Introduction: Power After Patriarchy IN the mid-19th century American South, widowhood did not always mean vulnerability. For elite white women who inherited land and enslaved labor, it could instead consolidate power. The case of Elellanena Whitfield, a Georgia plantation owner following her husband’s death in the early 1840s, illustrates how slavery enabled extreme expressions of […]
A Pivotal Year for Nigeria’s Legal Profession THE year 1979 occupies a distinguished place in Nigeria’s legal and constitutional history. As the country prepared to transition from prolonged military rule to the Second Republic, the legal profession marked a defining institutional moment with the presentation of a new set of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN). […]
By ENGR. COLLINS IFY ELIMANI Geography and Communal Structure OGUME is a historically significant community comprising seven villages—Ogbe Ogume, Ogbagu, Ogbe-Ole, Utue, Igbe, Obodo Ugwa, and Umuchime—situated in Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. Though administratively unified, these villages maintain distinct identities shaped by lineage, settlement patterns, and shared customs. Together, they form […]
Revisiting Nigeria Before the Colonial Map THE modern Nigerian state is often treated as an ancient, fixed political entity. In reality, Nigeria is a relatively recent creation, formally established in 1914 through British colonial amalgamation. Long before this administrative act, the territory now known as Nigeria was home to multiple sophisticated and autonomous civilisations, each […]
THE ANTEBELLUM PLANTATION AS A CLOSED SYSTEM OF CONTROL Understanding the Antebellum World THE Antebellum South was a society defined by contradiction. It celebrated ideals of honor, civility, and domestic virtue, while sustaining an economy built on coerced labor and racial domination. Slavery shaped every aspect of life, from politics and religion to family structures […]
By FRANCIS KUMAH Kofo Abayomi and a Marriage That Defied Colonial Norms Introduction: An Unusual Love Story in Colonial Lagos IN the social world of colonial Lagos, where lineage, titles and propriety governed personal relationships, few stories stand out as boldly as that of Dr. Kofo John, a man who changed his surname in 1930 to […]
Beyond the South-West: Rethinking the Geographic Spread of the Yorùbá People Introduction: A Common Misconception IN popular discourse, the Yorùbá people are often portrayed as an ethnic group confined exclusively to Nigeria’s South-West geopolitical zone. While the South-West remains the historical and cultural heartland of Yorùbá civilisation, this perception overlooks the group’s extensive demographic and […]
By AROH ANTHONY Igbo by Name: A Historical Linguistic Reconstruction The Myth of a Single Origin Name THE idea that the Igbo people have always been known by one collective name does not align with historical evidence. What exists instead is a layered evolution of terminology shaped by external contact and internal consolidation. Early references such […]
A Plantation Colony on the Brink BY the early 19th century, Jamaica stood as one of Britain’s most valuable colonial possessions, sustained almost entirely by enslaved African labour. Sugar estates dominated the island’s economy, while enslaved people—numbering over 300,000—vastly outnumbered the white planter class. This demographic imbalance, coupled with brutal working conditions and rigid racial […]
By ENGR. COLLINS IFY ELIMANI Amacha and the Foundational Narrative ORAL tradition in Abbi community, located in present-day Ukwuani land of Delta State, places Amacha at the centre of its founding history. Amacha is believed to have migrated from Achala-Uku in what is now Anambra State, journeying westward into a region that was, at the time, […]