Saro people
They were mostly freed and repatriated slaves from various West African and Latin American countries such as Sierra Leone, Brazil and Cuba.
Other Nigerian groups forming part of the Sierra Leonean and Gambian Krio population included the Efik, Igbos, Hausa and Nupe.
Though many were originally dedicated Anglophiles in Nigeria, they later adopted an indigenous and patriotic attitude on Nigerian affairs due to a rise in discrimination in the 1880s,[3] and were later known as cultural nationalists.
While living in Sierra Leone, many Creole residents became exposed to the Christian faith as a result of the work of British missionaries, who established some Churches, a few grammar schools and a pioneer educational institution, the Fourah Bay College.
Relatively, the residents of Sierra Leone soon gained a fast start in Western education and were soon well trained and experienced in medicine, law, and the civil service.
An expedition of the river Niger by Ajayi Crowther furthered the evangelical interest of many Sierra Leoneans towards Nigeria, many of them having joined the missionaries and their effort.
The town later emerged as a major economic base nurtured by immigration from nearby ethnic groups led by the Ijebus, then the Ijaws, the Binis, and the Egbas.
They assimilated fairly well with the Yorubas, and coupled with an earlier training and interaction with the British in Sierra Leone, they were able to become part of the colonial society.
The returnees were generally focused on trade and rose to become commercial middlemen between residents of Lagos, Abeokuta and the British colony in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
They were the pioneer Southern Nigerian traders in Kola, a cash crop that later emerged as a viable and important export commodity for the Western region in the early twentieth century.
[8][9][10] Early on, the Saro who had acquired Western education and European cultural mores during their time in Sierra Leone, began to show paternal characteristics in their relationship with native residents of Lagos.
The Egbas were protesting the increasing influence of western culture and a land encroachment led by the Lagos governor, Glover.
Egbas decided to go on the rampage and damage European symbols such as churches and missions, and a few Saros were also expelled from Egbaland, but like the case of Lagos, calm was quickly restored.
Prior to the conflict, a few notable Saros and the English missionary Henry Townsend, played prominent roles as advisers to the council of chiefs in Abeokuta.
The Saro in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abeokuta had earned the irritation of Europeans because of the achievement of a few immigrants in the clergy and business world.
During this time, modern European architecture was not only meant to be a nice abode but also a dominating advertisement to show Africans of a different style and culture.
