Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria

1 Violence and Colonial Conquest

Before gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa in the 1880s, no region in Africa was more attractive to the European powers than Nigeria. Even when the possibility of greater proWts opened up in South Africa, the British did not relent in their e¤orts to add Nigeria to their growing empire.1 The trade in Nigerian palm oil and palm kernels was already well established, and enormous resources of peanuts and cocoa made colonial conquest a lucrative enterprise. There was the yet-to-be-fully-explored River Niger, which the British regarded as a principal route to the rich Nigerian hinterlands. Colonization was achieved in Nigeria either by the use of war or by surrender because of the threat of war. The list of casualties is long: King Jaja of Opobo, for opposing the British advance into the interior market, was crushed and exiled in 1887; the Ijebu were attacked and defeated in 1892; King Nana Olomu of Itsekiri on the Benin River was attacked and removed from his fortiWed base at Ebrohimi in 1894; Oba Ovonramwen of Benin lost his throne and kingdom in 1897; Ologboshere, who wanted to regain Benin’s independence, was defeated and executed in 1899; King Ibanichuka of Okrika was removed from power and exiled in 1898; and the Nupe and Ilorin were attacked and defeated in 1897. The loss of a war and the removal or death of a king translated into one major outcome: loss of independence and incorporation, by force, into an expanding British empire. 1 1 Violence and Colonial Conquest When the Europeans came to this division they did not come as friends. —owerri divisional union to the jones commission, 1956 Whiteman war never Wnishes Whiteman war is always big. —king koko of nembe Modern Nigeria is, to a large extent, a product of violence. The condensed narrative that follows highlights the major cases. The Southern Push In 1807, the way was paved for Britain’s aggressive policy in West Africa with the abolition of the slave trade and the subsequent decision to establish a naval patrol to halt the activities of slave merchants. Treaties with other countries allowed British patrol to seize ships involved in the slave trade. The British identiWed a number of places on the West African coast that could serve as stations for their naval force. Fernando Po became one of the British naval stations, and liberated slaves were deposited at Freetown in Sierra Leone. This was a Wrst major inroad, the policing of the sea that ultimately led to the control of the land. The Wrst sign that the British planned to extend their control came in 1849 with the appointment of John Beecroft as consul at Fernando Po. Beecroft was given the task of monitoring British political and economic interests, especially the trade in palm products, which was replacing the trade in human beings. At this point, Beecroft was appointed as consul for Lagos and other parts of the West African coast. Later on, the British appointed another consul speciWcally for Lagos. For the states along the coast, especially those in the Niger Delta, the abolition of the slave trade brought about a change in relations with Europeans . During the long era of the slave trade, the coastal states had o¤ered protection to European merchants and ships that came to their waters. European Wrms had no forts along the Nigerian coastline, relying instead on kings and chiefs for trade and security. Trade was the bond: to the European merchants, the long trips brought considerable proWt; to the Nigerian chiefs and kings, trade brought wealth, which translated into power and prestige. The abolition of slavery and the need to stop trade in human beings began to change the nature of political and economic relations. When a British warship entered the Bonny River in 1836 to arrest four Spanish ships for carrying slaves, it signaled the change in relations. Bonny, together with other states in the Delta (Brass, Kalabari, Itsekiri, and Aboh), still regarded the slave trade as a source of wealth and these states continued to sell slaves to the European merchants who came to their shores until the 1860s. To protect Bonny’s trade and exercise its sovereignty, Bonny authorities seized the British warship and a number of British traders. The British replied with Wrepower to release their ship and citizens . The episode marked the beginning of a new order, that of the use 2 Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria [3.137...