The Northern and Southern Cameroons in British Nigeria

The Chief Commissioner's Residence, Buea

Head Gardener At Commissioners Residence

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Empire Day At Victoria - No smiles

National Ideal Hotel - Seeing Is Believing

The Northern and Southern Cameroons

Chief Commissioner's Residence, Buea

During the "Scramble for Africa" (c1885) the area of present-day Cameroon was claimed by Germany as its protectorate. But, after Germany was defeated by the allied forces in the First World War, the League of Nations placed the Cameroons under a British Mandate (1922) and later, as a trusteeship territory of the United Nations, with Britain administering it.

The Northern area was administered by the Northern Region of Nigeria and the Southern section (Southern Cameroons) was formally administered as two provinces of the old Eastern Region, and then, from October 1954 it was a quasi Federal Territory within the Nigerian Federation with its own Legislature and it's own Executive Council.

Southern Cameroons was divided in 1949 into two provinces: Bamenda (capital Bamenda and Southern (capital Buea). 

Following the Ibadan General Conference of 1950, a new constitution for Nigeria devolved more power to the regions. In the subsequent election thirteen Southern Cameroonian representatives were elected to the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly in Enugu. Citizens of this region had political representation in political parties such as The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC).

 In 1953, however, the Southern Cameroons representatives, unhappy with the domineering attitude of Nigerian politicians and lack of unity among the ethnic groups in the Eastern Region, declared a "benevolent neutrality" and withdrew from the assembly. 

Dr E.M.L Endeley

At a conference in London in 1953, the Southern Cameroons delegation asked for a separate region of its own. The British agreed, and Southern Cameroons became an autonomous region with its capital still at Buea. Elections were held in 1954 and the parliament met on 1 October 1954, with E.M.L. Endeley as Premier.

As Cameroun and Nigeria prepared for Independence, South Cameroons nationalists debated whether their best interests lay with 1. A union with Cameroun, 2. a union with Nigeria or 3. total independence.  It appeared a new era had dawned. An era whose objectives was the secession from the British Trust Territory, the Southern Cameroons and from the Federation of Nigeria, in an attempt to build the 'Kamerun' nation, together with the three million people of the French Cameroons (later Cameroun Republic).

John Ngu Foncha (Harry Pot/ Anefo)

The call for secession came mainly from inland districts. Endeley was defeated in elections on 1 February 1959 by John Ngu Foncha a "diminutive Roman Catholic schoolmaster". The one man opposition, who surprisingly became premier with only a few years experience as a politician.

The relationship with the Camoorons was a costly one, for example, from 1922 to the outbreak of war in1939 the Nigerian (colonial) government had spent approximately three quarters of a million pounds more than it received in revenues from the territory. Despite the figures (including a proportion of the assistance received from the Colonial Development Fund) the Cameroons still exceeded revenue by about £700,000.

The Federal Minister of Finance said " we do not begrudge the people of the Cameroon the money that we have invested in their territory, but at the same time we consider it only reasonable that the facts of the matter should be known. Too often have we heard the cry that the Federal Government is neglecting the Southern Cameroon's and I have therefore taken the opportunity on this occasion, when we are once again considering a motion to the financial advantage of the Trust Territory, to give a short history of our financial relationship with the territory" it's no surprise that no Nigerian political party or leader gave any assistance in their struggle to remain in the Federation, which was a surprise to the likes of Dr Endeley, whereas their opponents, the secessionists, we're known to have received outside support.

At the close of colonisation and the independence of most African countries, particularly the British colony Nigeria and the French colony Cameroon in 1960.
The political future of the Northern Cameroon's was not yet decided until the plebiscite , conducted under the supervision of the United Nations. 

Another plebiscite was held after the two countries had achieved independence allowing the people to choose whether they wished to join Nigeria, or the French Cameroon or to form an independent territory with the Southern British Council.

The plebiscite of 1961 impacted on the cooperate existence of the various ethnic groups and Southern Cameroon split from Nigeria.

Boy Eating Sugar Cane

Since the 1970s Nigeria and Cameroon engaged in boarder disputes over the Bakassi Peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea. The  case was heard by the International Court of Justice, which awarded the Peninsula to Cameroon in 2002.

Areas that were once part of Northern Camerooon include :  Dikwa in Maiduguri State, Gwozo in Borneo State  and Jalingo in Taraba state

The District Office, Victoria

Igogo Festival - Nigeria Magazine 1963.

Oba Olateru Olagbegi II, the Olowo of Owo

Sixteen Obas, all of them Oduduwa’s sons, migrated from Ife to found the Yoruba nation.

They all left Ife on the same day after parting company at Ita-ajero, a place located within the city.  One of them Olowo Arere, founder of Owo’s ruling dynasty, was the favorite of their father and, in addition to the crown which each of the Obas were given, he received a sword.

Like the other fifteen, he left Ife carrying with him some of the customs and traditions of the city, including arts, crafts, music and some of the four hundred festivals which, to this day, are celebrated annually in that city. Festivals like those connected with the harvesting of yams and with the commemoration of the birth and death of heroes and ancestors who are celebrated in Owo today were brought from Ife at this time. 

Olowo Arere migrated with the Ilaro, a large retinue classified into two broad groups: the Ugbama or youths and the Ighare made up of men of over fifty years of age who had performed the Ero ceremony. The Ugbama was assigned with the performance of all manual labor during the migratory period. The Ighare advised them and supervised their activities. This tradition has survived to this day.

Some Members Of The Ighare At The Olowo's Palace

On leaving Ita- agero, Olowo Arere led the Iloro to Uji. It was here that the greeting, Leji, wa gbo wa to, used by the chiefs in saluting the Olowo was developed in appreciation of the fact that the Olowo woke up hale and hearty on his first nights rest outside the city.

From Uji the party moved on to Ipafa hill, which they found cool and airy. The hill supported luxuriant vegetation, which provided them with plenty of shade, edible fruits and vegetables. But they were forced to leave this area by the many thunderstorms, which threatened their very existence. 

They went eastwards stopping at a place called Oke Imade. Here they found no water and when they saw a monkey, they followed it in the hope that it would lead them to water. This is how they arrived at Igbo Ogwata (also known as Okiti Asegbo) where they found water. From then on, the monkey became a sacred animal and its meat a taboo to Princes and Princesses of Owo - Okiti Asegbo is where Olowo Sir Olateru Olagbegi II K.B.E sited the local government offices and town hall.

The party arrived at Okiti Asegbo under Olowo Imade who succeeded his father, Olowo Arere.  Arere had died on the way and his corpse was taken back to Ife where it was buried.

It was at Okiti Asegbo that Olowo Renrengenjen married Oronsen, a princess from Afo. Her father told the Olowo of three taboos which Oronsen observed: First, a head load of firewood was not to be thrown down in her presence; second, water was not to be spilt before her; third, she should not hear the sound of okra being ground on a grindstone. As soon as Oronsen arrived at the palace, special quarters were assigned to her and a maid who would ensure that the taboos were not broken was provided to her.

Oronsen was as quiet as she was beautiful; she had no worries and worried nobody. And though the Olowo had many wives before he married her, he loved her more than he loved them. 

This excited their jealousy.

One day, the Olowo went off to war. Sometime after he was gone, Oluwa, The Olowo’s senior wife summoned his other wives to a meeting to discuss the threat posed to them by this new addition. They all new Oronsen observed taboos but they did not know which ones. Oluwa promised the other wives to find out what they were and they dispersed.

When they met again a few days later, she had bought the necessary information from Oronsen's maid, for a meal of mashed yams.

On learning what the taboos were, they decided to break them. They made what preparations were necessary and sent from Oronsen. As soon as she arrived, one of the women carrying a bundle of wood on her head threw it down before her; another spilt water on the ground before her; and a third began grinding okra on a stone nearby. Oronsens taboos were broken and she was compelled to leave.

She fled from the palace and ran until she came to Olisagho’s house. Here she stopped and beat her palm on the wall of the house to bid its owner good-bye. As she did this, her ring slipped off her finger and fell on the ground. Without noticing this, she continued her flight, dropping her hairpin at Igbo Ogwata. Further on she stopped to rest.

The Olowo returned from battle only to learn that Oronsen fled from the palace earlier that same day. He immediately sent one Isegbe Meso, a group of eighty-one men, to find her. The search party returned without her and another Isegbe Meso was sent out. This time the party found her ring and hairpin. Their approaching footsteps roused Oronsen where she was resting and she fled, leaving her head tie behind. A brother of the Olowo picked up the head tie and the pursuit continued. At last the party caught up with her at Igbo Oluwa and since it was forbidden for anyone to touch an Oluwa's wife, they pleaded with her to return to the palace.

There and then, she demanded of the Olowo the head of the Olowa as the condition for her return and insisted on having it before she took a step towards the palace. But Olowa occupied a very important position as the Olowo’s senior wife and this made the granting of her request impossible. 

Another head was however sent to her by the Olowo. In anger when she saw the substitute that was brought to her, Oronsen demanded a similar sacrifice annually if Owo was to have peace and plenty. 

Then she vanished into thin air.

The tragedy of Oronsen took place in the season of the festival of new yams which featured drumming and dancing. It plunged the Olowo into mourning during which time he banned the beating of drums in the town. Later, a festival was built around the annual sacrifice demanded by Oronsen and superimposed on the festival of new yams. In place of drums, metal gongs (Agogo or Igogo) were used hence the festival became known as the Igogo festival.

The Olowo’s brother, who found Oronsens head tie received the title of Alaja and was ordained the priest of the festival.  The palace where the head tie was picked up became known as ul’aja (uluoja).

Chief Elerewe Dances To The Drumming After The Ban Has Been Lifted

Igogo festival lasts seventeen days. It begins with a ceremony called ighoroli, which takes place on Ugbegu market day.  At about 4pm on this day the Ighare dressed in their traditional wear; white loin cloths tied round their waist with a parrots’ red tail feathers stuck into their hair over their forehead; the Iloro Chiefs and the Edibo Aleli (domestic chiefs) assemble at the Ugha eduma (the meeting hall in the palace). Chief Osowe of Ehin- Ogbe, one of the stewards, greets the gathering by calling each man by his title name. He announces on behalf of the Olowo, the arrival of the Igogo festival. Then one by one, members of the Ighare, in a descending order of seniority, pay homage to the Olowo who presents them through the stewards – Chiefs Ajanna and Osowe – twenty four kola nuts in a special bowl made of lead and a calabash of Palm wine for use in a sacrifice.

Five days later, another Ighoroli is performed. This time the Olowo only serves out palm wine. Then follows Uyena, the clearing of a path supposed to have been taken by Oronsen during her flight. For this service, the Olowo pays twenty-eight kola nuts. Of these four go to the Ugbama who are dressed in a pair of trousers and head wear of calabash bowl formerly painted with white chalk, but today painted aluminum paint.

Younger Members Of The Ugbama Dancing

They carry long canes which they shake as they dance. The canes are carried for use on those who may try breaking the festive taboo by wearing caps or head ties. Each senior member of the Ugbama ties over his trousers, a piece of cloth just reaching his knee and carries horns or pieces of iron rods which he knocks together. The remaining twenty-four kola nuts go to the Ighare who are dressed in their traditional wears. Palm wine is also served at the Ugha Eduma (Eduma Hall).

Owo Chiefs Making Music On Igogo, Metal Gongs

Five days after Uyena comes Uyanna. The Alaja, priest of the festival and the Ighare meet at the Ugha alamuren (alamuren Hall) at about 4pm, then Olowo arrives, attended by the Edibo olowo. He wears a white robe and his hair is stuck with parrot feathers. 

He hands over the sacrificial sheep through the stewards to the Ugbama who are dancing and singing Ema mu wa, aye o yo e, a song they sing continuously until they receive the sheep (which has since replaced the human victims). The sheep is led to the Oronsen grove and sacrificed there.

Oba Olateru Olagbegi II, the Olowo of Owo Seated

At about 6pm four days after Uyanna, the Ugbate ceremony takes place. All the women who are traditionally vested with the powers of selling meat come to the Oba’s market carrying their trade baskets containing knives and pieces of iron – implements of their trade. They come to watch the "sacrifice" Onugho, being led round the Oba’s palace walls. They come dressed in white.

A strip of white cloth prepared and woven by a woman on that very day is tied round the sheep’s belly. The animal is led round the palace walls three times by the Ugbama who dance, singing repeatedly: Atipa a bale a toju de o, onugho gbanre’o. Then they lead the animal away to ul’aja, the spot where Oronsen left her head tie. There they keep an all night vigil.

The Igogo festival reaches its climax on the seventeenth day with all the chiefs dancing around the town on their way to the palace.  They dance to music beating only on metal gongs. At the palace they attend to the Olowo who also dances to Igogo music. The Olowo and his chiefs are all dressed in white loin cloths richly adorned with beads. All the priests assemble at the palace. The Olowo distributes to them peices of the sacrifice involved in the days celebrations, one he goat, one dog, seven goats and thirty six kola nuts. 

Later that evening, the Olowo presents, through Osowe, to all Chiefs, Ighare, Priests and Ugbama who are assembled in the palace: cows, goats, dogs, blocks of salt, snails, cocks, eku ama, eje ale, rats, fish, birds and eggs

During the presentation, the Osowe recites the following incantations on behalf of the Olowo at ugha alamuren:

Okereke ( three times)

Olilolohun (three times)

Oluwagarajigbo deji (three times)

Urun aja ri aja foju

Urun agutan ri agutan gbeghe

Otakun yu otakun wa

Otakun Muli ajen

Ojegejegekun bobo male

Orogbodo oyan ye poma

O poma tan o kun efun

Obelebele ye jin abe rawe

Kema se ejo a se agalamtata

Eyin ‘ka erun ‘baje

Udeli akon moron agba sengwa

Moja esisi mo na arima

Mojiba  agba

Mojiba iba bami

Iseseri odudu oron fo oronmufede

Oluwa agajigbo mo pe

Oronsen deji mo pe

Oronsen More mo pe

Odon jo

Osunsun sun

Aghoro fohun odon

Olowo omo re N.N ( name of Olowo)

Wa sodon ghen eyitoni

Onisale onisare

Oni Ugba ogbi gbo

Onipankan aso anogho

Otese

Osowo

Ugba Eku

Ugba eja

Ugba Ogbigbo

Ugba eghen nene 

Akeke deregbe

Ogun aja

Odo agutan

Aso erenla

At the end of this incantation the Osowe says a prayer for the Olowo and his subjects. From this evening, for seven days, girls dance round the town and young men engage every evening in wrestling contests organized on a quarter versus quarter basis.

The day following the recital of the incantation, the Iloro dance to the palace. 

The Olowo if he is so disposed may dance around the town attended by the Iloro and Owo Chiefs or remain in the palace to receive guests. 

In the evening, Uru, a priest carrying a very long stick covered with white feather comes from Emure ile, six miles to Owo, to perform some ceremonies at Ugha alamuren. At this ceremony, Chief Osowo recites, on behalf of the Olowo, the last twenty-five lines of the incantations he recited the previous day. After he has done, the Uru recites them, striking two bulls horn at intervals.

To round up the festival all the priests gather at the Olowo’s palace at about 10pm, six days after the Uru’s visit. They assemble at the Ugha okunrin where the Olowo presents them with twenty-four kola nuts. Each priest then dances to a tune. Before they leave, all the priests recite O de o de o, Aghoro mama se ‘jo oro, three times.

After they leave the Olowo goes to Oke agbala, a hall within the palace where a priest who has the sacrifice is. This priest only sees the Olowo once a year and only at the Igogo festival. Before he leaves he presents his offering to the priest and his Olori’s dance around the palace and some parts of the town.

Omo-Olowo, Princess Dancing To Igogo Music

To mark the end of the festival, the Olowo’s servants beat a drum at Oke ugha to notify the town. The ban on drumming is lifted… till the following year.

Oba Olateru Olagbeji II Attempts To Return to Owo Town After Two YearsIn Exhile

Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, Olowo of Owo (August 1910 – 1998) was the Olowo (King) of Owo
He was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed and exiled from Owo to Okitipupa then to Ibadan
His exile from power was a fallout of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola.
The Action Group (launched in his palace a decade earlier) was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola.
However, his choice only fomented tension in his community.
The military coup in 1966 created an avenue for some citizens of Owo to unleash violence and revolt against Olagbegi. He was banished from power in 1966 by the military administrator of the Western Region. Then the federal government later validated his dethronement as the Olowo of Owo through a decree. A year later, a new Olowo was chosen by the people of Owo and thats how Sir Olateru Olagbegi II lost the throne to politics.
However, the banished monarch regained his throne back after 25 years in exile. and in 1993, he was re-appointed to his former title of Olowo after the death of the reigning monarch
He died in October 1998 and crown was passed to his son Oba Folagbade Olagbegi III.

The newspaper clipping is from 1968 when Oba Olateru Olagbeji II attempted to return to Owo. It was unsuccessful and the people of the town rioted in protest of his return.

1954 : A Nigerian Wedding.

The wedding of Miss Christie Bola and Mr St. Matthew Daniel at the Methodist Church in Hampstead, London.

October 1954

1976: Nigeria Boycotts Olympics.

The 21st Olympic games in Montreal Canada saw the first organized widespread boycott in sports. 28 mostly African countries refused to take part including Nigeria.  

The target of their boycott was ultimately apartheid-era South Africa, but in this instance New Zealand were the proxy. The All Blacks were continuing to tour South Africa to play rugby in defiance of a general ban on sporting contact, which also included South Africa's exclusion from the Olympic movement.

The African nations leading the boycott wanted New Zealand also excluded.

The IOC’s argument was that the actions of New Zealand's rugby administrators were beyond their control.

Most of these protesting countries had accepted invitations to the games but had decided to withdraw after competitions had started, leaving the organizers with a major dilemma. They had no choice but to re schedule and cancel many events.

This was the first use of a boycott en masse as a political tool. 

The Video
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Major General Olufemi Olutoye, Head of the Nigerian Olympic team addresses a media conference to advise that the Nigerian team is withdrawing from the Olympic games. He explains that the committee feels they cannot take part in a competition where New Zealand is also appearing.

Nigeria and WW2

During the Second World War some 375,000 men and women from African countries served in the Allied forces. They took part in campaigns in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa, Italy and the Far East.

Men of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions served with great distinction against the Japanese in Burma, as part of the famous ‘Forgotten’ 14th Army. The 81st was composed of units from the Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast (now Ghana), while the 82nd comprised further reinforcements from Nigeria and the Gold Coast. Both Divisions formed part of the RWAFF (Royal West African Frontier Force).

Here some aspects of military life (official and  informal ) on the men of the Nigeria Regiment.

1. A Hausa sergeant having a shave by a civilian barber. 

2.  An old soldier of past wars. His medals include those of the Ashanti war, the 1914-1918 war and the life saving medal of the Royal Humane Society

3.  A group of lorry drivers

4.  A sergeant receiving treatment from an Army dentist.

5. An Army cook

The Arrival And Subsequent Death of Lady Carter At Lagos

The late Lady Carter

General View of Lagos

From The Illustrated London News. January 19th 1895



After the reception accorded to the wife of the Governor on her arrival to Lagos it came as a shock when the news that Lady Carter died on January 13th 1895.

The Event had cast a gloom over the entire colony, which had but a few days before welcomed her with enthusiasm.

Her Ladyship reached Lagos in the Axim on December 6th when the whole city turned out to do her honour. The streets ( as shown in the pictures) were decorated, and Sir Gilbert and Lady Carter were greeted everywhere with applause. From eight o'clock in the morning the Marina was thronged with gay crowds of sightseers on the outlook for the carriage which would convey Lady Carter to Government House. In the harbour her Majesty's Colonial yacht,Margaret and all the mercantile steamers were docked with flags, and carried palm branches on their mastheads. At ten o'clock two guns announced that the steam tender Kwarra had started from the Axim with her Ladyship on board. Eighteen hundred school children sang " Rule Britannia" on the landing -stage as soon as his Excellency appeared escorting his wife from the steamer. A flourish of trumpets, the music of massed bands, also denoted the arrival of the Governors wife. A bouquet was presented to Lady Carter by Miss Lawson, a great - grand daughter of the late Bishop Crowther. A ball was given in her Ladyships honour on December 21st, and five days later she was taken ill. 

                                        Triumph Arch decorated for the arrival of Lady Carter

                                                      Lady Carter Landing in Lagos

Sympathy must be extended towards the Governor of Lagos in his sudden bereavement, and towards the West African Colony which mourns the loss of its chief leader of society.

Sir Gilbert T. Carter K. C. M. G., has been Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Lagos since 1891. The son of a sailor, he entered the Royal Navy 30 years ago and served in the Government yacht Sherbro on the West African coast in 1870 and during the Ashantee War. Retiring in 1875, he became private secretary to the Governor of the Leeward Isles, a position he held till 1879, when he was appointed Treasurer of the Gold Coast and Gambia. He was administrator of The Gambia from 1888 to 1891. In the following year he was charged with the delicate duty of conducting a mission to the Yorubas, on the termination of which he was created K. C. M. G for "valuable and important services as Governor of Lagos". Lady Carter whom he married in 1874, was Miss Susan Laura Hocker, daughter of Lieutenant -Colonel Edward Hocker, C.B

Josiah Olutunji Majekodunmi

Josiah Olutunji Majekodunmi (April 12, 1927 – October 9, 1996) was an athlete from Nigeria.
He competed at the 1950 British Empire Games at Auckland, New Zealand where he won Nigeria's first medal in any international sports, a silver medal in the Men's High Jump event. Prior to the Commonwealth games, he captained Abeokuta Grammar School Athletics team to win the prestigious Grier Cup for Nigerian high schools in 1947 for the first and the last time. Majekodunmi was also at the 1948 London Olympics, and placed 9th in the high jump event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

He was also the father of Miss Olawunmi Majekodunmi, the African Table Tennis champion for most of 1970s and 1980s.



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Nigerian Colonial Postcards

Aro-Chuko Women, Southern Nigeria 1912




The Lagos Canal, Labourers at Work.




Rescued twins with their mothers




Orphans rescued by the Missionary sisters.




Mission in Nigeria




Angas Devil House, Bauchi Plateau.



Lagos : Protest against land taxes




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Art: Out of Africa (TIME Magazine Monday, Sept. 04, 1950)

Monday, Sept. 04, 1950

 

Modern artists from Picasso to Jacob Epstein have found inspiration in carved African idols, masks and fetishes. Last week a London gallery was showing the works of bearded Ben Enwonwu, an African carver who reversed the process.
Born 29 years ago in Nigeria, Enwonwu carved his own toys as a child. He was teaching art at 18, and five years later the
N'gerian government sent him abroad for further study. Since then he has won a Diploma of Fine Art from the University of London, has been made a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and has become more European than African in his approach to art.
Enwonwu's ancestors carved for magic purposes, not for exhibition. They gave force to their whittled gods by using many of the tricks of modern art: violent distortion of figures into angular cubistic shapes, mingling of naturalistic features with wholly abstract ones, the surrealist shock-value of giving vaguely human figures some of the attributes of animals and birds. The results struck at least one art historian, Roger Fry, as "great sculpture—greater, I believe, than any we have made . . ."
Enwonwu has broken from the faith of his fathers: like most European artists since the Renaissance, he works to express human emotions, not to hint at supernatural forces. Suffering, supplication, exuberance were typical themes of his London show—themes ill-suited to violent distortion. Enwonwu sometimes let the shape and grain of the wood guide his chisel, to produce partial abstractions that merely pleased the eye. "Sometimes," he told admirers at the show's opening, "I see the form in my mind and it grows and grows as I work. I am happy when I am hacking out; I never want to stop." Smoothing the thigh of his Dancing Figure with a pink-palmed hand, he sighed and added: "But when I must finish off my work, smooth the surface and polish—then I get bored. The creation is gone."

London Sunday Times Critic Eric Newton decided that "only when hand and chisel and imagination are in complete harmony can such confidence [as Enwonwu's] occur." If the'same harmony existed between his African heritage and his European training, Enwonwu's art might have had punch to match its polish.

OMATSOLA: Broadcaster who announced Nigeria’s Independence in 1960, goes home (VANGUARD)

By Emmanuel Edukugho (Vanguard Newspaper)

HE was a renowned broadcaster with specialisation in news reading, became known and acknowledged all over this country throughout the 19 years of his career.
Sir Emmanuel Aghanjuebitsi Ewetan Omatsola (KSC, OON) hailed from the family of David Omatsola Usitara of Mereje town, in Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State. He was born in Forcados, in the old Western Region, now Delta State on January 29, 1930.
After his secondary education at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos (1945-1950), which at that time was the only English-Model Public School in Nigeria, he joined the teaching staff of his alma mater in January 1951. Two years after, he left the teaching job and went into broadcasting in the then Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), as a member of the pioneering staff. That was in 1953.
In the same year, according to his  biography obtained during the service of songs in his honour at his residence, Plot 121, 24th Street, DDPA Housing Estate, Ugborikoko, Effurun, near Warri, Delta State, Omatsola launched into news-casting as a news-reader.
Apart from his jobs of announcing, programme presentation and programme production, he also carved a niche for himself  as a Radio Outside Broadcast (OB) commentator on national events.
These occasions include Remembrance Day Services (November 11  every year) from the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Marina, Lagos, the visits of Queen Elizabeth II of England and Princess Anne to Nigeria, self-government celebrations in Kaduna and Enugu, the Independence Day on 1st October, 1960 and later when Nigeria became a Republic in 1963, replacing Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as President while Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa remained Prime Minister.
At midnight on the 30th of September 1960, Omatsola was the radio commentator from the Race Course in Lagos who announced to Nigeria and the whole world that “Nigeria is a free, sovereign nation,” graphically describing the ceremony of the lowering of the British Union Jack  flag and the hoisting (for the first time) of the Nigeria flag of Green, White, Green perpendicular section. The Nigerian National Anthem (Nigeria We Hail Thee), played by a Massed Band, was sung also for the first time.
Undoubtedly, he was chosen on merit for that historic and monumental assignment.
Before  this assignment, he had been prepared by his employers at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) at its Overseas Service Headquarters at Bush House, London in 1959/1960, in time to return home for the approaching Nigerian Independence Day celebrations.
He spoke the first words, introduced the then Minister of Information, Hon. T.O.S. Benson, and read the first news bulletin on the Nigerian Television Service (now Nigeria Television Authority) in 1962 when the Federal Government introduced its own television service.
In April of that same year, Omatsola spoke the first words and read the first news bulletin when Voice of Nigeria, VON, the External Service of Radio Nigeria, was inaugurated. He rose through the ranks,  combining administrative positions and functions with his main professional duties.
He became Head of Presentation, VON (supervising the overseas broadcasting materials and output from the French, Swahili, Arabic and Hausa units).
During the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War) (1967 to 1970), he was posted to head the Eastern Regional Service of Radio Nigeria at Enugu as Acting Controller. At cessation of hostilities, he supervised the three R’s (Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation) programme of the Federal Government for broadcasting colleagues and also produced and recorded the famous NO VICTOR, NO VANQUISHED broadcast by Mr. Ukpabi Asika, the then Administrator of Eastern Region to mark the surrender of Biafran forces.
The Voice of America (VOA) appointed him its stringer in Lagos for many years. On an American government scholarship, he attended Syracuse University, New York in 1962 to study mass communication with specialization in broadcasting.
Omatsola won one of his broadcasting “Caps” in 1979 when, even after he had left active broadcasting and gone into the Nigerian oil sector, he was chosen and invited by NTA to be the commentator at the ceremony at the Race Course, Lagos in which General Olusegun Obasanjo as military Head of State and his second in command, Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, handed over the reins of government to democratically elected President Shehu Shagari and Vice President  Alex Ekwueme.
The ace broadcaster joined Gulf Oil Company of Nigeria Ltd and its successor Chevron Nigeria Ltd from 1971-1990 retiring as Public Affairs Manager in their field operations area which stretched from Edo State, Akwa Ibom State (the whole of the Niger Delta).
Omatsola was a foundation member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); got, in 1995, Delta State Government Merit Award (Excellence in Media), Veteran Broadcasting Award (National Broadcasting Commission in year 2000), Member and Life Master of Ceremonies, Warri Choral Society, Honorary Citizen and Goodwill Ambassador, City of Houston, USA, Anglican Knight of the Sacred Order of St. Christopher (KSC) and the Nigerian National Honour of Officer of the Order of Niger (OON).
Before his death in 2012, and since retiring from service, he kept up his interest zealously in his professions of broadcasting and public affairs, giving advice and guidance from time to time.
Among those who attended the service of songs on Thursday, January 31st,  2013 were Chief Edwin Clark;  the National Ijaw leader; movie star, Justus Esiri; Publisher Eddie Yekovie; Ms Alero Edukugho; colleagues in the media; captains of  oil industry; Anglican Church members; the cream of Delta  personalities; and members of  social and religious groups. He was laid to rest in Mereje.

BEN ENWONWU (14 July 1921–5 February 1994)

Enwonwu with Festus Okotie, Eboh Johnson, and others

 

 

The Ben Enwonwu Foundation.

These pictures are from an exhibition which has passed but here are the details.... It was titled, Life and Times; a black and white photographic exhibition on the amazing artist and sculpture Ben Enwonwu.

The exhibition showcased carefully selected pictures from Enwonwu’s diverse photographic library that illustrated his private, public and most especially, his professional life.


Here is the link to the page enjoy! OMENKA GALLERY

"The Enahoro Affair" 1963

During the 1962 crisis in the old Western region, opposition party leaders of the Action Group found themselves accused of a coup plot and threatened with detention. One of the party leaders, Chief Antony Enahoro escaped via Ghana to the United Kingdom to seek political asylum.

Nigeria requested Enahoro's extradition under the 1881 Fugitive Offenders Act, preventing his application for political asylum.
The once best-known Nigerian politician in Britain was now a "fugitive offender". "The Enahoro affair"  triggered days of debate in the House of Commons, in 1963 as he battled against extradition.

"The Enahoro affair" became an issue of human rights versus the government's pusillanimous wish not to offend Nigeria, and put the Tory prime minister, Harold Macmillan, and his home secretary, Henry Brooke, in a difficult position.

He was extradited from the UK and imprisoned for treason. In 1966, he was released by the Military Government.

Here is a document highlighting the situation the UK government found themselves regarding the "The Enahoro affair".....I will post more declassified documents later.