The Disturbances in Abeokuta in 1918

Abstract

In 1912 Sir Frederick Lugard set out to amalgamate the Northern and Southern Nigerian Administrations. His task, as he saw it, was to standardize the country by raising each part to the level of the highest. Specifically, the North needed help in the economic and financial fields, the South in the administrative.' The South was to benefit by the extension of the Northern system of Native Administration. Indirect Rule, as it came to be known, was a system of self-government in local affairs through traditional institutions and a strong traditional authority- one of Africa's natural leaders, and subject to supervision and active guidance by a British officer who was to be placed at the peak of the native hierarchy. It was foreseen that if all areas started together under such a paternal rule, they would gradually gather political experience and modern ideas as contact with the Western world increased.2 But the South had very different social structures which were not necessarily adaptable; contact with the West was already far advanced, and there were few absolute rulers on which to devolve such power. Lugard's system met with some initial success in Benin, where total conquest and the exile of the Oba had provided him with a relatively clean slate. But in Oyo and Iseyin there was friction; in Abeokuta nearly disaster. The process of creating a suitable traditional authority, followed by the institution of direct taxation and a means of collecting it caused growing discontent in Abeokuta Province. Soon violence broke out and the irate villagers cut the telegraph lines and railway track in several places. A District Head, one European, and a number of other people were killed in the uprising, and the inhabitants of Abeokuta were cut off from the outside world. Fortunately for the Nigerian Government a large number of troops had returned from the East African campaign and were able to prevent the

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