There have been fake story going about that Obasanjo threatened to shoot Chief Toye Coker, that story is fake, false and very misleading.

To put records straight Chief Toye Coker was the Apena Of Egbaland and Not Lisa of Egbaland.

Adebisi Macgregor was the Lisa of Egbaland.

Obasanjo had great respect for Chief Toye Coker (SAN) and he holds him in high esteem.

A look into the biography of Chief Toye Coker will tell anyone he is no one to mess with in Egbaland.

I contacted the families of the Late Chief Toye Coker and they said nothing of such ever happened.

Pls let’s us desist from spreading fake stories.

~
Mosope Coker

This is a fake story.
Toye Coker was the Apena of Egbaland and not Lisa. Adebisi Macgregor was the Lisa of Egbaland.

Toye Coker was a father figure to Obasanjo.

I have confirmed this from the families of Toye Coker and they said nothing of such ever happened.

Kingstanding:
. That was the reason they killed Princess Diana.

Was Princess Diana black?

Mobolaji Johnson, he created the state from the scratch as a young man of 31 when no one believe that Lagos State was feasible.
He proved them wrong and laid a solid foundation for Lagos for other governors to follow.

[quote author=Sunnycliff post=85199283]

Who chose it? Did God instruct him to do so?[/quote


" Happy New Year" is not in the Bible and the origin of "Happy New Year" is DEMONIC.

If you don't believe, Google is your friend.

The early Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with each new year beginning at the vernal equinox; according to tradition, it was created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century B.C. A later king, Numa Pompilius, is credited with adding the months of Januarius and Februarius. Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun, and in 46 B.C. the emperor Julius Caesar decided to solve the problem by consulting with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of his time. He introduced the Julian calendar, which closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries around the world use today.

As part of his reform, Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honor the month’s namesake: Janus, "the Roman god of beginnings," whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending raucous parties. In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1 as the first of the year with days carrying more religious significance, such as December 25 (the anniversary of Jesus’ birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation); Pope Gregory XIII reestablished January 1 as New Year’s Day in 1582.

digitaltrades:
Mr tinubu, didn't mobolaji Johnson also remind you that you are a drug pusher?

� � �

YorubaPrince:
So, I see why that fool, Sanwo-Olu recently renamed Onikan to Mobolaji Johnson's name. This says a whole lot. Tinubu is the current Governor NOT, Sanwo-Olu. Pretty sad!

Mobolaji Johnson deserves more than that.
How I wish you were at Darlington Hall, Illupeju yesterday, where his children held the night of tributes for him, you would have understand that Onikan is nothing even worth to a man created a state people never believed it will work.

JosEast:
source

@ Night of tritubes held today for Mobolaji Johnson, by the Lagos State Government at Onikan Stadium.

Former Governor of Lagos State and National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Tuesday revealed what the late Brigadier General Mobolaji Johnson told him when former President, Olusegun Obasanjo seized the statutory allocations of Lagos State some years ago.


Obasanjo had in 2005 seized Lagos State statutory allocation because Tinubu created additional 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs.

Despite the Supreme Court ordering the then president, Obasanjo to release the allocations, he never obeyed the court’s order until the late Umaru Yar’Adua released the seized allocations in 2007.

Speaking at the Day of Tributes for Mobolaji Johnson at the Onikan Stadium on Tuesday, Tinubu said his time with Johnson was at a critical period when Obasanjo confiscated the allocations of Lagos State.

He said Johnson told him then to ignore Obasanjo and focus on re-engineering Lagos State, which he did and that it paid off.


Tinubu said: “Johnson embarked on re-engineering and assembling the best cabinet to show transparency at that time. He showed courage and strong determination for the benefit of Lagos State. His retirement was sudden following the coup in 1975. He lived a life of great contentment.

“We bid farewell to a man of great integrity. My time with him was at a critical time when I was facing another general who seized the money of Lagos State. He said governor, ignore that man and re-engineer Lagos State. I wish him eternal rest.”

Bola Tinubu extolled the virtues of Johnson, describing him as a man of integrity.

He said Johnson was a true gentleman, a servant leader and a man of incorruptible character, saying that he never used his position to amass personal wealth.

“He did not compromise in his profession. He left a good legacy in public service. He laid a durable foundation for Lagos State. He served the people and made them the cornerstone of social and economic policies.

HospitalityDiva:
How very low our standards have fallen in this country.

Today, we celebrate the filling of potholes on roads built 40 years ago.

wasn’t happy with the transportation system in Lagos, and I particularly felt bad about the waterways that we could not fully exploit. I sent a delegation abroad to look for flat bottom boats that could take passengers across the waterways. I wasn’t happy with the transportation system and would have loved to see a better system in place. One of the ideas I had was to construct the 3rd Mainland Bridge. Don’t forget, the 3rd Mainland Bridge was a creation of the government of Lagos State and not the Federal Government. The Federal Government only took it over at a point in time when we didn’t have enough money and, therefore, included the project as part of the state’s contribution to the Second Five-Year Development Programme of the Federal Government in 1972. I went abroad and was surprised to discover that the headquarters of Julius Berger was located in the same area as the hospital where I went for medical treatment. I met Mr. Whitman who later served as vice-chairman of the board of Julius Berger. His first job in Nigeria was the construction of the Itoikin Bridge that links Lagos with Epe.
During my meeting with Mr. Whitman and his team of engineers, I showed them what we were planning for the ring roads around Lagos. I believe people getting out of Lagos should have freeways that they can use. The concept I had for the inner ring road and outer ring road was to have pillars erected to the middle of Herbert Macaulay and Murtala Muhammed Way with the pillars supporting a network of highways on the top like the ones I saw in Tokyo, Japan. I believed we could achieve the same in Lagos. The Julius Berger team looked into my concept and came up with a blueprint ready for my submission to the Federal Government. That was how Julius Berger and an army of officials came all the way to Lagos. Work began in earnest with the engineers in boats and canoes crisscrossing the body of water over which the 3rd Mainland Bridge and its ring roads would be built. At Marina, they proposed sand filling as the best option so as to be able to gain more useful land, in addition to solving the traffic problem on that axis. I was thinking we could use the idea of the 3rd Mainland Bridge to sand fill a sizeable portion of the waterfront of the University of Lagos and adjoining areas and create a big motor park where a park-and-ride system of transportation would be available to take passengers from the Oworonshoki area into Lagos, where you will equally take a taxi or a bus to wherever you are going on the Lagos Island and when you are through with what you came to do on the Island, you will be taken back by boats across the water to where your car is parked at Oworonshoki. That was one major project I would have loved to accomplish but couldn’t. To date, our waterways, I must say, are still largely underutilized.
1936-2019.
May his soul in peace!

We Started Lagos State With Only 10,000 Pounds — Mobolaji Johnson.


The First Governor of Lagos State, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson (retd), in this interview granted a specialised publication in respect of the 50th anniversary of Lagos State, Matters of Heritage, a copy of which was obtained by SATURDAY TRIBUNE, relives the birth of Lagos State and the challenges of its early stages of development.


What was the feeling when you became the governor of Lagos State at such a young age of 31?

The appointment came suddenly upon me as a young man and I had to take it. I took it as a challenge and faced it squarely. The challenges were not difficult to face and overcome because of the upbringing I had under my father, Pa ‘Motola Johnson, who was a strong character and raised all of us his children to be equally strong in character. While I was governor, my father was always reminding me not to tarnish the name and image of the family. That kept me focused and steady throughout my tenure. No wonder after the investigations of the Murtala Muhammed government that came after the government of General Yakubu Gowon, in which I served as governor, I was one of the governors given a clean bill of health as free from corrupt practices. I must say that a major problem in our political life today is that we have many in positions of authority who never had good home training. I am eternally grateful to God for the good upbringing under my father, which shaped my life for good.
What were the challenges you met on ground as the pioneer governor of the state?
Lagos State came into existence as a child of circumstance. The country was on the verge of civil war and one of the masterstrokes General Gowon applied was the creation of states, which pulled the carpet off the feet of [Chukwuemeka Odumegwu] Ojukwu. I came in first as the administrator of the Federal Capital before states were created. The feeling of Nigerians was that Lagos was a no man’s land. I had to face the challenge of correcting that erroneous impression. There was the need to let people know that the territory called Lagos belonged to a people with their distinct historical background, culture, and tradition. Again, quite a good number of people thought the creation of Lagos was a ruse, that it could not be; that it could not work. So, we had to make sure it worked. We had to work round the clock to ensure that Lagos became a reality and I am happy to say that 50 years down the road, Lagos State is a reality, a model state waxing stronger.
What major problems did you have to contend with?
Our brothers in the West did not like the creation of Lagos State. They believed it should be part of the West. It became a ding-dong affair. Don’t forget that Lagos at a point in history was part of the West before it later became the Federal Capital, which brought about the parlance ‘gedegbe l’Eko wa’. The West was bitter, claiming that they had all their industries in Ikeja and how can we come to take them (the industries) away? I had to go on a peace mission to the West with my officials to see the late General Adeyinka Adebayo, the governor of the Western Region, in Ibadan.
Again, skeptics never gave us a chance. They were calling us names, wondering how we were running government without commissioners. But I knew it was more difficult than that. All the functions being done by the Federal Government were being taken over by the new state, which was still in its infancy. A lot needed to be done at that time – the legal backing to the new state and part of the functions to be taken away from the Federal Government by the emerging new government in Lagos State would take some time. There was also a noticeable friction between the elders and youths who were trying to write off the elders as those responsible for the woes of the country; that the fall of the First Republic was caused by them. They were agitating that it was now time for the youths to be at the helm of affairs. Before long, I became the subject of all sorts of editorials in national newspapers that I surrounded myself with some of those who spoilt the country. I had to call a conference of the elders at the old City Hall. I told them in Yoruba parlance that: ‘ogiri to ba la ni alamo nkosi’ (it is when you have cracks on your wall that lizards have the opportunity to get inside). I didn’t want to bring the elders and the youths together without first taking care of the rough edges. I had to convene a separate meeting with the youths. A grand final took place at the City Hall where I brought the elders and the youths under one roof and I said to the assembly that I could not conduct the meeting alone; that I wanted six representatives from each side to join me on the high table. A lot of fundamental issues were resolved at the meeting and in a way formed the background to the emergence of Lagos State. When things improved, particularly after my peace mission to the West, some of them had a change of mind and returned to Lagos State. Folarin Coker and Shamsudeen Thomas were two of the early highly-ranking civil servants that returned to join the service of Lagos State. I should also mention here that civil servants of Lagos State origin were reluctant to leave the West because Lagos to them was not yet a reality. They were not sure of their future, so they remained in the West.


What was the first budget like?

I had a one-line vote which I was using as the administrator of the Federal Capital. It was a modest sum of 10,000 pounds. That was what I used in starting Lagos State. Okuyiga and Coker set up a board that was responsible for revenue generation. Pools betting generated money for the state and once we were sure we could pay the salary of our workers and civil servants by the first month, we began the march to transforming the state. Those who never gave us a chance were surprised that we could achieve that feat with our meager resources.


Before you became the administrator of the Federal Capital and later the first governor of Lagos State in May 1967, where were you?

I always tell people that if you are good, you are good, and if you are bad, you pay a price. I had a rapid promotion in the military. Before the first coup of January 15, 1966, I was already a Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General of the Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade in Apapa, Lagos. I was in charge of the troops in the West, Mid-West.
The DAQG job involved everything from boots and bootlaces to armored tanks and accommodation of career officers and men under my command. As Brigade Commander, I was, working as number two staff officer. My Brigade Commanders in the brigade were Aguiyi Ironsi and Maimalari. When the coup took place, the commander of the First Battalion, Major Largema, was killed at Ikoyi Hotel and the troops marched on Lagos, insisting on seeing their commander and, of course, we knew he was dead. I stopped the invading troops and received them, telling them, ‘look, it is not by fighting that we can do justice to the memory of the late Commander of the Battalion’. So, I asked them to go back and rest assured that everything would be done to immortalize the fallen officer. It didn’t come as a surprise when, after things had settled down a bit, I was posted to the 4th Battalion, Ibadan, as second-in-command to the late Joe Akahan. In my new posting, I was able to change the attitude of my officers and men and move their concentration from coup plotting to games, sports and training programs. We came to Lagos for the Army Sports Competition and we won the competition. Soon, I was posted to Benin without troops. Benin was never a military zone. So, I was again called upon to go and set up a military station in Benin under Ejoor and I became second-in-command to Governor Ejoor. I must state here that Benin provided the opportunity for me to have my first stint of political administration. I was in the cabinet that had people like Mariere, who was the adviser to the governor. I learned a lot from Benin. It was there in Benin that Ejoor returned to his duty post after a Supreme Military Council meeting in Lagos and instead of me saluting, he was saluting me sharply and then gave me a signal that I was wanted in Lagos and that when I get to Lagos, they would tell me the details. That was how I moved back to Lagos and was received by General Ironsi who told me that as from that time on, whenever he was receiving visitors or conducting interviews, he would want me to be there because, he wanted somebody to come and look after Lagos, otherwise, he wouldn’t move an inch: he couldn’t do a thing outside solving the problems of Lagos. He said he wanted somebody and that was how they came up with my name. They wanted somebody born and bred here in Lagos and that was how I became the head of the Federal Capital.


Earlier, you mentioned the four musketeers who were saddled with the responsibility of running the newly created state with you at the helm. If you had to look back, who were the personages that came on board and at what point in your administration?

The four men I called the musketeers were civil servants. Howson Wright was Secretary to the Military Government; F.C.O Coker was Finance Secretary; Agoro was the Attorney General while Adeyemi Bero was the Administrative Secretary. In the enlarged cabinet, which was constituted, later on, I had the simple luck of having credible men around me and the right people for the right job. The men who came on board my administration included L.S. Adewale; Adeniran Ogunsanya; Reverend Akin Adesola; Babs Williams; Johnson Agiri; Ganiyu Dawodu and other men and women of integrity whose names I cannot readily recollect now.
As a governor operating from the seat of the Federal Government, how much autonomy did you enjoy?
I must give it to Gowon. He created states and ensured that they operated as autonomous states. Although some officials didn’t let go, I went ahead to form my own Civil Service Commission overnight, headed by Norman Williams as chairman, Oba Alaketu of Ketu and Mrs. Femi Pearse were commissioners in the Civil Service Commission. I was given a free hand by Gowon to operate while I got my cabinet work. We took steps to ensure that the new state stabilized.


With the ever-increasing population of Lagos State, what were the major problems you had to contend with?

I remember when the civil war came to an end, there was so much hardship; increased cases of armed robbery and Lagos become chaotic. That was when I made an edict to the effect that if you were caught as an armed robber, you will be sentenced to death. This stance became necessary because I believed that the law court would be too slow for me. I believe in punishment being immediate for it to have the desired effect. If someone does something, punish him or her immediately and let the people know. That was why we made that edict. But then I found out that my edict was not strong enough to override the constitution of the country that says that anybody that’s going to be sentenced must be tried in a court of law. But was my tribunal a court of law? So, I put up a memo to General Gowon telling him to give backing to my edict by creating a decree that could override the constitution. I didn’t get a reply from him. One Monday morning, a lawyer was killed in the Yaba area. His death at the hands of armed robbers made headline news. The lawyer’s mother had come from upcountry. My blood went cold on hearing the news and I phoned General Gowon and that was the only time I think I was rude to my Head of State. I called him on the red-hot line telling him, ‘Have you seen the papers this morning, sir? Have you seen the front page of Daily times?’ I went on to tell him that since the time I wrote a letter to him that my edict is backed with a decree, I never heard from him. ‘I want to tell you, sir, that the people being killed in Lagos are human beings. Are you waiting until one of your commissioners or governors comes to Lagos and gets killed before you will deem fit to take action?’ And I banged the phone. Gowon got my message and acted fast. He sent Graham Douglas to come and confer with my Attorney General and that was how a decree came up.


It is on record that your administration also came up with an edict to check the skyrocketing house rent in Lagos, especially in the metropolis. Could you give us an insight into the edict on house rent?

I was quite close to the people and felt for them. I also knew then that the landlords were shylocks; they were exploiting the explosion in population by demanding high rents for accommodation. The landlords were charging very exorbitant rents on their properties. So, we sat down and formed a committee that looked into categories of houses and accommodation as well as the locations. Of course, for obvious reasons, you cannot compare a room in Ajegunle to, say, a room in Victoria Island or Ikoyi. So, we came up with an edict, stipulating categories of houses and what landlords will take as rent on their buildings. One musician, Ayinla Omowura, actually waxed a record and the lyric of the song goes like this: ‘aye e ma tapa si’joba, e fara mon omo Bolaji’ (it is fruitless kicking against the government, abide by the housing edict of Mobolaji Johnson). Omowura did it on his own as his social responsibility; we didn’t ask him to promote the rent edict. We set up a tribunal where an aggrieved tenant who felt aggrieved could take his or her landlord. The tribunal was to ensure that the common people were not exploited. The edict worked for some time, but I don’t know what happened when I left office as governor.


What were the projects you planned to execute during your tenure but for reasons of time and financial constraints, you could not?

I wasn’t happy with the transportation system in Lagos, and I particularly felt bad about the waterways that we could not fully exploit. I sent a delegation abroad to look for flat bottom boats that could take passengers across the waterways. I wasn’t happy with the transportation system and would have loved to see a better system in place. One of the ideas I had was to construct the 3rd Mainland Bridge. Don’t forget, the 3rd Mainland Bridge was a creation of the government of Lagos State and not the Federal Government. The Federal Government only took it over at a point in time when we didn’t have enough money and, therefore, included the project as part of the state’s contribution to the Second Five-Year Development Programme of the Federal Government in 1972. I went abroad and was surprised to discover that the headquarters of Julius Berger was located in the same area as the hospital where I went for medical treatment. I met Mr. Whitman who later served as vice-chairman of the board of Julius Berger. His first job in Nigeria was the construction of the Itoikin Bridge that links Lagos with Epe.
During my meeting with Mr. Whitman and his team of engineers, I showed them what we were planning for the ring roads around Lagos. I believe people getting out of Lagos should have freeways that they can use. The concept I had for the inner ring road and outer ring road was to have pillars erected to the middle of Herbert Macaulay and Murtala Muhammed Way with the pillars supporting a network of highways on the top like the ones I saw in Tokyo, Japan. I believed we could achieve the same in Lagos. The Julius Berger team looked into my concept and came up with a blueprint ready for my submission to the Federal Government. That was how Julius Berger and an army of officials came all the way to Lagos. Work began in earnest with the engineers in boats and canoes crisscrossing the body of water over which the 3rd Mainland Bridge and its ring roads would be built. At Marina, they proposed sand filling as the best option so as to be able to gain more useful land, in addition to solving the traffic problem on that axis. I was thinking we could use the idea of the 3rd Mainland Bridge to sand fill a sizeable portion of the waterfront of the University of Lagos and adjoining areas and create a big motor park where a park-and-ride system of transportation would be available to take passengers from the Oworonshoki area into Lagos, where you will equally take a taxi or a bus to wherever you are going on the Lagos Island and when you are through with what you came to do on the Island, you will be taken back by boats across the water to where your car is parked at Oworonshoki. That was one major project I would have loved to accomplish but couldn’t. To date, our waterways, I must say, are still largely underutilized.

1936-2019.

May his soul in peace!

We Started Lagos State With Only 10,000 Pounds — Mobolaji Johnson.

The First Governor of Lagos State, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson (retd), in this interview granted a specialised publication in respect of the 50th anniversary of Lagos State, Matters of Heritage, a copy of which was obtained by SATURDAY TRIBUNE, relives the birth of Lagos State and the challenges of its early stages of development.

What was the feeling when you became the governor of Lagos State at such a young age of 31?

The appointment came suddenly upon me as a young man and I had to take it. I took it as a challenge and faced it squarely. The challenges were not difficult to face and overcome because of the upbringing I had under my father, Pa ‘Motola Johnson, who was a strong character and raised all of us his children to be equally strong in character. While I was governor, my father was always reminding me not to tarnish the name and image of the family. That kept me focused and steady throughout my tenure. No wonder after the investigations of the Murtala Muhammed government that came after the government of General Yakubu Gowon, in which I served as governor, I was one of the governors given a clean bill of health as free from corrupt practices. I must say that a major problem in our political life today is that we have many in positions of authority who never had good home training. I am eternally grateful to God for the good upbringing under my father, which shaped my life for good.

What were the challenges you met on ground as the pioneer governor of the state?

Lagos State came into existence as a child of circumstance. The country was on the verge of civil war and one of the masterstrokes General Gowon applied was the creation of states, which pulled the carpet off the feet of [Chukwuemeka Odumegwu] Ojukwu. I came in first as the administrator of the Federal Capital before states were created. The feeling of Nigerians was that Lagos was a no man’s land. I had to face the challenge of correcting that erroneous impression. There was the need to let people know that the territory called Lagos belonged to a people with their distinct historical background, culture and tradition. Again, quite a good number of people thought the creation of Lagos was a ruse, that it could not be; that it could not work. So, we had to make sure it worked. We had to work round the clock to ensure that Lagos became a reality and I am happy to say that 50 years down the road, Lagos State is a reality, a model state waxing stronger.

What major problems did you have to contend with?

Our brothers in the West did not like the creation of Lagos State. They believed it should be part of the West. It became a ding-dong affair. Don’t forget that Lagos at a point in history was part of the West before it later became the Federal Capital, which brought about the parlance ‘gedegbe l’Eko wa’. The West was bitter, claiming that they had all their industries in Ikeja and how can we come to take them (the industries) away? I had to go on a peace mission to the West with my officials to see the late General Adeyinka Adebayo, the governor of Western Region, in Ibadan.
Again, skeptics never gave us a chance. They were calling us names, wondering how we were running government without commissioners. But I knew it was more difficult than that. All the functions being done by the Federal Government were being taken over by the new state, which was still in its infancy. A lot needed to be done at that time – the legal backing to the new state and part of the functions to be taken away from the Federal Government by the emerging new government in Lagos State would take some time. There was also a noticeable friction between the elders and youths who were trying to write off the elders as those responsible for the woes of the country; that the fall of the First Republic was caused by them. They were agitating that it was now time for the youths to be at the helm of affairs. Before long, I became the subject of all sorts of editorials in national newspapers that I surrounded myself with some of those who spoilt the country. I had to call a conference of the elders at the old City Hall. I told them in Yoruba parlance that: ‘ogiri to ba la ni alamo nkosi’ (it is when you have cracks on your wall that lizards have the opportunity to get inside). I didn’t want to bring the elders and the youths together without first taking care of the rough edges. I had to convene a separate meeting with the youths. A grand final took place at the City Hall where I brought the elders and the youths under one roof and I said to the assembly that I could not conduct the meeting alone; that I wanted six representatives from each side to join me on the high table. A lot of fundamental issues were resolved at the meeting and in a way formed the background to the emergence of Lagos State. When things improved, particularly after my peace mission to the West, some of them had a change of mind and returned to Lagos State. Folarin Coker and Shamsudeen Thomas were two of the early highly-ranking civil servants that returned to join the service of Lagos State. I should also mention here that civil servants of Lagos State origin were reluctant to leave the West, because Lagos to them was not yet a reality. They were not sure of their future, so they remained in the West.

What was the first budget like?

I had a one-line vote which I was using as the administrator of the Federal Capital. It was a modest sum of 10,000 pounds. That was what I used in starting Lagos State. Okuyiga and Coker set up a board that was responsible for revenue generation. Pools betting generated money for the state and once we were sure we could pay the salary of our workers and civil servants by the first month, we began the march to transforming the state. Those who never gave us a chance were surprised that we could achieve that feat with our meager resources.

Before you became the administrator of the Federal Capital and later the first governor of Lagos State in May 1967, where were you?

I always tell people that if you are good, you are good, and if you are bad, you pay a price. I had a rapid promotion in the military. Before the first coup of January 15, 1966, I was already a Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General of the Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade in Apapa, Lagos. I was in charge of the troops in the West, Mid-West.
The DAQG job involved everything from boots and bootlaces to armoured tanks and accommodation of career officers and men under my command. As Brigade Commander, I was, working as number two staff officer. My Brigade Commanders in the brigade were Aguiyi Ironsi and Maimalari. When the coup took place, the commander of the First Battalion, Major Largema, was killed at Ikoyi Hotel and the troops marched on Lagos, insisting on seeing their commander and, of course, we knew he was dead. I stopped the invading troops and received them, telling them, ‘look, it is not by fighting that we can do justice to the memory of the late Commander of the Battalion’. So, I asked them to go back and rest assured that everything would be done to immortalise the fallen officer. It didn’t come as a surprise when, after things had settled down a bit, I was posted to the 4th Battalion, Ibadan, as second-in-command to the late Joe Akahan. In my new posting, I was able to change the attitude of my officers and men and move their concentration from coup plotting to games, sports and training programmes. We came to Lagos for Army Sports Competition and we won the competition. Soon, I was posted to Benin without troops. Benin was never a military zone. So, I was again called upon to go and set up a military station in Benin under Ejoor and I became second-in-command to Governor Ejoor. I must state here that Benin provided the opportunity for me to have my first stint of political administration. I was in the cabinet that had people like Mariere, who was adviser to the governor. I learned a lot from Benin. It was there in Benin that Ejoor returned to his duty post after a Supreme Military Council meeting in Lagos and instead of me saluting, he was saluting me sharply and then gave me a signal that I was wanted in Lagos and that when I get to Lagos, they would tell me the details. That was how I moved back to Lagos and was received by General Ironsi who told me that as from that time on, whenever he was receiving visitors or conducting interviews, he would want me to be there because, he wanted somebody to come and look after Lagos, otherwise, he wouldn’t move an inch: he couldn’t do a thing outside solving the problems of Lagos. He said he wanted somebody and that was how they came up with my name. They wanted somebody born and bred here in Lagos and that was how I became the head of the Federal Capital.

Earlier, you mentioned the four musketeers who were saddled with the responsibility of running the newly created state with you at the helm. If you had to look back, who were the personages that came on board and at what point in your administration?

The four men I called the musketeers were civil servants. Howson Wright was Secretary to the Military Government; F.C.O Coker was Finance Secretary; Agoro was the Attorney General while Adeyemi Bero was the Administrative Secretary. In the enlarged cabinet, which was constituted later on, I had the simple luck of having credible men around me and the right people for the right job. The men who came on board my administration included L.S. Adewale; Adeniran Ogunsanya; Reverend Akin Adesola; Babs Williams; Johnson Agiri; Ganiyu Dawodu and other men and women of integrity whose names I cannot readily recollect now.
As a governor operating from the seat of the Federal Government, how much autonomy did you enjoy?
I must give it to Gowon. He created states and ensured that they operated as autonomous states. Although some officials didn’t let go, I went ahead to form my own Civil Service Commission overnight, headed by Norman Williams as chairman, Oba Alaketu of Ketu and Mrs. Femi Pearse were commissioners in the Civil Service Commission. I was given a free hand by Gowon to operate while I got my cabinet work. We took steps to ensure that the new state stabilized.

With the ever-increasing population of Lagos State, what were the major problems you had to contend with?

I remember when the civil war came to an end, there was so much hardship; increased cases of armed robbery and Lagos become chaotic. That was when I made an edict to the effect that if you were caught as an armed robber, you will be sentenced to death. This stance became necessary because I believed that the law court would be too slow for me. I believe in punishment being immediate for it to have the desired effect. If someone does something, punish him or her immediately and let the people know. That was why we made that edict. But then I found out that my edict was not strong enough to override the constitution of the country that says that anybody that’s going to be sentenced must be tried in a court of law. But was my tribunal a court of law? So, I put up a memo to General Gowon telling him to give backing to my edict by creating a decree that could override the constitution. I didn’t get a reply from him. One Monday morning, a lawyer was killed in the Yaba area. His death at the hands of armed robbers made headline news. The lawyer’s mother had come from upcountry. My blood went cold on hearing the news and I phoned General Gowon and that was the only time I think I was rude to my Head of State. I called him on the red-hot line telling him, ‘Have you seen the papers this morning, sir? Have you seen the front page of Daily times?’ I went on to tell him that since the time I wrote a letter to him that my edict is backed with a decree, I never heard from him. ‘I want to tell you, sir, that the people being killed in Lagos are human beings. Are you waiting until one of your commissioners or governors comes to Lagos and gets killed before you will deem fit to take action?’ And I banged the phone. Gowon got my message and acted fast. He sent Graham Douglas to come and confer with my Attorney General and that was how a decree came up.

It is on record that your administration also came up with an edict to check the skyrocketing house rent in Lagos, especially in the metropolis. Could you give us an insight into the edict on house rent?

I was quite close to the people and felt for them. I also knew then that the landlords were shylocks; they were exploiting the explosion in population by demanding high rents for accommodation. The landlords were charging very exorbitant rents on their properties. So, we sat down and formed a committee that looked into categories of houses and accommodation as well as the locations. Of course, for obvious reasons, you cannot compare a room in Ajegunle to, say, a room in Victoria Island or Ikoyi. So, we came up with an edict, stipulating categories of houses and what landlords will take as rent on their buildings. One musician, Ayinla Omowura, actually waxed a record and the lyric of the song goes like this: ‘aye e ma tapa si’joba, e fara mon omo Bolaji’ (it is fruitless kicking against the government, abide by the housing edict of Mobolaji Johnson). Omowura did it on his own as his social responsibility; we didn’t ask him to promote the rent edict. We set up a tribunal where an aggrieved tenant who felt aggrieved could take his or her landlord. The tribunal was to ensure that the common people were not exploited. The edict worked for some time, but I don’t know what happened when I left office as governor.

What were the projects you planned to execute during your tenure but for reasons of time and financial constraints, you could not?

I wasn’t happy with the transportation system in Lagos, and I particularly felt bad about the waterways that we could not fully exploit. I sent a delegation abroad to look for flat bottom boats that could take passengers across the waterways. I wasn’t happy with the transportation system and would have loved to see a better system in place. One of the ideas I had was to construct the 3rd Mainland Bridge. Don’t forget, the 3rd Mainland Bridge was a creation of the government of Lagos State and not the Federal Government. The Federal Government only took it over at a point in time when we didn’t have enough money and, therefore, included the project as part of the state’s contribution to the second Five-Year Development Programme of the Federal Government in 1972. I went abroad and was surprised to discover that the headquarters of Julius Berger was located in the same area as the hospital where I went for medical treatment. I met Mr. Whitman who later served as vice-chairman of the board of Julius Berger. His first job in Nigeria was the construction of the Itoikin Bridge that links Lagos with Epe.
During my meeting with Mr. Whitman and his team of engineers, I showed them what we were planning for the ring roads around Lagos. I believe people getting out of Lagos should have freeways that they can use. The concept I had for the inner ring road and outer ring road was to have pillars erected to the middle of Herbert Macaulay and Murtala Muhammed Way with the pillars supporting a network of highways on the top like the ones I saw in Tokyo, Japan. I believed we could achieve the same in Lagos. The Julius Berger team looked into my concept and came up with a blueprint ready for my submission to the Federal Government. That was how Julius Berger and an army of officials came all the way to Lagos. Work began in earnest with the engineers in boats and canoes crisscrossing the body of water over which the 3rd Mainland Bridge and its ring roads would be built. At Marina, they proposed sand filling as the best option so as to be able to gain more useful land, in addition to solving the traffic problem on that axis. I was thinking we could use the idea of the 3rd Mainland Bridge to sand fill a sizeable portion of the waterfront of the University of Lagos and adjoining areas and create a big motor park where a park-and-ride system of transportation would be available to take passengers from the Oworonshoki area into Lagos, where you will equally take a taxi or a bus to wherever you are going on the Lagos Island and when you are through with what you came to do on the Island, you will be taken back by boats across the water to where your car is parked at O
woronshoki. That was one major project I would have loved to accomplish but couldn’t. To date, our waterways, I must say, are still largely under utilized

darkhorizon:


You can still serve if you're above 30. There are a lot of people who are way older and currently serving.

But the question is, "Is it worth it?". In my opinion, I don't think so.

People older than 30 that you see in NYSC camp are those that graduated under 30 but did not serve then, and NYSC laws state that at time of your graduation if you are under 30 you will be mobilized.

2cato:
Lagos belong to edo people and any other people laying claim to it is a land grabber so yoruba and ibo people beware

You yourself know it is not the truth

The US Navel Forces.. Jamming "water" one of Fela Kuti's Songs.... An Awesome surprise guest band night at the Freedom park in Lagos

Born2Breed:


“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger” (Ephesians 6:4)

An elder that respects himself,will never break rules.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, PROUD, blasphemers, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, HEADY, HIGHMINDED, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

2 Timothy 3:1-4.

Those who have ears let them hear.
Shalom.

Born2Breed:
Silly hypocrites everywhere.

Forget age, Soyinka erred.

Is that your seat?

"Show respect to the aged; honor the presence of an elder; fear your God. I am God. (Leviticus 19:32 MSG)

A young man that fears God will never do that.

Jayslicky:
The man didn't disrespect Soyinka he was only fighting for his right, the seat was assigned to him and it's normal for soyinka to seat elsewhere, if it was me I would have let Soyinka have the seat but not everyone is the same, he had a choice and he chose what's best for himself.

I pity this generation that thinks they are wiser than God Almighty.

"Show respect to the aged; honor the presence of an elder; fear your God. I am God. (Leviticus 19:32 MSG)

A young man that fears God will never do that.

london2lasgidi:
I'm so happy about the present transformation (or re-transformation) of my beloved Lagos State (Las Gidi) - and I have decided to bring back memories (with pictures) - of what the great city of Lagos used to look like. Bear in mind that Lagos wasn't built by the colonial masters - the Lagos elites (mostly business men from the slave trade era), and slave returnees built Lagos. The British never developed Nigeria - they exploited the resources around Nigeria, and shipped it to Britain. The only thing Nigeria benefited from the colonialists was the rail network (and arguably Carter bridge) used in the transportation of the resources - from different of the country - to Lagos.

PS: I'm not trying to knock the colonial masters - I'm basically just trying to give credit to those who made Lagos what it was then. Old Lagos, the city my Dad will never stop talking about (Mum was raised in Ibadan).

Enjoy!

Fore more: http://lasgidiboy..co.uk/2012/05/old-lagos-before-1960.html

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

bogolobango:
To my flat head bro lagos is yoruba land as u can see no ibo name is mentioned in dis history so u guys should please nd please saying lagos is no mans land

Sunmi Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

osigiepurr:
Alhaji Femi Okunnu, 84 years, former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing and a true-blood Lagosian SPOKE at Lagos @50. HE SAID:

. . . . There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Aworis and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Aworis and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others. After them, waves of immigrants, from today’s Niger State, started trooping in. I’m talking of the Tapas, the Nupes. I have Nupe blood. My father’s mother was a daughter of a Nupe man, Umoru from Idunsagbe in Lagos Island. Mind you, I’m talking of my great, great, grand-father; so you can imagine how long we’re talking about and how far our history dates back in Lagos. The Oshodi family of Lagos were originally Tapa. My wife is an Oshodi; Oyekan Oshodi. The Chief Imam of Lagos and all his great grand fathers were Tapa, owing to their vast knowledge in the Quran. Now, you would not say they are not original Lagosians because we’re talking of a history that dates back well over three hundred years.

Later we had another batch of immi grants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area.


Then we had the Binis from Benin (present Edo State). They invaded Lagos and settled in the best part of what we now call Isale-Eko. Oba Ado and all successive kings of Lagos are of Benin. You won’t say they are not Lagosians because we are talking of hundreds of years ago.

Yes, I was coming there. The Brazilian Quarters were made up of another set of returnees: the Agustos, the Dasilva, Marinho, Pereira and their descendants, who returned from Brazil and other parts of South America. So when you talk of indigenes of Lagos. These are the people who arrived Lagos Island and environment over two hundred years ago. So there is no controversy over the indigenes of Lagos. It is complete ignorance.

The Binis took over the reign of Lagos by conquest. The Aworis were there before them. They were the original settlers. Iga Idunganran itself was a gift to Oba Ado by Oloye Aromire, a white cap chief. He owned the land that the palace occupies till today. That is why till today, we have sections of Isale-Eko with Bini connections. When you hear of Idumota, Idunsagbe, Idunmaigbo, Idun-tafa; the word idun had bini origin. And then we had some chiefs who came with King Ado. That is another wide area. But suffice to say that Obanikoro, was a medicine chief who came with King Ado; so is Ashogbon. In Bini, it is Asogbon. There is also Bajulaye, who originally was Bazuaye. So the Bini connection is very deep. As a matter of fact, the corpses of all the obas, from King Ado through to Oba Adele I, who died at about 1834, were all taken to Benin for burial. . . . .

THE NATION 14 05 2017

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

babatee126:
Nice research!

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

Sunmi Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no man's land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no man's land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the landowning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of the slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in the Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When the Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okol, , and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighborhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

yommyuk:
Some say the Aworis , Edos, Saros, Ijebus, Eguns or Igbos are the first settlers of Lagos.

What do you know? Views pleas

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

sarrki:
eez Hanafi




http://punchng.com/lagos-part-of-yorubaland-says-okunnu/

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

tishbite41:
mumu, he's talking to the Oba of Lagos

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

bakynes:

How many times do you want me to explain to you, Isale Eko is the Original Lagos the Portuguese named "Lagos". After Amalgamation, other parts of the Western region(Ikorodu,Epe,Ipaja,etc) was included to Lagos(eko) to form Lagos State. The other parts they included have their own Obas. But because that Area Akiolu controls is the Original place called Lagos that is why the name is still retained as Oba of Lagos. If you are familiar with Lagos, if someone from Ikeja is going to Idumota,Marina,Isale eko area he/she will tell you I am going to Lagos, is Ikeja not Lagos state? But that Area is the Original Lagos.

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

chriskosherbal:
guy your write up just make me laugh

Tout- Oyo, Tinubu- Osun, Sanwoolu- Ogun, Ambode- Ondo..

Badt guy

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.

Odingo1:
Lagos has no indigenous owners, all the settlers migrated there with time, Egun migrated from Benin republic, Aworis from Ogun,Yorubas from hinterland,Slaves returnees, other tribes,The Bini empire capture it and rule over it until the colonial masters snatch it away from them.
Lagos is no mans land.

Smart-Cole, who was born of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parentage is so grounded on most historical accounts of Nigeria’s evolution. This, the septuagenarian, whose boyish looks can easily get anyone jealous, displayed at an encounter in his Lagos residence.
The meeting revealed
Smart-Cole the historian, which perhaps may only be known to a few. With the crux of the interview being the roles of Sierra Leonean returnees in the development of Nigeria, precisely Lagos, Sunmi as his friends call him, discussed his life and many subjects about Nigeria’s historical development.
Commencing with a story told by Chief Femi Okunu, which he wanted to expatiate, Smart-Cole said: “Femi Okunnu said so many things about Lagos that nobody is disputing. He said there was an influx of Tappa people from today’s Niger State. And he said that his great grandfather was an Oshodi on his mother’s side. He said they were great Islamic scholars but he did not mention that the Tappa people were sanitation workers. On TV Continental, I called them sanitary workers. He also said the descendants of freed slaves came from Cuba and Brazil. And he said Sierra Leonean returnees came to Nigeria. A lot of Saro people (the name Sierra Leonean returnees are called in Nigeria) lived in Olowogbowo in Lagos.
“The Tappa had their own quarters, the Brazilians had their own quarters. The man told us that people from Tappa were great Islamic workers but he did not tell us the real work they did. He said Brazilian returnees were good artisans, which is true. They built the Catholic Church on Catholic Mission Street. But he did not mention any line of work done by the Christians, who were mainly Anglicans and Methodists. For instance, a certain Dr. Adeniyi Jones returned to Nigeria as Curtis Crispin Jones.
Chief Okunu mentioned the Tappa but didn’t say much about the Creole and Brazilian returnees. He said Brazilians were artisans but one of them was the first millionaire in Lagos. These people were listed in the Red Book of Africa, a book written in the 20s. And most of them, who were listed, were of Seira Leonean returnee stock. I am not saying that he lied. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions to the development of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. A Saro man called John Theodore Colcrick was the man, who designed Yaba and Ebute Metta. These were the first parts of Lagos that were designed. He was a Civil Engineer and Town Planner. He had a team of engineers and town planners. One man called Mr. Little was given the job of designing Sabo Market. Money ran out and the man was so annoyed, he said the project must go on and subsequently used his own money to complete the project. It was the cleanest and the most planned market in Lagos.
“The first Director of Education in Nigeria, Dr. Henry Carr was a Creole man. The first Nigerian to build a hospital, Dr. C.C Adeniyi Jones was a Creole man. He came to Nigeria and decided to do something about his Africaness. He picked up an African name because of the way he was treated in England. He could not even properly spell the African name he picked up. He had two daughters. One married Dr. Henry Doherty another one married Engineer Williams. There are more people of Seira Leonian descent in Abeokuta. Okunu is a brilliant SAN but I am not happy when people don’t tell the whole story about issues. It is as if he decided to belittle the Creole and their contributions.
On Sierra Leonean returnees
“He left a village in Freetown called Hastings to study in England. He was an apprentice to a Professor of Medicine and Surgery. One day he went to look for his result on a Saturday morning, he was stopped by a gateman, who refused him entry on the assumption that a black man can not study medicine. The white man thought he was from the West Indies but the white man said he would accompany him to check his result because he does not want him to steal anything. When they got there they found out that he came top of his class. With that type of racism, he decided to return to Africa, precisely Freetown. Some of the Sierra Leonian returnees then did not even stay in Lagos, they went to Abeokuta. So if you hear about the Cokers, Smiths, Fowlers, and others, they are of Seira Leonian stock. I have an aunt, who was Miss Robin. She is still alive at 95. Adeniyi Jones’ first job was to work as a doctor for the government.
First mental hospital in Nigeria
“They got him to set up the first mental hospital in Nigeria which is the one opposite Yaba Bus Stop. After working for a while he decided to begin private practice by setting up the first private hospital in Nigeria. He owned the land behind City Mall at Igbosere. When Lagos State was created, he had died because the hospital was operating before 1920. He had a home there where he lived which he called Priscilla Hall in honour of his wife. He saw how Africans were being treated by the whites in Lagos and was uncomfortable with it. Blacks could not live in Ikoyi because the British practiced what whites practiced in South Africa.
Segregation in Lagos: “The church of the whites was at TBS which was called Race Course and that was where yhe Governor General worshiped then. Apartheid was practiced here but one Sunday morning, the son of Herbert Macuualy, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, TOS Benson, Adeniran Ogunsany and others went to where the Governor General used to and sat there. When the white Vicar came he asked what they were doing. Azikiwe asked if he wanted to send them out of the House of God. When the Vicar reported to the Governor-General, he said they should be left alone. It was from that moment that segregation stopped at the church. That used to be Gen T.Y Danjuma’s church until they decided to change the name from our Saviours to Saint Saviour.
The segregation was so obvious that at that time Ikoyi Club was only for whites. Island Club was for blacks. The first black man that lived in Ikoyi was Dr. Ajose and he was given honorary white status because he married a white woman. That was why they allowed him to live there. The second person was Dr. Samuel Marua. He was the chief medical officer of Nigeria before Murtala/Obasanjo took over. Immediately they took over, they asked the man to leave Ikoyi within seven days, he didn’t stay long before he died of heart attack. Though people think he poisoned himself.
Honorary white status
Dr. Azikiwe and his friend, Adeniran Ogunsanya applied to join Yoruba Tenis Club which was for mainly Yoruba people, they accepted Ogunsanya but did not accept Azikiwe because of his tribe. But three days after Zik was sworn in as Governor-General, they offered him free membership which he declined. At a time, the whites invited Ajose, Dr. Samuel Marua, and Dr. Tunji Adeniyi -Jones to join Ikoyi Club. Adeniyi Jones rejected it and called it tokenism.
First millionaire in Lagos: The first millionaire in Lagos was called Candido da Rocha. He owned 12 Kakawa Street where he sold water because he had a borehole then. The second millionaire was Ojukwu’s father. The brother of a man they called Rotimi Williams is a Saro man. The Daniyis, Williamses and Eric Moores are the same family.
On journalism, growing up: “I started journalism by following journalists to the football field in 1964. I grew up in Yaba where we had the Abebes, Murray-Bruces, the Soyedes, Ojoras and the Ibrus, who relocated from Somolu. The Ibrus relocated to Yaba. I am a founding member of Lagos State Horticultural Society.
I planted all the plants on this street even at the places that are not close to my house. I did that because I like nature. I don’t take alcohol. I had my only alcoholic drink at the age of 12. I don’t drink soft drinks. I don’t eat red meat. I eat white meat and fish. I try to eat right. I had a barber’s shop. In the old days the late Justice Aka Basorun, Ishola Osobu would come for come to my shop for a 30-minute haircut but would spend two hours trying to convince me to become a socialist. Both were lawyers. My first name is Percy Sunmisola Smart-Cole. Many people don’t know that my mother was half Igbo, half Rivers. But I can’t speak the language. In Port Harcourt where I was born the lingua franca is Pidgin English.
It is the same English that is spoken in Sapele where a lot of Serra Leoneans settled. They taught the Warri people pidgin English. It is derived from Creole. A lot of them, who were mining engineers, went to Jos. Some went to Calabar. There are more people of Saro descent in Abeokuta. My grandfather went to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. My grandmother was Miss Smart. In this Lagos, there are many Coles. There are Aboyode Cole, Gorgeous Cole, Adeyemi Cole and Cameron Cole. All settled in one area, Ologbowo. Most of them are Anglicans while others are Methodists. Fuorah Bay was much older than University College Ibadan. At that time the degree from the school was regarded as that of the University of London.
On Lagos: Today political office holders have houses everywhere. It pains me to know that things have become so bad in Nigeria that someone would go to a Polytechnic where degrees are not awarded and the person will be awarded a Ph.D on a Saturday afternoon. These are politicians, who have houses everywhere. But it was not like that in the past when only rich politicians, who were traders like Okotie-Eboh had a house on Moloney Street.
Renowned photographer and former Managing Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Sunmi Smart-Cole, has described Alhaji Femi Okunnu’s recent interview on the origin and people of Lagos as an incomplete narrative.
He also described as inadequate, representation of individuals that shaped Lagos as captured in My Lagos Success Story billboards during the Lagos @50 celebration.
He spoke yesterday in Lagos while putting the records straight on the contributions of the Saro people (Sierra Leone descendants) that retuned to Lagos after the end of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Last month, Alhaji Okunnu, 84, a former federal commissioner for Works and Housing, said in an interview, It’s rubbish to say Lagos is no-man’s land, with The Nation on Sunday that it is complete ignorance to describe Lagos as no no-man’s land because some people are original settlers. Lagos, he said, was peopled by the Awori that spread from Badagry to Ota.
“There is no no-man’s land. There are always some people who are original settlers. In the case of Lagos, it’s a misnomer to say Lagos is a no-man’s land. It’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish! Lagos was peopled by the Awori and Awori land spread from Badagry through to Ota. They settled mostly in Ikeja, a division of Lagos. The Idejo chiefs, the white cap chiefs, who are the land owning chiefs, are basically Awori and some of them are now Obas. I’m talking about the Oniru, The Olumegbon, Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Oloto and a couple others,” Chief Okunnu said in the interview.
“Later we had another batch of immigrants over a period of time – those who had been taken into slavery in the North and South America and the West Indies but who had been freed following the abolition of slave trade about 170 years ago. Some of them also came in from Freetown, Sierra Leone. That’s where we have the Saro, Eko connection. They settled in the Olowogbowo area,” he continued.
Reacting to Chief Okunnu’s views, Smart-Cole said Chief Okunnu failed to tell Nigerians the roles of the different migrants to the development of Lagos, especially the Saro people, adding that instead Chief Okunnu merely mentioned the migration of the Saro people in passing. He said most of the migrants from Sierra Leone after the end of slave trade were mainly missionaries and teachers.
Smart-Cole, who admitted the fact that the Bini conquered the Awori in Lagos during the Benin Empire hegemony that spread from Benin City to Dahomey in Benin Republic, said unlike the Sierra Leone returnees, the Brazilian and Cuban returnees were mainly artisans who settled in some quarters on Lagos Island. Also, he noted that Chief Okunnu in his interview did not get the dates the Brazilian, Cuban and Sierra Leone returnees got to Lagos correct. “Who came first he did not know,” he said.
“One of the Saro returnees Ajayi Crowder became the first black Bishop and Bishop of the Niger. His son also became Arc Deacon Crowder. At the Cathedral in Marina, Lagos, it has been a long battle between the Saro people and the Ijebu people. The Saro people were living on Broad Street in Lagos.
“Dr. Chester C. Adeniyi-Jones who graduated with a first class degree in UK started Yaba Mental Hospital, and the first medical doctor in Nigeria to build a hospital in Lagos. The piece of land housing the Lagos City Hall was owned by him. When Lagos government acquired the land, his family was compensated with five plots on Victoria Island. By 1920, he had a hospital there. Again, he formed the first Nigerian political party, and the likes of Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Okoli and Nnamdi Azikwe were his followers then. He was the first spokesperson for Nigeria in the first legislative assembly. Two brothers, Dr Maja Pearce and Dr. Akinola Maja were surgeons and were also great contributors to Lagos development.
“The Tapa people are from Niger State of today and they were engaged as night soil men who worked at night in the neighbourhood. At that time we had night soil men. Nobody dared abuse them. Even calling them ‘Agbepo’, they could come and spread excreta on you. And if you really get them annoyed, they will pour it in front of your door.”
He cited books such as Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos by Dr. Dele Cole, Victorian Lagos by Michael J C Echeruo, and The Red Book of West Africa as some of the relevant historical documentaries on Lagos.
“But the British colonial administration wanted Lagos badly. And they invaded the colony and made Oba Akitoye to sign the treaty ceding Lagos to the British as a protectorate. There was nobody to translate the agreement to Oba Akitoye who thumb print the agreement,” he recalled.