Category: People
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Kitoyi Ajasa was a key figure in Colonial Lagos born in 1866. His original name, Edmund Macaulay was relinquished upon his attainment of full qualifications as a lawyer in London. His family had returned from Sierra Leone upon their emancipation by British anti-slavery squadron to Ajase and afterwards, Lagos. At the age of 14 he…
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Ijebu people are Yoruba speaking tribe whose home is in the north-east of Lagos around the Magbon River. The Ijebu were known before the annexation of their territory by the British as proud, isolated and determined. Pre-colonial Ijebu had absolute faith in their religion and so their reaction was cool towards the warnings from colonial…
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Egba people: According to titleholder of the land and author, F.I Sotunde, it is undocumented how the people of Egba came to inhabit the geographical area known as the Egba forest. What is relatively known for sure is that the political turmoil following the fall of the Oyo Empire indirectly led to their migration to…
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Saro, a descriptive term apparently coined from “Sierra Leonean,” is a class of urbanized Yoruba former slaves that emerged in the nineteenth century following the 1807 British outlaw of slave trade. They were the ones, or children of those liberated by the British navy from slaving ships on the high seas. Many of these returnees…
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Ajagbo was Alaafin of Oyo who ruled the longest. The length of his reign contrasted sharply with most of his close successors. Ajagbo’s love for martial planning led him to create a special office, the Aare Ona Kakanfo, to be occupied by the most accomplished soldier in the empire. He made his friend from Iwoye, Kokoro…