Lagos Was Owned By The British For 99years- Rufai Shares Treaty Cession Document

Arise TV News presenter and author, Rufai Oseni has added his voice to the recent tribal arguments amongst Lagosians over the ‘ownership’ of Lagos State, IGBERETV reports.

The argument got intense following the campaign of Labour Party’s Lagos gubernatorial aspirant, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour whose mother is Igbo. Also, Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi who is from Anambra state won Lagos State in the just concluded presidential poll against former Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu.

In a tweet on Wednesday, March 15, Oseni said Lagos was a British colony until it was ceded to a Lagos Monarch

He went on to state that some of the developments in the state were made by the British. He also shared a photo showing the treaty cessation document between the then British government and Oba Dosunmu.

Oseni refused to acknowledge the positions that “Lagos is no man’s land,” or that “it is a Yoruba land”.

He wrote;

“This Land called Lagos was owned by the British for 99years, from 1861-1960….Most of the initial development was done by the British.”

“A Colony 1. a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country. Lagos was a British Colony!”

“Up till 1960, Most Lagosians were British Subjects.On Independence most of them opted to Join the Nigeria Federation, they could have got British passports if they wanted.”

“The Treaty of Cession, 6 August 1861 or the Lagos Treaty of Cession was a treaty between the British Empire and Oba Dosunmu of Lagos (spelt ‘Docemo’ in English documents)”