Category: History
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Ibikunle-Akitoye was the first Christian Oba of Lagos (not to be mistaken for Akitoye who had a dispute with Kosoko). He was installed in 1925 upon the deposition of Eleko of Eko, Esugbayi, whose anti-British stance was commonly known. As was the norm in Yoruba communities, the Oba council quickly elected Ibikunle-Akitoye in place of…
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Christianity is the faith of a third of the world’s population, a system, said by Drummond as succeeding not only because it is divine but also because it is very human. The duty to a neighbor in this system, is considered part of the duty to God. “Christianity,’ aptly put by the Editor of the…
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People’s Union, often taken as Nigeria’s first political party was a pressure group formed in 1908 during the Water Rate agitation in Ilupesi by John Randle and Orisadipe Obasa who were physicians, with white cap chiefs Erelu and Asogbon. Other key members were Kitoyi Ajasa, Akinwande Savage, Adeyemo Alakija, and others. The People’s Union was…
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Orisadipe Obasa, a pioneer Nigerian physician, one of the last of the eight who qualified as medic in the late 19th century was born in Sierra Leone into a privileged royal family of Ikole-Ekiti and Ikija, Abeokuta on January 1863. In 1878, Obasa joined the Wesleyan Boys High Schol in Lagos where he showed good…
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Sango; the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning, and the fiendish Alaafin of Old Oyo, the era of whom the popular Yoruba chant, Kabiyesi, meaning “He who is answerable to no one,” is probably originated. The practicability of the Kabiyesi chant was ironically put to test a few times in Shango’s reign, but not without…
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Obalokun Agana Erin was the Alaafin of Oyo in the times when salt was first introduced to the empire. Obalokun was the first Alaafin after Oduduwa, reported to have made friends from beyond the continent of Africa. There is a story of how his messengers numbering hundreds were missing, never to be found again, after embarking…
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Slavery, the forcible commodification and holding of humans for the provision of labor lasted for about 350 years. While it did, about 12.4 million Africans were transported to the Americas to the benefit of the plantation societies there. During the reign of Obalokun Agana Erin, Alaafin of the Oyo Empire, it was recorded that the Alaafin…
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Owiwi Battle was an historical military engagement of the Egba and Ijebu resulting in the defeat of the latter. The battle of Owiwi emanated from the rancor between the newly settled Egba people of Abeokuta and the people of Ijebu Remo. Ijebu villages gathered immediately after the withdrawal of Egba victorious army to avenge their…