according to documentations from early colonial history,the mentioned area was infact edo or bini.the onitsha-igbos actually migrated from ado to their present location.unbiased reality

Of the Jekri also there is much more definite, although to
a certain extent contradictory, evidence. According to one
account they are said to have been closely connected with the
Yoruba, the Warri kingdom having extended to and embraced
Lagos as well as some of the surrounding territory. To this
day, in fact, Jekri inhabit the strip of country stretching
along the coast from the Benin river westward to Lagos.

Another and undoubtedly the true version, in spite of the
fact that their language is cognate with Yoruba, affirms them
to have been derived from the Bini, although now, on the eastern
side especially, their blood has mingled very much with that
of the Sobo, Igabo, and, in a lesser degree, the Ijo.

According to native tradition, Lagos, or Eko, as it is called
by the natives, was originally founded by a Bini arm 3^, who had
in the first instance been despatched by the King of Benin to
collect tribute from his refractory vassals at " Ogulata," a
place to the north of the island on which the present town is
situated. Having failed in his mission, the commander, fearing
to return, settled on the island with his warriors, and, in sj)ite



CHAP. Ill TRADITIONS



29



of the pardon that was promised and the hopes which were
held out to them, they steadily refused to return to Benin.
Subsequently, however, they and the Ogulata people — with
whom, through intermarriage and other social relations, they
were on good terms — acknowledged the suzerainty of the Bini
monarch, and became incorporated into a dependency that
paid an annual tribute. In this way the name given to the
islet and the settlement on it by these warrior settlers was
Aonin or Awani^ — afterwards corrupted to Oni by European
traders — as showing its connection with Benin City, and the
stock from which they were descended.

Conflicting as this may appear, it is not in reality so
contradictory, when the fact is taken into consideration that in
olden times the Benin empire, quite apart from its numerous
dependencies, was divided into two separate states — Benin
proper and Warri. This, it seems, had been a purely amicable
division that had occurred through the excessive growth of the
royal family, by which an arrangement had been effected that
provided for the removal of the younger branch to the latter
place as a tributary vassal to the elder. And from all
accounts it is more than possible, if not evident, that the army
of warriors who founded Lagos proceeded in reality from
Warri, but doubtless by command of the King of Benin. It
is also a matter of certainty that many of these outlying
dependencies or tributaries of the parent kingdom were
established in exactly the same manner as Brass and Lagos :
as a result, in the first place, of the failure of some specific
mission, carrying with it the fear of retributive consequences ;
and, in the second, the natural desire for personal independence,
and to shake off the oppression of a yoke which threatened
to consign their spiritual existence to an eternal doom of
disembodiment.

That Warri is the same locality which Barbot and other
travellers or writers allude to under various cognomens — among
others, Awerri and Oveiro — is quite certain ; also the fact that
the chief town of the kingdom to which it belonged was Aoni
or Awini,^ i.e. descended from Ini or Bini. Indeed, until quite

1 This, as being traditional, cannot be given as final, for both pronunciations
are quoted by the natives.



30 THE LOWER NIGER AND ITS TRIBES part i

recently — and even now among the natives themselves — the
Jekri were certainly known to the Abo as Iwini, and to
the Brassmen as Senama ; and, notwithstanding the fact that
during modern times Warri has been practically independent,
prior to the destruction of Benin City by the English in 1897
the reigning prince and chiefs always paid tribute and
acknowledged the supremacy of the elder branch — a fact
which speaks for itself.

Similarly, it is unquestionable that the Oedo of Barbot
and the older authors was the Idu of the Niger and surround-
ing natives, and the Benin City of the English ; for not only
is this confirmed by tradition, but the name is still in use at
the present day among the Abo tribe, as well as among the
Ibo of the Lower Niger, between Abo and Idah.

This is so totally wrong!

Corrections:
[list]
[li]The Edo founded Lagos as a military camp to oversee stretches of their empire which extended through Benin Republic to parts of Ghana.[/li]
[li]Warri was never part of the Edo empire[/li]
[li]Warri was founded by the Ijaw (Oporoza's) who have been there since time immemorial and gave land to first the Urhobo, then the Itsekiri[/li]
[/list]

It is important to get these facts right.

Igbo-smoka

Yeah u definitely smoke Igbo.

@poster
do you think any of your post can make any sense considering the fact that you are an "igbo-smoka".I have no comment cuz you are high,,sorry