Oral tradition relating to slavery and slave trade in Nigeria, Ghana ...

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The advent and practice of the transatlantic slave trade
trade. Indeed, that spot was claimed to be a venue where captured
slaves were set free at the news of the abolition of the slave trade.
Similarly, the canon at the Wawu palace in the Ahovikoh
Quarters in Badagry was claimed to be a part of the measures devised
by the British to enhance the move to abolish the slave trade in
Badagry.
In Lokoja of Kogi state, oral tradition has it that the monument
of the two separate poles situated in the area and which are
referred to as the ‘Iron of Liberty’ are reminders of the abolition of
the trade. Indeed, that spot was claimed to be a venue where captured
slaves were set free at the news of the abolition of the slave trade.
Among the Oyo Yoruba, among whom there were great incidences
of wars with their immediate neighbours, the deplorable state
of a slave was considered to be preferable to being a thief. This is
depicted in a song:
“Kini ngo f’ole se, l’aiye ti mo wa, kini ngo f’ole
se l’aiye ti mo wa Aiye ti mo wa kaka kinjale
kaka kin jale, kaka kin’g jale,
M’a kuku d’eru.Kini ngo fole se laiye ti mo wa”
(Oyo,Yoruba)
In the eastern won part of Nigeria, the Delta States traded along
the Cross River. Oral tradition accounts of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
in Nigeria would not be complete without touching on the slave trade
route or pattern in the eastern parts of the country.
The principal areas were Bonny, Brass and Arochukwu. The
Aros (as the people of Arochukwu are called) were able to control the
trade in this area as a result of their religious and political control over
the people.This is due to two factors. First, the Ibini Ukpabe, the oracle
of Arochukwu, which was held in great awe in Igboland at the time,
and on which basis the Aro traders and settlers were seen by their
neighbours as the descendants of Ibini Ukpabe. Secondly, they had possession
of superior arms and ammunition, which they used in the suppressing
of any of the surrounding groups around them who may dare
to resist their dictated pattern of trade.
The major role played by Aro in the Slave Trade activities of
the eastern part of Nigeria is widely noted in the oral tradition
account of the people both of the area and history at large. Such oral
narrations have stressed the activities rather than the routes.The Aro