A Must Read. Who Owns Lagos !!! Is it The Yoruba's

Is it a no man's land? Not in
the literal sense. The Yoruba say it is their land
and some others say it is a no man's land. Why?
When the Portuguese came to Lagos in the 15th
century AD, no one was there. Then later it
became a farm or war camp known as Eko by the
Benin or Edo people who were the first to come
there and establish a farm settlement while they
traded with the Portuguese and war camp to fight
others. Bini Empire was the dominant empire in
much of Southern Nigeria west of the Niger River
at the time. They established the first kingdom
there in the 17th century answerable to the Oba
of Benin. So since they still exist, though in
minority since the British made the place
independent of the Benin crown, does it belong
to Bini people?
Then came the Awori, a Yoruba group who were
fleeing wars in the Yoruba land. They came from
the Ife and settled first in what is now the
mainland of Lagos. They were followed by other
Yoruba groups like the Egba and Ijebus who were
also escaping wars or just seeking greener
pastures to survive. Originally, Yoruba people did
not live at the coast. Due to proximity, they have
settled, coexisted and out populated the Binis
and everyone else and became the dominant
culture. Does the place then belong to the
Yoruba? How about those Aworis and the people
that actually settled there continuously till date?
All of Nigeria was eventually colonized by Britain,
mostly by force or by arm twisting, well except
Lagos. Lagos (the island) was unique in the sense
that in fact it was sold to Britain by Oba Akintoye
in order to get back the crown from his cousin or
nephew, king Kosoko who did not want to end
slave trade. King Kosoko had deposed him with
help of Madam Tinubu so that they could
continue the slave trade. King Kosoko then went
on to establish settlements in Badagry, Epe and
some of the islands. Britain then merged the
Lagos colony with the rest of Nigeria in 1914 and
gave it to Nigeria (note Nigeria) at independence
in 1960. So doesn't it then belong to all Nigerians?
If Nigeria were to break today, shouldn't the
British come back and claim it? Why not if the
party they gave their possession to is no more?
That will not happen though. It will belong to the
origins, Bini and Awori people who should then
have to settle other Nigerians. If they then decide
to merge with other Yoruba state, it will then be
up to them. Some arrangement could then be
worked out like in Hong Kong. Hopefully it will not
get that due the complexity.
People like Femi Fani Kayode have argued that
since the government of the Western region
under Awolowo set up industries and investments
around Ikeja and Agege areas and developed
much of the mainland north of Surulere, which he
did, therefore Lagos is a "Yoruba heritage" and
inheritance. Well, how about others in the then
Western region like the Edos, Itsekiris, Urhobos,
Ishan and others, including the Igbos from the
west of the Niger? It is therefore their heritage
and inheritance as well by that logic.
How about the fact that Lagos was the federal
capital and developed as such first by the British
then by the federal government of Nigeria and
since then by individuals. In addition to federal
government ministries, parastatals and agencies,
almost every big company, banks, media houses,
insurance and advertising companies and so on,
owned by people from all over Nigeria was head
quartered in Lagos. Ikoyi and Victoria Island were
the residential areas for the upper class and
senior federal workers and for the colonialists,
the government reserved area while Surulere and
some others were residential areas for middle
class workers. Apapa has and supports the wharf.
Infrastructure buil all over there. Shouldn't it then
belong to all Nigerians?
For those saying that the Yoruba were
magnanimous in letting others to come there,
note that the same thing happened to Zungeru
when it was capital of the North and later Kaduna.
Same as Calabar when it was capital of Southern
protectorate. They always attracted people from
everywhere.
Historically, Lagos was never under any Yoruba
empire like the Oyo Empire. It was always
independent of any Yoruba empire or people. So
the original surviving settlers of Lagos are the
indigenes there. In Nigeria, we are natives or
indigenes of our home towns. Home town is
where your father is from or your family has been
for generations, we follow the y- chromosome
and that is fine and correct because it establishes
identity or who we are. We therefore have affinity
and allegiance to the home town first and
foremost. But that should be relevant just for
identity or for cultural purposes like chieftaincy
and so on or in case of rotational presidency if we
have that. Everyone is a citizen of Nigeria as
defined by the constitution and the qualifying
rights are the same all over the country. Everyone
then should be able to live anywhere, do business
and pay tax there, vote there and when they have
established residency after a period, should be
voted for there
Lagos by virtue of it's unique position and history,
belongs to all Nigerians. As a cosmopolitan city in
the modern world, it belongs to anyone who calls
it home, lives there and pays tax, contributes to
the development even if by the mere fact the
person was counted there in the census and the
government gets federal money based on that.
But it is a home town to some people. After them,
then everyone else has the same right there,
whether from Ibadan or from Asaba or from Yola
for that matter.
There is also an argument that rages on about
who the Ikwere land belongs to. My position is
that since all the Igbo towns were independent of
each other as independent city state (or village
state) when the British came and colonized them
and then united them under the Eastern region
for their convenience, each town belongs to the
'indigenes' of that town, again for cultural
purposes. There was never an Igbo empire or
'Igbo nation'. In fact Igbo migration did not come
at one time or from one source.
The same as the Yoruba people who were neither
all the same people. Some came out of Ife, some
came and settled and then became part of the
Oyo Empire while others were never part of it and
they always had wars among themselves. They
also came at different times and from different
sources, eventually united by a dominant culture
and language. Ogbomosho for example is a
Yoruba town today but the original settlers were
not Yoruba. They came and settled independently
but sought protection from Oyo Empire and thus
became part of it. The north was a different story.
I suggest again that the zones as in SW, SE etc
should be scrapped because they are causing
more harm than good. They are not even
recognized in the constitution and shouldn't.