Nigeria...a country full of tribes and amalgamation. I was chopping it up with pops about the diaspora and how we've got to where we are today, he mentioned Grandpops being a born and raised Ijebu man which led me down the rabbit hole of the Ijebu Kingdom in Yorubaland.
The Ijebu people have been known to have had a self-reliant approach and hold themselves in high regard when compared to other tribes within Yorubaland. This was evident when looking at their trading tactics between 1888-1892, they were free in movement around Yorubaland to buy and sell but were not as welcoming to the others wanting to do the same on their turf, mainly with a blockade on Lagos trade routes for customs charges but not limited to.
With colonial rule by the British already in effect in certain parts of Nigeria, this behaviour came under notice by the Lagos colonial authorities and as a result, an agreement was made in January 1892 with the Ajuwale (King of Ijebuland) to allow smooth passage for travellers, with £500 annually in compensation for customs charges. The agreement only lasted so long, a number of travellers were once again met with denial of access and some force. The most notable situation that many would argue sparked the 1892 expedition was the refusal of a white missionary which in return led to an order to use force on the Ijebu Kingdom.
In May 1892, Colonel F. C Scott and 400+ soldiers made up of men from the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Ibadan, Lagos and Northern Nigeria took the trip to Ijebuland met by 8,000 men on the Ijebu side ready for battle. Whilst the Ijebu warriors fought the good fight in the early stages with old rifles in their possession, the firepower of the machine guns from the British were too much to sustain, resulting in numerous Ijebu deaths and the Union Jack being raised after the Ajuwale bowed to defeat.
It seems the refusal of the white missionary was the last straw, perhaps the need to spread the good word far and wide in places that already had their own belief systems and ways of living was so important they needed to kill.
Sources? Google fam...this ain't no dissertation. However, I will put you onto two books I've read to help the foundation of my understanding, 'A Fatherless People (The secret story of how the Nigerians missed the road to the promised land)' by Dele Ogun & 'The City is Our Farm' by Dan R. Aronson.
African diaspora success in Britain is part payback for all the expeditions, even more so when you know the history.
ninetyfree.
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