07/12/2023
HOW THE BENINS FOUNDED LAGOS
Written by Leo Oronsaye
The opprobrious comments emanating from some quarters, because our revered Emperor, the Omo n'Oba n'Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare Ogidigan's reaffirmation of an acknowledged fact of history, is uncalled for and unfortunate.
And to these subhuman individuals, deranged imbeciles from undignified ancestries, who in their putrescine atmosphere of ignorance and shamelessness, spew tirades of abuse unceasingly against anybody or anything of reverence, I would say here, that the Oba of Benin is not just only a custodian of the Benin culture and traditions but a repository of the Benin history. He academically astute, he's erudite and he's well informed in the western and traditional matters.
His knowledge about the former Benin Empire and her history is authoritative because there exists as had always existed, among the existing palace societies, a group tasked with the recording, keeping and narration of our Empire's histories.
And this group is aided in this critical assignment by mnemonics, which makes their recollection of the Empire's history, authentic and authoritative.
And it's these histories that had from time immemorial formed a part of the traditional educational curriculum designed for the raising of young Benin princes, especially the heirs to ancient throne of the Empire.
As attested to by Egharevba's ' Short History of Benin' , before the Portuguese came to the Lagos area in about 1472 or thereabouts, virtually the whole of our modern day states of Ondo, Osun, Ogun and Lagos were already subject territories gained by either conquest or client state alignments.
And the most prominent among them were kingdoms like Owo, Akure, Ondo and Ijebu, all been subject to the Benin crown and paying tributes to the Oba of Benin. Whereas in a place like the modern day Lagos State, with its swampy terrain with islets and islands dotting its interconnected waterways like what pertains at the southern fringes, though peopled, there were virtually the absence of kingdoms or powerful centralised states per se but mere settlements.
So when the Portuguese arrived and wanted to do trade there, the people there refused saying they couldn't do business without taking permission from their overlord. And when the Portuguese Captain asked who their overlord was, they told him the great emperor whose capital city, they called 'Ubini, a place that lay faraway in the hinterland.
And it was in seeking this franchise to do business there, that led the Portuguese Captain to travel to Ubini, which they, the Portuguese corrupted to Benin as the place is called today.
The Portuguese eventually got the permission and business started in the place, in the Island they later named Lagos because of its topographical similarities with their home country's main port of Lagos in Portugal.
Meanwhile as at this period, there was no Benin settlement in the place but trade posts operated by Benin itinerant traders and collectors of tolls and duties from the Port that was due to the Benin Obas.
But after some 70 years of relative peace in the area, especially throughout the reigns of Oba Ozolua and his son Esigie, the reign of Oba Orhogbua (1554 -1577) witnessed an uprising that off setted the smooth running of the booming international trade, in the Lagos area.
It was greatly perturbing period for the Empire because the Aworis and their allies revolted, leading to a restriction in the continuous free flow of revenue, mostly taxes and duties from booming seaport to the capital.
In a surprising move very unlike his Warrior King predecessors, whose military campaigns in the area were mainly ground incursions, Orhogbua who was by virtue of his long association with the Portuguese, conversant with their war strategies,
shipped the large army he had mustered, in a huge armada of war canoes to scene of turbulence.
It was a classical outflanking move that disoriented the rebellious Aworis and their allies, who had expected a land campaign from the direction of the Empire's capital,
The recalcitrant Aworis were crushed
in a series of engagements that was protracted because of the terrain, taking several years of battle after battle against several Aworis and non Aworis tribes that had joined in the fray on the side of the Aworis, eventually ending in the complete pacification of the entire Lagos area.
And in the course of his pacification of the area, he built a war camp(Eko), where put a garrison of warriors in the strategical located Island of Lagos, as the place is called today, which he later upgraded to level of a fortress, because he knew as a seasoned strategist, the place could withstand a siege in whatever form it comes, because it completely surrounded by water.
The presence of this fortress greatly facilitated a boost in the economic development of Lagos as a lot business oriented individuals and groups flocked into the area to trade.
About this period, Eko virtually replaced Benin City as the Empire's seat of Power, because Oba Orhogbua now held court on this fortress, where he received daily briefings about the day to day running of the Empire.
He developed a keen interest in administrative operations and commercial activities at the port which elongated the long period he spent in Lagos.
Against this development, the people of the great city of Benin craved for his return to the Empire's capital, for throughout the period of his absence the annual 'Ugie' were not held.
The exigencies of governance at the centre, that's the capital city of Benin, finally compelled him to leave when rumours reach him that his son had been crowned as an Oba in his instead.
He left a contingent of his warriors in the Eko fortress and embark the rest in boats headed back, on his way back he attacked Mahin, destroyed their army and executed Amapetu their King and replaced him with a loyal subject. The reasons for Orhogbua crushing of Mahin varies among pundits of History, while some are of the opinion that the Amapetu refused to do obeisance , some support the notion that the Amapetu was complicit in the uprising that rocked the Lagos area.
He continued his match towards Benin City, landing at Ikoro, he left his warriors there so as not arouse suspicion and came alone to the city.
Oba Orhogbua arrival at Benin City, cause a stir, which resulted in panic among the close associates of his son, especially the mother, who committed su***de for fear that she could witness a possible trial and ex*****on of her son.
But the Oba was magnanimous and lenient towards his son, forgave him completely. No sooner than about two years after his arrival, Oba Orhogbua joined his ancestors.
And the reign of his successor, Oba Ehengbuda, the whole of the Lagos region was calm for several years until a revolt arose, in the areas that bordered the Whydah kingdom in the modern day Benin Republic, he mustered an army in his old age, with which he crushed the rebels and on his way back his convoy of war boats ran into a fierce storm which unfortunately capsized his boat and the weight of his body armour coupled with the fact that he was an old King, about 90, imperiled his swimming and got drowned in the process.
From then his son and successor Oba Ohuan on his succession issued a decree that forbade the Obas of Benin from personally leading Benin armies in Battle.
And it was during the course of Oba Orhogbua's stay in Lagos/Eko, where he spent a better part of his 23 year reign, that he sired a son, who took over the running of the Fort of Eko, when he came of age. He was the father of Ashipa . It was Ashipa who when he was called upon by the Uzama, to take the Benin throne when Oba Ohuan the grandson of Oba Orhogbua, who had died without an heir, sent his son instead to be crowned as Oba Ohenzae.
It was Ohenzae who as Oba could not speak the Benin language because his mother was Awori. This was period too, the Awori language spoken at the palace, because of the retinue that accompanied him from Lagos, all virtually being Awori speakers, except for uncle, who spoke some smattering Benin.
( It should be note that at the reign of Ashipa, the Fort of Eko was over a100 years old with the bulk of the original Benin speaking Warriors garrisoned there, now deceased. And in their place a new crop of warriors now manning the Fort, of whom many were offsprings of the union of their fathers with the local women mostly of the Aworis and non Aworis tribes. Though these Warriors regarded themselves as Benins, they could not speak a word of Benin, because they were brought up in the tongues of their mothers.)
With the passing of Ashipa, another of his son Ado, also from an Awori woman, took over the running of the Fort that had by now, morphed into a town in its own right, with the rulers bearing the title ',Ol'Eko corrupted into ',Eleko'.
The facts about the Benin ownership of can further be buttressed by the statement of Oba Kosoko of Lagos about the middle of the 19th century, when Beecroft proposed the establishment of a bilateral relations between his country Britain and Lagos. Kosoko in his reply, claimed that agreeing to a proposal of such magnitude was beyond his authority as the territory in question belong to Oba of Benin.
Below is an extract from Wikipedia that buttresses this assertion
"In November 1851, a British party met with Oba Kosoko to present a proposal of British friendly relations along with giving up the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. The proposal was rejected by Kosoko "on the technical reason that Lagos was under the Oba of Benin and that it was only that Oba who could deal with foreign powers concerning the status of Lagos"[13][14]
On 4 December 1851, upon Kosoko's successful repulsion and the defeat of British forces, Consul Beecroft wrote to the Oba of Benin declaring that "Kosoko, by opening fire on a flag of truce, had declared war on England" and therefore had to be replaced by Akitoye. He threatened that Kosoko had till the end of the month to surrender otherwise "Lagos would be totally destroyed by fire".[15]"
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