[b]I am a proud Nigerian from Edo State that believes in the country and that each one of us has a role to play in setting the country on the right track to go other than complaining.
It is in the light of the above patriotic reason I want to state this observation. Most times I get irritated by the rush of those in governments' position to twist or distort history due to their selfish interest, myopic views or politics.
Alausa as its known by everybody and from times past literally means "Owners of Hausa or Hausa settlement or King of Hausa", which inevitably means the establishment of the place/location had something to do with the Hausas or Northerners. But it is now common for Radio Lagos, Eko FM and Lagos Television preference to twist Alausa to means "The owner of walnut or Farmland of walnut".

For crying out loud, are they now using the government machinery to distance the area, being the seat of Lagos State Government of having anything to do with the Hausas (Northerner), or when did it now become an abomination for the Hausas' to have any foundation in Ikeja? Its just fortunate that as much as the Lagos State Governments' machinery are trying their best to change history which had already being established even before they were born. History will still stand against their bashing.

Hereunder is an unedited investigative journalism done and published by LAGOS HORIZON NEWSPAPERS' in August 15-22, 1989 on the name and the history of Alausa. They titled it "Alausa - The Mix of Ironies".[/b]



                                                                                    LAGOS HORIZON NEWSPAPER                
                                                                                        Pages 8-9, August 15-22, 1989

                                                                                                    ALAUSA
                                                                                              The mix of ironies

The name naturally conjures the image of a spectacle akin to the “sabos” in all major towns in the country – pious of Mallams praying on goat skin under the shade of trees; an over made-up milk maiden serving “fura” to an embroiderer who, needle in hand, sits with a “babanriga” he is in a hurry to finish; or a “tuwo” seller splashing some stew on the white stuff with her wooden ladle.
One would expect to find “suya” kilns, kolanut warehouses, ram markets, lorries, trucks and trailers and probably, hear at least five times before the end of the day, sonorous voices filtering from the public address systems of nearby mosques, calling the faithful’s of Islam to worship.
Paradoxically, the town called Alausa which, translated, literally means “Hausa Settlement” presents a totally different picture from the pre-conceived image.
There is not a single Hausa man living in it as a bonafide resident – not even the ubiquitous provisions sellers often found roosting as “megadis’” at the frontage of the homes of the rich and private firms’ premises.
It took five days of diligent search, of trudging on its dirt roads and sometimes sleazy streets, snout-poking into the people’s homes and combing all the nooks and corners to confirm this curious fact.
Each second, each tread turned out to be nothing but an excursion into a world of ironies – a world in which startling discoveries were to be made everywhere the beam of flashlight was directed.
The town called Alausa is in the real sense, no town as such. It is one of the settlements which, until quite recently, existed as separate entities in the geographical areas that have come to be known as Lagos metropolis.
The exigencies of modernisation and imperatives of expansion, occasioned by population growth of the city had fused all into one whole.
Located at the north-eastern fringe of Ikeja Local Government, the community, according to one of its leaders, occupies an area of above seventy acres. It is bound in the east by Oregun and in the west, from the Agindingbi, by Ogba.
Its precincts also extend to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway toll-gate and all the areas now occupied by Eleganza Industries, 7Up Bottling Company and the Lagos State Secretariat Complex.
As a matter of fact, Alausa – the appellation alternatively used for Lagos State Secretariat derives from the name of the community founded over 200 years ago.
Oral traditions diverge on the origin of the name of the town.
Pa Dauda Odewale, an octogenarian and descendant of one of the three patriarchs who founded the town got its name from two war refugees, a Nupe man and an Hausa, who sought shelter from the early settlers – Jogunosinmi, Odewale and Bashorun.
The northerners were said to have fled the war-front (Ogunsope Ayinbokoru war) and ran to Akiola, a local chieftain at Oke-Isheri Olofin (present Isheri). Akiola refused to harbour them but prevailed on his friends and neighbours (the trios) who were trying to establish a settlement of their own to give them refuge.
Over the years, the population of the “foreigners” tripled that of the inhabitants as they were later joined by their friends and relations. It was not long before the settlement, formerly variously called “Abule Jogunosinmi”, “Abule Odewale” or “Abule Bashorun” after their founders came to be known as “Abule Tapa” (Nupe post) and much later “Alausa” or “that of Hausas”.
Pa Odewale recalled meeting some of Hausas’ festivals and cultural activities in his youth days. They used to beat their drums and blow animal horns. Some wore charms and stabbed themselves with knives without drawing any blood or causing any injury.
He remembered some of their leaders’ names to be “Me Turari and Suya Ogunda Meta”.
Another octogenarian called Pa Buraimoh said it was through one of the three progenitors and the first Baale of the community that the Hausa came.
Buraimoh was a horse trader who supplied Europeans and wealthy African coastal chiefs with horses for their wheel carts (a means of transportation in fashion then). To case his trade, Bashorun had stable hands, expectedly, Hausas, who were also responsible for bringing the horses from the North.
Their population soon grew enormously and a space had to be provided for them at the outskirts of the town precisely, the spot where the Lagos State Broadcasting Corporation (LSBC complex) now stands. The place was known then as “Oke Dadi”.
The Baale and his court appointed a “Seriki” (Leader) to adjudicate civil cases among them while serious cases had to be brought to the Bale's attention.
In the simplest of senses, the Hausas’ continued living in the community was at the pleasure of the Baale, who began, perhaps not too – wrongly, to be called “Olu Alausa” (owner of the head of the Hausas).
Alausa was popularised by traders’ of the period who used to drop by to hire the Hausas as porters to help to carry their goods to and fro the coast to Lagos.
But what came of the Hausas who give the town its name?
The last surviving generation, said an 80 year-old indigene and traditional pharmacist Alhaja Asaratu Bashorun (a.k.a Majekobaje), became extinct some 50 years ago. Others simply emigrated to other parts of the country.
Today there is nothing in the town to indicate that its landscape used to swarm with Hausas, save for one or two ancient and ramshackle bungalows said to have been built by two Hausa men.
The houses stand grotesquely on Odewale Street, as relics of their owners past.
The departure of the Hausas from their midst caused the natives of Alausa no grief. But one thing that caused them great sorrow and wracked their entire psyche was the loss of the sacred python, the symbol of the life and soul of the community.
“Olu Odo” or “Olodo” as it was called was said to be the source and controller of the Eleregun Stream on which the community depended for water. It was revered because it was said to be the snake that assisted the founding fathers to settle where they did.
The patriarchs who, married into the royal families of Onilegbale, Suenu and Aromire were ordered by the Ifa Oracle to sojourn and settle near a stream in order to have children.
During their journey, they came upon the snake and the stream in which it lived. It became the emergent clan’s god-head, regularly worshiped and offered sacrifices.
The stream course, Lagos Horizon discovered on the fact-finding mission, extended as far as Onigbongbo area of Maryland. People were forbidden to kill or ear its fish.
Violation of that taboo of then had disastrous consequences such as drought or mosquito invasion of the community. This normally called for propitiatory sacrifices to an angered Olodo.
Ironically, the snake which tried to protect the lives in and out of its water seemed unable to save itself from the tragic fate that befell it! Some 24 years ago, it was killed by fatal chemical wastes discharged from various industries in the area.


I hope with the above expose, the management of Radio Lagos, Eko FM, LTV will see it wise to change their stance on the distortion of history.

Thats the beauty of tonal languages, you can twist it however you choose.

This is quite confusing. . .the name.How did it come by the name "Alausa" which clearly was not coined from neither the  land owners nor inhabitants lingo.

Ala=land
Alahausa=Alausa=land/area of the  Hausa's.whats the Igbo connection ?

Or does Alausa mean something else ?