Meet SANNI HABEEB ABIODUN, an Academic Staff of Lagos State University.
My Area Of Specialization Are Lagos History, Cultural History, Developmental Studies, Biographical Studies, Politics And Yoruba History.
Associate Professor / Reader
History and International Relations
At the History And International Relations department office
Appointment on Visitation important
Topic: Aborigines And Politics Of Exclusion In 21st Century Lagos
Description:
Politics in a
developing country such as Nigeria is often tied to the benefits accruing to
the individuals and the people in the immediate environment of the politicians.
Unlike the advanced democracies of Western Europe and America, where political
participation is based on the basis of residency, political participation in
this part of the world is tied to the role of aborigines. This may seem
extraneous in view of lack of provision for such role in laws guiding political
participation in the country. However, this has become the norm in most states of
Nigeria where political appointment is tied to place of origin. Thus, a
non-indigene of a state may participate in the politics of his place of
residence, but may be screened out of elective position. The situation in Lagos
State is however different. Politics of Lagos seems to have been determined
largely in favour of non-indigenes who often takes the juicy elective
/political positions. This paper
therefore examines factors that has over time led to the exclusion of the aborigines
of Lagos in politics. The research adopted historical qualitative and
analytical methods, using primary and secondary sources that were subjected to
scrutiny prior to arriving at conclusion. The paper concludes that the
preeminent position of Lagos as pivot of political agitation was one of the
factors responsible for its present position.
| # | Certificate | School | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ph.D (History and developmental studies of Lagos..) | University of Ibadan | 2016 |
Epetedo: Land Contestation in Colonial Lagos
Epetedo is one of
the major quarters in Lagos society, established in 1862 following the peace
agreement between the erstwhile King Kosoko and Governor John Hawley Glover,
the Colonial governor of Lagos (1862-73). It was a settlement founded
ostensibly to resettle the followers of Kosoko who were displaced following the
British bombardment of Lagos in December 1851. The leader of the settlement was
Oshodi Landuji Tapa, Kosoko’s war chief and diplomat who eventually became the
friend of Glover and was to lead the returnees to serve as counter-weight to
King Dosumu’s seeming recalcitrance in the build up to the peace agreement.
However, by 1869, each of the compounds that were founded at this settlement
were encouraged to seek for Crown Grants in respect of the land and each of
them were so granted by Glover’s administration. The land was to be at the
centre of a dispute between Oshodi Tapa descendants and other 19 owners of the
compounds at Epetedo, leading to the
establishment of Sir Melvin Tew;s public Inquiry of 1939. This paper therefore
examines the various issues surrounding the Epetedo land within the framework
of contestation by the local immigrants. The paper relied mainly on primary
sources based on archival materials, oral interviews, newspapers and
ephemerals. It concludes that despite the opinion of Sir Melvin Tew, the
Epetedo land issue served as a major landmark in British misunderstanding of
native land tenure system in Lagos society.
Keywords: Epetedo,
Land, Contestation, Kosoko, returnees.
SANNI HABEEB is a Associate Professor / Reader at the Department of History and International Relations
SANNI has a Ph.D in History and developmental studies of Lagos.. from University of Ibadan
