SEE WHY LAGOS BELONGS TO THE YORUBAS

There has been this long tussle among inhabitants of Lagos, especially between the industrious Igbo people and culturally-oriented Yorubas over which ethnic tribe actually owns Lagos. If the regional proximity of the state in relation to the south-west of Nigeria is not enough to underline where the lagoon-filled state actually belongs to then we should take a path down to the roots of the first migrants who discovered the region.

According to history, the first inhabitants of Lagos state are the Awori people. “Awori”, as a term means “the plate sank” and it can be linked to their sojourn before they finally settled. The founder of the Awori people is Olofin Ogunfunminire. He is believed to be one of the prominent sons of Oduduwa, the father of the yorubas. Before Olofin migrated from Ile-Ife in Osun State, he had a number of family disputes and as a result, decided to consult the Ifa oracle who revealed to him that must leave Ile-Ife and start a settlement at a distant land. The oracle maintained that before Olofin leaves, he must dig up a particular portion within his father’s house. There he would find a mud plate (awo in Yoruba language) with a royal crown and other regal items. The mud plate was to be placed in the river and where ever it sank (ri in Yoruba language), there he was to finally settle down. He was also meant to offer a white ram as sacrifice to ward off any form of danger along the way before commencing his one-way journey.

Olofin did as instructed and took along 16 of his 32 children and other followers who were willing to go with him. The mud plate was set on the water surface and it began drifting away. They followed it in their boats and there, their journey began. The plate was recorded to have stopped at many locations along the way. Particularly near Iganhu and Iro, in present day Ogun state, they faced a terrible storm which caused them to lose their paddles, so they were forced to paddle by hand till they reached Isheri where the plate sank but only temporarily. Initially, they believed this was their final destination and settled there for over 200 days only for the plate to start drifting again. At this point Olofin decided to continue the journey along with some members of his party including his children while others chose to remain there permanently.

They followed the mud plate for a few days till it stopped at Iddo in Lagos where it stayed for a while. Some of his followers stayed behind at Iddo while Olofin followed the plate as it later started floating towards Idumota, the central part of Lagos. It whirled in the water there and finally sank to the bottom, never to return again. Olofin returned to Iddo and when asked where the plate was, he replied “Awo ti ri” which translates to “the plate has sunk”. This is where the name Awori came into being and has been used to refer to the first settlers ever since. Some of Olofin’s children later left Iddo to settle at various parts of Lagos Island while others dispersed to Badagry and beyond.