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Trade and Self Protection: The Great Debate on the Influx of Asians into Abeokuta in 1938

R. T. Akinyele, Dept of History, University of Lagos

This paper highlights aspects of the trading activities of the Lebanese and Syrians in places like Lagos and Ibadan that had inspired widespread opposition to their admission into Abeokuta in the 1930s.
The subject invariably polarised Egbaland into two camps; the Alake leading the opposition with the Balogun of the Christians, Hon. Sowemimo, at the head of the other.
The paper examines the major issues that were raised in the debate of 1938, the nature of the intervention of the interest groups, such as the Lisabi Club, and the position taken by the colonial administration before the Asians were allowed to settle in Abeokuta in 1938.
The paper will also discuss the activities of the Asians in Egbaland in the context of the conditions under which they had been allowed to settle. It will show how and why the political crisis that led to the abdication of the Alake, Oba Ladapo Ademola, in 1949 subsequently led to the gradual withdrawal of the Asians from Abeokuta in the early 1950s.