TWISTED HISTORY-THE MOST FRAUDULENT LEGACY OF THE BRITISH COLONIALIST.

By Ojealaro Friday 

01/05/2015

I read a post this morning from one of my brothers here-Reggie Akpata. The accompanying attachments are so revolting for their patent and latent falsehood that I nearly choked with anger when I perused them. I have to calm myself with this soliloquy. The precolonial Independent Nigerian Kingdoms they project to us today are not the same in the prominence ranking they are currently accorded. The stools of Benin,Sokoto and Oyo ( The BIG 3)are alleged to be the dominant powers before the whiteman came. One may be tempted to accept this claim but I cannot because it is not consistent with the true state of things before the advent of colonialism. Benin Empire is the only visible one of the three the white men met as a flourishing and prosperous State. The others were clearly contrived and fraudulently packaged because they had cowed leaders who easily saw self elevation as a better deal than the dignity of their people. Let's see.

(1) WHERE AND WHAT IS THE SIZE OF THE CAPITAL CITIES OF THESE BIG THREE.

BENIN

An old state is easily discernible by the current state of its old capital. Today,Benin city is still ranked as one of the biggest cities in Africa. It is a recognized origin of visible ancient civilization. Benin city is a creation of Edo people.

SOKOTO

Sokoto city ( sakkwato..Arab for Market)on the other hand is a market town that was elevated by the British above its more advanced neighbouring cities like Kano,Zaria and Katsina. It is a capital city that is trying so hard till date to measure up to these alleged subordinated cities in the north. Sokoto is still a small city and was actually created by an unholy alliance of the British Imperialists and the Futa Jallon Fulani Muslims who wanted a complete overthrown of the existing Habe( Hausa) Kingdoms.

OYO ILE

Some will be wondering where this alleged capital of the old oyo empire is located. Well,it is situate in some innocuous place in Kwara state. It is not as big as Eyaen in Benin city,Ohanmi in Owan East or Idumebo in Ekpoma. It is a very funny capital of an old empire. This is because,there have never been any where in the world a capital of an old Kingdom that survives becomes a quarter of a village. Oyo Ile to me is actually created from the conceited imagination of neo-imperialist Yorubas.

(2) HOW DID THE WHITEMEN MEET THESE KINGDOMS?

BENIN:

Benin was as one of the greatest empires in Western Sudan. It had a long history of empireship that even predates the British monarchy. By the time the whiteman came to colonize,Benin is so advanced that it was maintaining foreign missions in European countries. Her influence covers Ondo,Ekiti,Lagos,Onitsha, half the current Yoruba settlements,present Delta state,Idah and parts of the current Republic of Benin and Togo. Oba Ovoramwen Nogbaisi was resplendent in his awesome majesty holding sway over this great empire. Yes,that is what the Whiteman met.

SOKOTO.

Admitted,it was an Empire( Caliphate) on the ascendancy but its dominance of the resilient Hausa city states was completely actualized not by their strength but by the dubious Indirect Rule Policy of the British Mercenary Lugard. If Sokoto is such a big and attractive kingdom,Lugard would have used her capital as headquarters. Rather he used Lokoja another not too historically known settlement. Anyways,Sokoto was established in 1804/8. My Afuze Town in Edo is over 300 years older than Sokoto. Not at all to be compared to Benin and Ethiopia,African oldest kingdoms.

OYO:

There is no record that the British met anything like Oyo Empire. They met city states like Ibadan,Egba,Ijebu and Lagos most of which pay tributes to and takes instructions from the powerful Benin empires. Infact,it was Lagos refusal to stop acknowledging Benin as its overlord that precipitated the invasion of Benin by the British in 1897. Also note that,the only place you find the old Oyo empire is on the pages of fraudulent history book by Neo-Imperialist Yorubas like Ola Biola, Olatunbonsu, Ajayi,some mentally indolent Africa Authors like Onwobikiri, Osei Adjei and the ever mischief-making British authors like Richardson. I assert unequivocally without fear of convincing contradictions that Oyo empire never really existed. No geographic and demographic records to show otherwise. The British never met such a state.

(3) ROYAL DIGNITY

BENIN MONARCH:

As befit a great emperor,he maintains royal self respect in everything he does. He does not grovel or genuflect before any other man. He picks his travels and visits and mostly on official royal matters. Presidents come to him not the other way round. He does not wait at airport terminals to receive VIPs. You come to his palace to pay homage. His people still accord him his traditional divine respect and he reciprocate by not behaving otherwise in private and in public.

SULTAN OF SOKOTO..

The respect he has is more to do with his position as a religious head than as a traditional ruler. Aimless and frequent and unofficial visits to Abuja,one sultan dying on such visits clearly depreciates the royalty of that office. Dynastic feuds is one of its many problems. This is because,it is a fledgling state. Not as established as the Benin Kingdom.

ALAFIN OF OYO:

One of the most recent criticisms against this throne is the traditional rascality of its occupant who not only gallivants unashamedly in European cities flaunting his Solomonic harem but he is at war with his traditional African complexion. He has disfigured it with bleaching chemicals. So much for a ruler of a great empire.

I don't know whether this can qualify as soliloquy but however it is, I have been able to reflect objectively this morning and satisfied with myself that I have exposed some perspectival distortions.