After years of resistance by the natives, Britain revoked the license of Royal Niger Company & acquired its holdings (which included the territory & the people) for £865K. This in simple words means that the African territory and its ancestors were bought by England for £865K. How ridiculous? You can’t imagine? Well, it’s true.
Think about it, ask yourself questions; does anyone have the right to impose an identity on you? Irrespective of race? I know the gentle little man in your mind says No in resistance. Well, sadly, this is the case of Nigeria & Nigerians of today.
In 1960, Nigeria was supposedly independent and free from the viciousness of imperialism but let’s talk about how me, you, living and existing as Nigerians is the most imperialistic thing that can ever happen to a people.
Before Europe & America sat at the Berlin conference in 1884-1885 sharing Africa amongst themselves like a box of pizza, salivating & anticipating their vampiric consumption of the continent, giggling ostentatiously at the ominous conquest of a innocent people, we had our economic & political systems; we were before they sat.
![[Full Speech] Broadcast By His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President And Commander-In-Chief Of The Armed Forces Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, On The Nationwide Protest](https://insightnaijatv.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/President-Tinubu-And-Service-Chiefs-Insightnaijatv.png "[Full Speech] Broadcast By His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President And Commander-In-Chief Of The Armed Forces Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, On The Nationwide Protest")
Chiefs existed, Queens were, princes & princesses paraded in enviable opulence, Kings ruled in grandiose yet vicissitude but not as Nigerians; they were the people of Benin, Oyo, Tiv, Calabari, Igbo etc.
Because capitalism already attained market monopoly and it needed raw materials to function led to the invasion of Niger area by a British company called the royal Niger company. The royal Niger company wasn’t only an economic tool in the hands of England to plunder materials, It was also a political instrument that oppressed the people. The royal Niger company did not only have a economic power, it also had a colonial power, it colonially administered territories, it economically plundered wealth and impoverished the people of the Niger area.
After years of resistance by the natives, Britain revoked the license of Royal Niger Company & acquired its holdings (which included the territory & the people) for £865K. This in simple words means that the African territory and its ancestors were bought by England for £865K. How ridiculous? You can’t imagine? Well, it’s true.
Britain then proceeded to invade, conquer kingdoms, murder natives, plundered resources & subjugated the people therein. Because of Britain economic interest, because of the English excessive desire for materialism, our forefathers had to lay their lives, the priceless human life was bought for £865K, 108million Naira; we were acquired for an amount ridiculously lesser than the budget of Ghana.
After Britain established her hegemony, and because of political and colonial administrative ease, these kingdoms that have fallen to the blows of British imperialism were amalgamated in 1914 by Lugard. The then colonial Governor whose mistress like a puppy or a kitten mischievously bestowed the identity “Nigerians” upon a conquered people, upon the people today known as Nigerians.
Therefore, the identity of “Nigeria” emanating from the British experience of the “Niger Area” was imposed on the Tivs, Yorubas, Igbos, Calabari etc; independent sovereign nations whose sovereignty were stolen by British excessive desire for profit.
our ancestors who lived as elegant citizens of their various kingdoms were striped of their elegance & forced to wear an identity of shame, a badge of conquest & domination. Least I forget, a garment of exploitation called Nigeria.
How can you call yourself a Nigerian when you didn’t choose to be one? How can you be a proud Nigerian when you’re barred from showing your original identity to the world? How can you be reduced from a kingdom to a “Tribe” or an “Ethnic group” by invaders and armed robbers when you were before they sat? Is there genuine freedom without taking away colonialism & imperialism? Is colonialism not tearing away the badge of shame & the identity of conquest? If so, I ask again, why are we Nigerians?
Again, we were before they sat.
Aina Ademola Adeniran
nirandemola@gmail.com
