The CMS and the African Transformation

It was two Hausa Africans, themselves former slaves who had been emancipated in Trinidad and had decided to return to Nigeria, who took steps to take the antislavery movement beyond Sierra Leone to Nigeria. In the intervening years when government and mission were still wary of any reckless scheme of territorial overreach, the recaptives bought ships and traveled up and down the coast, demonstrating that expansion beyond Sierra Leone was viable and a logical development of the antislavery cause. In 1841 with public support for the scheme, Lord John Russell, then colonial secretary, authorized an expedition to the River Niger in response to the ideas of Sir Thomas Powell Buxton. Its purpose was to open up the riverain system to lawful commerce and to help put down the slave trade. Africans were no exception to the rule of righteousness, a rule opposed to any compromise with slavery and its supporting chiefly and priestly structures

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• Challenging “Demon Superstition”

  James Akpan Ekah, Patrick Okpalaeke•African Historical Review•2025

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