A Platter Of Gold
This is a story of Nigeria’s history as well as the history of Nigeria’s story. The other story!
A Platter Of Gold
Over the course of fifty-four years till the eve of independence, eight colonial pro-consuls governors for the British Empire pitched wit, passion and guile against under-celebrated, sometimes everyday Nigerians – Ahmadu Attahiru I, the Sokoto Caliph and his cavalry, who violently resisted British ouster and occupation; Eleko and the Lagos Chieftains, who first claimed they would “rather die than pay tax”… This is a story of Nigeria’s history as well as the history of Nigeria’s story. The other story!
A Platter of Gold
is a masterful work of groundbreaking historical research that tells the ‘other’ story of how Nigeria gained its independence from the British in 1960. It tells the little known stories of small revolutions and agitations against colonial rule by everyday Nigerians, from the struggle against taxation led by Alimotu Pelewura and other market women in the southwest; to the Nwanyewura of Oloko and the intelligent trio and Michael Imodu’s worker’s union strike that paralyzed a nation, among others.
This book makes a compelling argument against the idea that Nigeria was handed to its citizens on a platter of gold and instead showcases a narrative that ordinary Nigerians won their country with blood, guile, and bravery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olasupo Shasore, SAN (born 22 January 1964) is a legal practitioner. He is a partner in the law firm of ALP (Africa Law Practice), a leading commercial law firm in Nigeria. He was Attorney General & Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State from 2007 – 2011. Shasore is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is the immediate past chair, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution Committee of the Section on Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association. He develops his method of interrelation between object and representation by extracting essential details of events, which fit the theme of the book. For instance, he argues that referring to the Aba Market Women episode with the colonial authorities, as a riot was a degradation of the agitation of that community and in his words, “These women bravely confronted the imperial system.
