Comprehensive History: Why Lagos Remains A No Man Land by Ifeduba

Comprehensive History: Why Lagos Remains A No Man Land byTochukwu ThankGod Ifeduba

Lagos means "lakes" in Portuguese, the language of first European-settlers known to visit the settlement,then already inhabited by the Awori people, in 1472.From the first contacts with the region until the early 20th century, another Portuguese name for the city that was interchangeably used was Onim, finally abandonned in favor of Lagos.

The Awori people migrated from Ile Ife and occupy present day Lagos state, with a considerable section of the Awori clan occupying areas within Ogun State as a direct fall out of the creation of Ogun State in 1976. Towns including Isheri, Ota, Igbesa, Ilobi, Tigbo are all Awori settlements within today's Ogun State in Nigeria. The settlement of the Awori clan preceded the establishment of Abeokuta as an Egba kingdom in 1832, as Isheri, the foremost Awori town within present day Ogun State was settled in the 15th century.

So Technically Awori People are also Immigrants just like any other Tribes to the hitherto uninhabited Lagos Island Hence both The Aworis and the Yoruba People or the Igbos Or Hausa have no special Claim over Lagos which both in Name and Located remains an Entirely Colonial Creation for LAGOS is actually a Portuguses Name meaning LAKE hitherto uninhabited Lagos Island

Lagos was bombarded by the British in August 1851 and annexed on 6th August 1861 and declared a colony on the 5th of march 1862 . by 1872 Lagos have become a Cosmopolitan Trading center with a population of about 60,000.

LET US PAUSE HERE AND DEFINE THE DICTIONARY MEANING OF COSMOPOLITAN TRADING CENTER

1] According to Dictionary.com Cosmopolitan simplicita means<>cosmopolitan

free from local, provincial, or national ideas, prejudices, or attachments; at home all over the world.
2.
belonging to all the world; not limited to just one part of the world

2}According to Kwame Anthony Appiah Principles and Ideology Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human beings belong to a single community, based on a shared morality. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a cosmopolitan or cosmopolite.

A cosmopolitan community might be based on an inclusive morality, a shared economic relationship, or a political structure that encompasses different nations. In a cosmopolitan community individuals from different places (e.g. nation-states) form relationships of mutual respect. As an example, Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests the possibility of a cosmopolitan community in which individuals from varying locations (physical, economic, etc.) enter relationships of mutual respect despite their differing beliefs (religious, political, etc.)

Definitions of cosmopolitanism usually begin with the Greek etymology of "citizen of the world". However, as Appiah points out, "world" in the original sense meant "cosmos" or "universe", not earth or globe as current use assumes.[5] One definition that handles this issue is given in a recent book on political globalization:

Cosmopolitanism can be defined as a global politics that, firstly, projects a sociality of common political engagement among all human beings across the globe, and, secondly, suggests that this sociality should be either ethically or organizationally privileged over other forms of sociality

So basically Lagos remains a No man Land or better put a Cosmopolitan City which began with a population of about 60,000 immigrants in 1861 so let no man or tribe place any Claim on the Cosmopolitant Portuguse City of Lagos as such will be resisted to logical conclusion even if it entails going to world court..

Ifeduba ThankGod T ( A political Analyst writes in from Anambra State Nigeria)