we put all our pressures and expectations on God despite God giving us a brain to make decisions, even the first King Saul was elected.
The pressure that society should push on leadership,they put that pressure on God. So we thank God for safety

The painful question still echoing across Lagos, ‘Omo Eko’ still desperately listening for a response goes unanswered!!
WHO KILLED FUNSHO WILLIAMS?!!!

A thread . imagine if in the nascent years of microsoft and apple, steve jobs was assassinated and microsoft was allowed to grow unhindered...The assassination of Engr Funsho Williams was akin to that for the Lagos PDP.

Not to mention the huge corruption, harrasment and extortion created by the avoidable congestion.

Find time to listen to this 👇

jimidisu.com/audio-each-tan… You argued that the 16 years of @OfficialPDPNig created this mess - another wrong narrative.

In 1999, Nigeria's Sea ports was among the least efficient in the world and most of our trading partners had disengaged with us after years of military mis-rule.