Category: Culture
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Alake title literally means ‘Lord of Ake’, Ake being the principal quarter of the Egba town of Abeokuta that was established in 1830 east of Ogun River and 70 miles north of the coast. The concept of a single king did not exist among the Egba Yoruba sub-group until the ancient title of Alake, the…
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Theophilus Owolabi Sobowale Benson was a Lagos lawyer and prominent member of Nigeria’s pre and post independence aristocracy. Born in Ikorodu in 1917, Benson lived for 91 years, a life that is remembered for high attainment and personal style. He attended CMS Grammar School, Lagos and after working briefly in the civil service as a…
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Chieftaincy, the highly developed system through which leadership is conferred in pre-colonial Western Nigeria existed in several tiers; some military and some, civil. Associations such as the Ogboni, Tradesmen, craftsmen, or market women are usually the entities which serve as the authority conferring the titles of, to mention a few; Balogun, Otun, Osi, or Agbaakin…
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Dosunmu, name spelt Docemo in the Victorian Lagos era, Oba of Lagos between 1853 and 1885. He was responsible for the cession of Lagos to the British crown, thereby making Lagos a colony. His denial, two years later, of this August 1861 deal earned him a levy and lost of his pension but more importantly,…
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The Great Debate was the term employed by historians in describing the struggle of ethos in the late 19th Century Lagos to which the postmodern African civilization in southwest Nigeria is owed mostly in culture. Historian explained the nexus of this debate as the desire to extol the contributions of the African to world civilization.…
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Kori was a son of Aganju who was the Alafin after Ajaka, a great-grandson of Oduduwa. Kori became the Alafin as a young man. His mother, Iyanyu had ruled in his stead until he was of considerable age. It was during his reign that the legendary story of Timi the kinglet at Ede, occurred. Kori’s inaptitude…
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Timi of Ede is the legendary figure in Yoruba account who achieved renown in the Old Oyo Empire during the reign of Alafin Kori, for his military accomplishment. Ijesha people (of Ilesha) were at the time before Timi’s rise terrorizing their neighbors by kidnapping them in their farms, and molesting travellers to Aponmu, a frontier town…