THE UNRULY RULING
.
Your Majesty,
for the night and the day
rest at the tip of your finger;
and the world, your foot-stool,
does that make you god?
.
The dawn knew not of your wrath
but the god of the dusk sees the havoc you sowed
on our fore-father's land.
.
Your Majesty,
in your cruel cares
lies our father's wealth,
and our future
in thrall to your service.
.
The cloud may clothe
the stamps of your flagitious feet.
But time shall live
to tell the tale of doom
you incised on the foreskin of our land.
.
Your Majesty,
if the cascading tears of sky scrubbed the trails of blood
from the cloud
or the wind buried it under the heaps of sand,
.
the wall of our hearts are still littered
with the blood which she trails;
we shall show our seeds' seeds
and tell them the tale of your
unruly ruling.
Queen Victoria's government intervened in the Lagos civil war in 1851, deposing Oba Kosoko, after bombarding his city, and installing Oba Akitoye in his place. A treaty between Lagos and the United Kingdom was signed at the beginning of the new year, beginning the British domination of the area. Lagos was annexed as a crown colony a decade later. In 1885 British claims to a West African sphere of influence were recognized by other European imperialists nations at the Berlin Conference, and the following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George Taubman Goldie. In 1900 the company's territory came directly under the control of the British government, and on 1 January 1901, the 49th anniversary of the Treaty of Lagos, Nigeria became a British protectorate.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the British had conquered Benin in 1897 and, in the Anglo-Aro War (1901–1902), had defeated other neighboring kingdoms, opening the entire Niger river area to British rule, which was formally unified in 1914 as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, administratively divided into the Northern and Southern Protectorates and Lagos Colony. Due to the coastal economy, the southern region had more interaction with the British, and the southern elite often send their children abroad for an education, the but the establishment of Christian missions in the northern, Islamic part of the country was discouraged and the area retained more of its traditional character. By independence in 1960, regional differences were marked in many spheres. For instance, northern Nigeria did not outlaw slavery until 1936 while in other parts of Nigeria it was abolished soon after colonial status was imposed. After World War II, the growth of Nigerian nationalism led Parliament to legislate a series of constitutions to move Nigeria toward self-government. Full independence was achieved in 1960, but many of the ill effects of colonialism continue to plague the nation.