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[OPINION] Lugard: 80 Years After

Published

3 months ago

April 7, 2025

By Lasisi Olagunju

On 9 June, 1913, Lord Friedrick Lugard minuted on a document that Lagos “could never be made a healthy place.” It was his reaction to a proposed sewage scheme estimated to cost £186,000. He believed that that amount was too vast to expend on an unworthy Lagos. He was Governor of Southern Nigeria at that time.

On January 1, 1914, Lugard became Governor-General of the whole of Nigeria. Thomas S. Gale, who was very critical of his ways, notes that one of Lugard’s first acts “was to close the popular Ereko dispensary in Lagos. He also approved the cancellation of plans for a badly-needed Lagos maternity home” because Lagos people” insisted that it be staffed with indigenous personnel.” Lugard always referenced what he described as “the inherent racial qualities of the coast negro” as justification for the ‘apartheid’ he prescribed for Lagos.

The soil is the crop; the planter the yield. That is why I am writing this. This week marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Lord Lugard. He was the British colonial administrator variously blamed – or praised – for ‘creating’ Nigeria and its principal structural problems. I read him each time I get exasperated by Nigeria; whenever I wonder why we are where we are.

From 1900 to 1906, Lugard was High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate. His blitzkrieg conquered the North but the North counter-conquered him with bewitching love. He was pleased with northern Nigeria and never hid his love for the region and his appreciation for its loyalty to him and to the British crown.

The southern part, particularly Lagos and its environs which he later added to his portfolio, Lugard found very insufferable. His words for the people there share meaning with savagery and its synonyms. Probably if we understand our leaders, past and present, we can design our escape route out of their failure and foibles.

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What were Lugard’s legacies in the North? His North had no western schools when he got there and he did very little to alter that situation throughout his years there. Check paragraph 161 of his ‘Report on Amalgamation’ published in December 1919. He later established two schools for the Muslim area of the North. There were 43 mission schools which Lugard wrote were “confined to the non-Muslim districts.” These mission schools, he wrote, enjoyed neither government’s financial assistance nor inspection and control. Lugard did so ‘well’ here for the North such that “at the time of amalgamation, the total number of pupils in government or mission schools was between 700 or 800 out of a population of some nine million.” Those were his words.

The man was lucky. With no western educated elite, he had no opposition, and he did not have to worry about the emirs. They cooperated with him on everything and he reciprocated their good behaviour by not allowing western culture and its Christian missionaries to disturb their region and religion. Earlier in 1903, after he conquered Sokoto, his speech to the new Sultan and his people ended with a charge that he had no issues with Islam. When he conquered Bida “a walled town that had been giving trouble”, his final words were to the effect that “every man was free to worship God in his own way.” He was wise. He later empowered the emirs with indirect rule which came with lucrative salaries and other inducements.

He was wise. He had superior weapons but he didn’t use them after defeating the north in battle. For these, he was respected in palaces and on the streets. He became the lord of the north, his word was law. Then, he was made governor of southern Nigeria in 1912; he came down to Lagos and encountered a set of Africans – negroes who argued with him. He did not find it funny and he acted and reacted so throughout his years in power.

On 28 March, 1913, Lugard, apparently after encountering the educated elite of Lagos, strongly counselled against giving western education to Africans outside Africa. He wrote in a memo: “It appears to me that residence in Europe is bad for the African. He returns at best an insufferable prig; at worst he is a very objectionable person.”

The amalgamation he midwifed was not for any negro to enjoy. It was for his country’s treasury to breathe and for it to use one slave to sustain another in perpetuity. And he said so. In an August 16, 1915 memo, Lugard wrote that “a great native city lives its life as its forebears did and is little affected by progress. Such a community has no desire for municipal improvement. It neither appreciates nor desires clean water, sanitation, or good roads or streets.” He said more than this. You can read it and other things he said and did in Thomas S. Gale’s ‘Segregation in British West Africa’, page 502. That was the man who led northern Nigeria into today’s Nigeria.

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If anyone thought the white man came to Africa to civilise the uncivilised and show the heathen the way to heaven, Lugard, as early as 1893 knew it was not so and he said so in black and white. He wrote: “It is in order to foster the growth of the trade of this country (Britain) and to find an outlet for our manufacturers and our surplus energy, that our far-seeing statesmen and our commercial men advocate colonial expansion… If our advent in Africa introduced civilisation, peace and good government, abolishes the slave trade, and effects other advantages for Africa, it must not be therefore supposed that this was our sole and only aim in going there. However greatly such objects may weigh with a large and powerful section of the nation, I do not believe that in these days our national policy is based on motives of philanthropy only.” You can read him in his ‘The Rise of Our East Africa Empire’ published in 1893, page 381-382. If that work is too far out of reach, go read Toyin Falola’s ‘Ibadan: Foundation, Growth and Change, 1830-1960’, page 290.

Before Nigeria, Lugard was in several places, doing things his own way. He was in Kenya; then he crossed into Uganda. He chose Kampala as the capital of Uganda and that was after he arrogantly turned down an offer of a camp site from Mwanga, king of the country. That was on the 13th December, 1890. Lugard’s own words best describe his action on this critical occasion: “I declined to accept it nor yet another place shown to me. Eventually I went to the top of a low, gravely knot of waste land and said I would camp there. Its name was Kampala. I got message after message from the king urging me not to use this spot, but I was obstinate and declined to move. Not only was it the only clean and healthy spot around, but I intuitively saw that if I was to do any good in this country it was essential that I should assert my independence from the first, and it appeared to me that Mwanga was even now already engaged solely in finding out to what extent he could order me about, and whether I was afraid of him. Later experience showed me that I had gauged his motives right, nor did he cease thus to endeavour to badger me and pit himself against me in matters of trivial importance, as well as in greater until he learned to his cost that his policy was a mistake.”

Lord Lugard is sorely hated in the South and, I think, very celebrated in the North. The man died on 11 April, 1945. He was 87 years old. When he died, a flurry of reactions and reviews followed his transition. His official biographer, Margery Perham, who wrote in 1945 that Lugard “stands out too far above human stature” denounced some liberals who denounced Lugard “as a dangerous buccaneer.” I saw that in Perham’s ‘Lord Lugard: A General Appreciation’ published in July 1945. The man’s other friends wrote beautiful tributes on him. I read ‘Lugard’ by H. R. Tate, John Eaglesome and Selwyn Grier; published in the July 1945 edition of ‘African Affairs’. If you are interested in what his critics thought of him, you should read ‘Lord F. D. Lugard: An Assessment of His Contribution to Medical Policy in Nigeria’ by Thomas S. Gale. It was published in 1976. For a deeper read of the man and his service to slaves, slavery and slave trade in Nigeria, read ‘Slow Death for Slavery: The Course of Abolition in Northern Nigeria, 1897–1936’ written by historian Paul E. Lovejoy and economist Jan S. Hogendorn. Or read the review ‘Lugard: the Devious Years’ by Barbara M. Cooper. When you read the last two here you can then imagine what sort of leader outlaws slavery without freeing slaves. What kind of man does that?

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Kidnapping: CP Agbonika Establishes Tactical Division In Edo Community

Published

3 hours ago

July 20, 2025

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, has announced the establishment a new Tactical Division in Ivieukwa- Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area of the state aimed at curbing incessant kidnapping and related crimes in that axis.

A statement by the Edo State Police Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, said the CP made the announcement on Saturday, July 19, 2025, when he paid a “strategic visit to Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area, as part of ongoing efforts to assess and strengthen the security architecture across the state.”

Recall that on Thursday July 10, 2025 night, gunmen attacked the Catholic Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary School at Ivianokpodi-Agenebode, killed a member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the school and abducted three students of the school.

The attack came barely ten months after an attack was carried out in the area. Two people including a priest were kidnapped and one killed during the attack.

Consequently, the police imagemaker, while quoting the CP in the statement said that the Tactical Division, when established, would service a rapid unit challenges in the area

The statement partly reads: “During the visit, the Commissioner of Police made a stop at St Peter Grammar School Corpers lodge, Agenebode, and the Immaculate Conception Junior Seminary, Ivianokpodi-Agenebode, where he met and interacted with serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

“He assured the corps members of the Command’s unwavering commitment to their safety.

“CP Agbonika used the opportunity to highlight the proactive measures being adopted by the Command to prevent crime and respond swiftly to any emerging threats in the area.

“In furtherance of this, he officially announced the establishment of a new Tactical Division in Ivieukwa- Agenebode. The Tactical Division will serve as a rapid response unit to address security challenges, particularly in rural communities and riverine areas within the LGA and adjoining environs.

“Personnel of the State Intelligence Department (SID) were equally deployed to ensure timely intelligence gathering in the area.”

The PPRO in the statement said the “Commissioner reaffirmed that the Nigeria Police Force under his leadership in Edo State remains committed to partnering with communities, institutions, and other security stakeholders to maintain law and order across the state.”

He further “urged residents to remain law-abiding and continue to cooperate with security agencies by providing timely and useful information that can aid in crime prevention and detection.”

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OPINION : Awujale’s Burial And Aso Rock’s Graveyard Politics

Published

5 hours ago

July 20, 2025

Editor

Why should I bother myself with what is done to my body when I die? Oyomesi (the council of seven high-ranking chiefs in the Oyo Empire) knows what to do with my body!” That was what immediate past Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, told me in his palace, a few weeks before he journeyed to Ibara – where Oyo buries its kings. He was furious with Ogun State traditional rulers. His grouse was with the Obas and Chiefs Law of 2021. That law has aberrant stipulations that are repugnant to tradition and customs. One of them is the provision stipulating that traditional rulers can be buried according to their religious dispositions. The Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who recently passed, initiated it. The bill sought to make “a law to provide for the Preservation, Protection and Exercise by Traditional Rulers of their fundamental rights to be installed and buried according to their religions or beliefs and for other related matters.” In 2022, Governor Dapo Abiodun became the pall-bearer of this sacred, even if mythical, ritual of traditional burial of kings transmitted from our forebears.

To fortify institutions and systems that they revered, our forebears curated a number of taboos, myths, wise-sayings and social mores which served to make them distinct in everyday relations. An ancient saying that explains the secrecy of their kings’ burial is, “it is a taboo (èèwò) to bury the initiate the same way you bury a non-initiate.” It is one of Yoruba’s ancient aphorisms which escaped into the modern time. Though modernity has afforded us opportunity to see those inherited myths as mere decorative palm fronds (màrìwò) on a masquerade, they are the pillars upon which Yoruba traditional institution stands.

On Tuesday last week, as I stepped into the Obafemi Awolowo Auditorium of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) Ondo State, I was confronted with two choices. Before me were traditional rulers of immense renown. They gúnwà-ed (pardon my inflection for their royal sitting) in their ancient majesties. The Olowo of Owo and Chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin, Ogunoye III, was there. He reminded me of one of his mythical predecessors, Sir Olateru Olagbegi, KBE. The Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi, whose stool parades lustering pedigree of great kings like the British-trained lawyer, 42nd Deji, Oba Ademuwagun Adesida, was there. The king of my village, Ilu Abo, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Oba Olu Falae, was there. And many others. They were all gathered for the 10th coronation anniversary colloquium of the Deji. The topic for discussion was, “Role of Nigeria’s Traditional Institutions in Nation Building: Impediments and Prospects” and I was one of its three discussants. The options before me were binary: Give the Kabiyesis the platitudes they were used to, or tell them the absolute truth they needed to know? I chose the latter.

So, I began. The traditional institution parades a great pedigree. Today, however, the traditional institution is at its lowest ebb. Seldom regarded, kings would seem to have lost their relevance and sacredness. Entrance into the institution has been generally bastardized. Money dictates who becomes king and in the process, illegitimates and dregs of society get smuggled into the system. An Oba is known to smoke marijuana. The bulk of them are land-grabbers who make money from the tears of their people. We now have kings who are ignorant about the customs of their people. I once heard a thoroughly confused Oba introduce himself as “Oba Assistant Pastor” on television. The most annoying part of it is the ease with which they repudiate the customs and myths surrounding their offices. The latest is the funeral of the late Awujale of Ijebuland. A few days ago, Kabiyesi, one of the most revered monarchs of Yorubaland, was buried like an ordinary mortal and soldiers prevented traditionalists from having a hand in his burial. As I spoke, there was pin-drop silence. While many felt I was audacious in the presence of the Irunmole, some agreed that our fathers needed to hear the gospel truth. “The traditional institution must redeem itself if it wants to be taken seriously,” I concluded.

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In an interview Oba Adetona granted before his death, he cavalierly disdained the traditional institution. A valiant man who stood staunchly against General Sani Abacha, in that interview, Awujale exposed virtually all the sacred innards of Yoruba kingship. For instance, the cult of secrecy preceding installation of Yoruba kings got massively shellacked by the Awujale. “What we did in seclusion is nothing secret. We were just there making merry and enjoying ourselves while relatives, friends and other well-wishers come around to visit and rejoice with the king. What is the fortification they are talking about? …Where were the traditionalists you talk about then? And what rites are you referring to? I cannot recall any rite that was done behind the scene. Let them come and tell me. It is all lies. Nothing like that. They even tell you that they give the heart of a deceased Oba to the new one to eat! They are crazy…I didn’t eat anything oooo. So, no such thing happened,” he said.

This was the very first time I would see a Yoruba king expose and explode the myths of the centuries-old traditional institution. By their very definition, myths are lies. You will find many of Yoruba ancient myths in German editor, scholar and writer, Ulli Beier’s book with the title, Yoruba Myths (1980). Andrew Apter of the Yale University, in his journal article entitled, “The Historiography of Yoruba Myth and Ritual” History in Africa, Vol. 14 (1987), pp. 1-25, said of it, “Myth is… a false reflection of the past” or a “testimony of the past in oral societies”.

Several other myths were curated to fortify their kingship system. Yoruba needed to differentiate their kings from ordinary mortals. Their aim was to invoke dread, respect and an eternal relevance for the system. One is that, kings’ heads are not to be seen by ordinary mortals. The rationale is that, if every Tom, Dick and Harry sees and touches their kings’ heads, it deconstructs them and the overall system. Again, in the process of carving immortality for their kings, Yoruba compare them to the gods, “igbá kejì òrìsà” and say their kings do not die. So, if they don’t die, a taboo was then needed to literally demonize sighting the corpse of an Oba. Like Christians did to mythologize their founding patriarch, Jesus Christ, the Yoruba also created and surrounded their kings with myths. It is a taboo, for instance, to say an Oba dies but appropriate to use the euphemism, “Oba w’àjà” – he ascended up through the rafters. Obas’ exits are not announced like mortals’ but with elements of sacredness and sobriety. As Christians are not allowed to query the non-empirical claim of their patriarch’s birth and anyone who does so is a social outcast or an atheist, the Yoruba do not take kindly to attempts to remove the ancient shawls surrounding their kings.

Myths were essential to the ancient Yoruba people. Many of them are found in palaces. For instance, if you enter the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo today, you must remove your shoes, sandals and slippers. It is said that it is a taboo not to. No one has ever been let into the repercussions of dissension. Until recently, no one shook the hands of an Oba. Oba Lamidi Adeyemi was lucky. As he aged, providence, the designer of his visage, decorated his face with dread. You couldn’t look at Oba Adeyemi’s face without a dread running down your spine. You would assume you were looking at the frightening face of a lion. As close as I was to him, whenever I was in his presence, rather than his face, I looked at my feet.

All the above make attempt by traditional rulers in Ogun State, in concert with their governor and legislators, to commonize the burial of their kings, a cultural heresy. Some other parts of Yorubaland have also partaken of this despicable heresy. All Yoruba of goodwill must get Dapo Abiodun and his co-travelers on this journey to retrace their steps. It is a calamitous journey. Obas must go through the seclusion rites of Ipebi and must be buried according to the tradition they willingly subjected themselves to. It is called traditional rule, not modern rule. The burial of Oba Lipede, the Aláké Egbaland, some years ago, was going to end up a calamity but for a momentary recourse to reason. In Ogbomoso, the body of Soun, Oba Ajagungbade III, was subjected to a despicable act of public viewing. Ibadan people seem to have made this desecration of their Obas’ bodies an art. They did it with the bodies of two previous Olubadan who ‘w’àjà’-ed, Oba Saliu Adetunji and Oba Lekan Balogun. The two Obas’ bodies were carted round and about like skinned goats from the abattoir. The greatest calamity would have befallen Yorubaland when Aláàfin Adeyemi ‘w’àjà’-ed and Islamicists attempted to bury him like an ordinary mortal. It took the firmness of Sango cult adherents to stop the drift. They instantly stopped the madness.

I have heard canvassers for the modernization of traditional institutions talk about the dynamism of culture. Yes, I agree, culture is not static and should not be resistant to change. However, as I said earlier, the glue that holds that institution in this age of modernity is the survival of those ancient myths. Without them, kings lose their differentiation from all of us. Come to think of it, why are so-called kings this cowardly that they are afraid of what becomes of their bodies which would be consumed by maggots anyway? Even an atheist, Dr. Tai Solarin, asked that his body parts should be given to medical students for anatomical studies.

At the Deji of Akure’s 10th coronation, the Olowo of Owo came to the rescue of the institution of his forefathers. He told anyone not ready to take the heat to steer clear of the kitchen.

Still talking about burials, the passage of President Muhammadu Buhari has elicited diverse comments. To start with, I do not agree that when a person dies, regardless of the evils they commit while on earth, they should be sacralized. I began canvassing my opposition to this view, said to have been inherited from our past, long time ago. For eight good years of Buhari’s reign, I made my views of him available to all. The summary is that he was a disaster. In saner societies, his kind should never come near the dais of responsible governance. Today, many Nigerians queue where I stand.

Last week, President Bola Tinubu harvested the proceeds of Buhari’s death. I enjoyed his graveyard politics and diplomatic burial shuttles to Daura and Kano last week, ostensibly in pursuit of the mythic 12 million CPC votes said to have been sequestered in the hands of Buhari. More importantly, I hope Tinubu reckons with the lessons in his predecessor›s sudden death? One is that, you cannot sow tears and sorrow and expect a debased, pummeled and traumatized people to garland your corpse with deodorants as elegies. Apart from Tinubu and his graveyard politics crew, Nigerians literally pelted Buhari’s body with pellets at his departure.Tinubu should use this lesson to review his policies and find ways of making the rest of his life count in favour of the people. In the same vein, our traditional rulers should have a rethink. Most of them seem to have, by their conduct and proclamations, borrowing from the lesson from an ancient old anecdote, shown the fox that the crown on their cock›s head holds no fire. If we continue to label our beautiful calabash ‘pankara’, what South Africans call wanzagsi – a broken calabash – we should not be surprised if the ignorant elect to pack their dirt with it.

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APC Remains A Party Govern By Constitution, Rules — Edo Dep. Gov

Published

13 hours ago

July 20, 2025

Editor

The Edo State deputy governor, Hon. Dennis Idahosa says the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a party whose internal workings and decisions are guided by its constitution and rules.

He noted that the ruling party operates within the bounds of Nigerian law and respects democratic principles.

According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Friday Aghedo, the deputy governor made these assertions on Saturday while fielding questions from newsmen during the conduct of the party’s primary for the Ovia federal constituency bye-election scheduled for August 16.

While commending the people for their peaceful disposing during the primary, expressed excitement that true internal democracy was at play for the primary.

The deputy governor who cast his vote at Iguobazuwa West, Ward 2,
declared that “APC is leadership driven political party.”

He noted that the exercise was peaceful and well coordinated in all the wards visited by him.

Highlighting the uniqueness of his ward, he said, “This is my ward, Iguobazuwa West Ward 2. Voting here was impressive as a mammoth crowd endorsed Omosede.

“We await results of the 23 Wards that make up Ovia Federal Constituency, which consists of the two Ovia local governments.”

Idahosa declared that the conduct of the primary marked a benchmark in Ovia federal electioneering process based on the voluntary withdrawal of other aspirants to make way for the emergence of Omosede, as the sole candidate.

This stand, he noted, was based on the fact that Igbinedion, a formee member of the Green chamber, stood a good chance with present political data showing a shortfall of the female gender in the political terrain.

“This brought up the need for gender inclusiveness, as there are presently no female candidates representing Edo state at the National Assembly,” he stated.

Simirlarly, a member of the party’s national electoral commitee, Jafaru Leko, declared that the process was “smooth, organized and credible.”

Also, the chairman of the primary in the federal constituency, Barr. Lucky Ajokperiniovo, who announced the final results of the primary conducted in 23 wards that make up the federal constituency.

He declared Igbinedion, the sole candidatw for the primary, the winner haven polled a total vote of 5819.

“With this aggregate score in the two council areas, Gabriella Omosede Igbinedion is hereby announce as the winner of the primary and the party’s candidate for the bye-election,” he stated.

It would be recalled that the Ovia federal constituency seat became vacant following the election of the former holder, Dennis Idahosa, as the deputy governor of the state.

Igbinedion, then member of the Peoples Party, was the occupant of the Ovia federal constituency seat in the 8th assembly.

She was defeated by Idahosa while seeking reelection in the 2019 general elections.