The events in the first quote happened many many many decades ago, while the events in the last post occurred after the funeral of the Onipopo (I was only able to attend the funeral mass and internment).
naptu2: I can feel it in the air, the season is here.
It was the tradition, back in the day, that various groups of masquerades would come to pay homage to Old Man at Christmas, New Year, Easter and Eyo and Egungun festivals. They were usually single masquerades, but on the last day of of Egungun Festival, a large group of about 50 to 100 cane wielding youths, a couple of men on horses (Captains) and one or two very fierce looking masquerades would show up at our house. Old Man would usually give them money and a bottle or two of some kind of alcoholic beverage. I was terrified of these masquerades.
So, I heard the drums on this particular day and I knew that the large group of masquerades and cane wielding youths had arrived. Sis and I were thinking of going to hide, when I remembered that the front door was unlocked. I raced to go and lock it, but curiosity got the better of me when I got there, so I looked through the windowpane to see if I could catch a glimpse of any masquerade. Strangely, I couldn't see anyone in the garden, so I opened the door to get a better look. Then I heard a very deep voice from way up above me. "Where is your father", it said. I slowly looked up and saw a shirtless man on a horse near the hedge. He had what looked like amulets tied to his arms. I turned round, slammed the door and took off. Ben Johnson on steroids would not have caught me.
The man must have had a good laugh after I was gone.
In the Americas, carnival (and its derivatives like Mardi Gras) is usually held just before Ash Wednesday. It is basically the last celebration before Lent (when everybody is meant to be sober).
However, on Lagos Island, carnival is usually celebrated at Christmastide (quite often on Boxing Day) or at Easter (usually on Easter Monday). The Christmas period is the preferred time for celebrating carnival.
Egungun Festival is usually celebrated 3 times on Lagos Island, Christmastide, Easter and the main festival in September.
In some places, such as the Red and White People (you'll know what I mean if you know the colour codes for the different parts of Lagos), Egungun Festival and Carnival are celebrated together.
The various Fanti Carnival associations usually elect a captain to lead them for a year. The man on the horse was the captain of the Red and White People. Basically, the Red and White People had elected a new captain and they came to present their new captain to my dad on the last day of the Egungun Festival. That's the man that I saw.
Many years later, sometime around 1986 or '87, a friend of mine became the captain and he also rode on the horse.
naptu2: Aha! Ladies and gentlemen, these are the Red and White that I have always told you about. (Let's see if I can find the gold and green).
Felt lucky today to have stumbled on these young people on Lagos Island from Lafiaji Fanty in procession - you can tell they are from Lafiaji as they are in red and white. An annual Christmas Day tradition from the Afro-Brazilian Heritage. Train them up! pic.twitter.com/FclpVKH07a
naptu2: I only know the colours of Campos (green and gold) and Lafiaji (red and white) off the top of my head (I have to consult my book for the other colours), but all the ancient districts of Lagos Island were present (I think the green and white is Olowogbowo, but I'm not sure).
Carnival has been held on Lagos Island for almost 150 years. Unfortunately the tradition was waning in the 1970s, so Dr revived it in the 1980s.
The administration of Babatunde Fashola decided to modernise the great old Lagos festivals of Carnival, Eyo Festival and Water Regatta in the mid-2000s. Some people (e.g. me) liked that carnival, but some other people believed that it was too commercial and that it lacked the spirit of the original fanti carnival/meboi/carreta that was introduced to Lagos in the 1800s.
naptu2: I've been getting pictures and videos of what I missed yesterday night. One guy got home at 6am this morning and still came to play football at 10am!
The official reception after Dr's funeral was at Victoria Island, but, if you know Lagos Island, you'll know that VI was not where the main party was.
There were street bands on Lagos Island all night. There were carnival floats, people on horseback, food, drink and merriment all night. There was the green and gold of Campos and the red and white of Lafiaji. In fact, Lagos Island was on lockdown last night.
Locomotion is still my favourite ever group at the Lagos Carnival.
First they have lots of people with large drums. I call this the Thunder. You can hear them from far and this is how you know that Locomotion is coming.
Then they have a regular band with a horn section.
Then they have dancing girls. These girls usually make the crowd go wild and they have to have security around the girls.
Then they have talking drummers. Lots of girls with talking drums.
During the 1850s there was a large influx into Lagos of educated Africans, who had earlier been sold as slaves, from Sierra Leone, Brazil and Cuba. Their return profoundly affected the history of Lagos. The Sierra Leonians were known as Akus or Saros, the Brazilians and Cubans as Agudas. The Agudas were mainly Catholics, skilled artisans and craftmen who had purchased their freedom and returned home to their “country” of origin. The Akus or Saros were slaves (or descendants of slaves) rescued by the British naval squadron that patrolled the high seas on the look-out for slavers. The Saro émigrés were mainly missionaries (Protestants), teachers, clerks, or traders. All of the returned émigrés had their homes in one of the hinterland kingdoms – Ijebu, Egba, Ekiti, Oyo-Ibadan, Nupe. Most were probably shipped from Lagos, but none seemed to have been Lagosians.
The composition of populations in Lagos in the 1880s was as follows: Brazilians 3,220, Sierra Leonians 1,533 and Europeans 111, out of a population of 37,458. of all the population 30 ½ per cent (11,049) were engaged in commerce as merchants, traders, agents, clerks and shopmen, 5,173 were tradesmen, mechanics, manufacturers and artisans; 1,414 were farmers and agricultural labourers. In 1871 only 9 2/3 per cent of the population were in commerce, 5 per cent in agriculture. In 1881 the percentage of agricultural workers dropped to 3 ¾ while that of commercial workers jumped to 30 ½. Lagos was therefore predominantly a commercial city. Most of the population was animist in 1868, 14,797 as opposed to 8,422 Muslims and 3,970 Christians.
In the 1880s there were four distinct groups in Lagos – the Europeans, the educated Africans (Saros), the Brazilians and the indigenes. The town was physically divided into four quarters corresponding to these groups. The Europeans lived on the Marina, the Saros mainly west of the Europeans in an area called Olowogbowo, the Brazilians behind the Europeans – their quarter was known as Portuguese Town or Popo Aguda or Popo Maro – and the indigenes on the rest of the island – behind all three.
The Saros were culturally closer to the Europeans than to either of the other two groups. The top social class of Lagos of the 1880s was dominated by the Europeans – merchants, missionaries, civil servants. The Saros tried to gain admission into this class. The criteria for membership were education and wealth. In this sense, the educated elite, both black and white, could be considered as members of the same social group. They lived like Victorian gentlemen, entertainment consisting of numerous ‘conversaziones’, ‘soirees’, ‘levees’, ‘at homes’, ‘tea fights’ and concerts of the works of Bach, Beethoven, Handel and so on. The press had music critics; one irate critic lamented that concerts had fallen to the level of music-hall entertainment. Christmas was a season of Victorian festivities. As one newspaper editor enthused “Balls are announced and concerts and athletic sports, dinners, with the accessories of plump turkeys, minced pies, plum puddings and Christmas trees. Fineries of all sorts and conditions. All the elite seemed to lack was snow. Their dressing and eating habits were predictably Victorian. Most of them were profuse in their loyalty to the queen. In 1881 the Lagos Times prayed for the success of British arms in Ashanti. It declared: “we are so jealous of the Power of British arms that we would not have it suffer the slightest reverse.” The Imperial Federation League found enthusiastic support in Lagos. Several prominent Saros, J.A.O Payne, J.J Thomas and S.J. George came to Britain for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1887 at their own expense.
Life styles among the indigenes continued as before. They ate the normal Yoruba dishes of maize, cassava, yams and Yoruba sauces. They dressed in the same large flowing cloak, called Agbada, and baggy trousers. The Saro educated elite wore the lates London fashions – stiff collars and heavy woolen suits. The traditional elite continued to dress as they had always done but had developed new drinking habits. An observer described Dosunmu as “a good tempered, easy going man, much given to pomp …(he) possessed a hundred wives and innumerable suits of apparel. Visitors are always regaled with Champagne whenever they go to see him and I have heard he kept a most luxurious table.” Whitford wrote that when he met Dosunmu, the Oba was “attired in a clean loose white rob; red silk velvet slippers encase his large feet and gold, silver and brass rings profusely adorn his thumbs, fingers and wrists.”
The press exhibited a deep preoccupation with what it regarded as the essentials of society. The editor of the Eagle and Lagos Critic, Mr E.O Macaulay, writing in 1883, described the society of a place as that class of its community which comprised its ruling body, which absorbed by its influence all other ‘societies’ (he found four in Lagos – the Muslims, the Brazilians, the indigenous and the English, which of course, included the Saros) into its unit and imposed its rules of conduct on the other ‘societies’. To despise the society of the ruling class, Macaulay said, was to commit social suicide. He held that Sir John Glover, governor of the colony, 1866 – 72, understood this and therefore had given Lagos ‘society’ some directions. Glover collected at Government House the most prominent, intelligent and promising of the inhabitants of Lagos whom he created into a society, i.e. “a union in one general interest, social sympathy, companionship”. This society had “name and influence above any other, men and women aspired to become members of it and its doors were open to all who proved themselves (worthy)”. After Glover’s departure, this society was left by successive governors to go ‘moribund’. In 1883, Macaulay continued, it “was almost at death’s doors. With the cord of society thus broken, the various groups considered themselves to be of common social level; a new social egalitarianism developed, each group evolving its own code of rules. The divisions increased fear and suspicion and forced each group to seek strength in unity: it was this that brought tribal sentiments and the formation of tribal associations. Suspicions increased; jealousy, ill-will and rancour followed, judgment perverted and man ceased to be estimated by his intrinsic worth”. Every entertainment that was directed from Government House was seen as “an amelioration of the sad condition of society” in the 1880s. in 1884 the press called for the governor to resume his position as “Social Head” of Lagos.
The governors themselves testified to the high level of civilised society in Lagos. Governor Young in 1885 said Lagos was his first contact with civilisation since he left England. The administrators of Lagos found it impossible to keep up the high level of social entertainment Lagos demanded. And requests for increase in table allowances and salaries were frequent. Griffith described Lagos as “the Queen of West African settlements”. He went on: “ no single settlement on the West coast can compare with Lagos in public expenditure, in imports, and exports, in population or in activity, enterprise, and wealth of her mercantile community…Her merchants are unbounded in their hospitality. They entertain liberally and place the choicest and most expensive services on their tables. Even the natives will offer champagne to visitors…they keep open house and everywhere a cordial welcome awaits a stranger.” Griffith asked for horses and a carriage because both the white and black merchants had them. The Colonial Office, in one of those priceless minutes, thought mules and a carriage would suit the deputy governor best.
"Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos" by Patrick Dele Cole, King's College Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975 at p 45 - 47.
The Ambode Administration tried to ban carnival, but the ban did not succeed because the event is deeply ingrained in the culture of Lagos.
Every year (from December 2015 till 2019) the government would announce a ban on carnival and street processions on Easter Monday and Boxing Day, but every year the carnival would still hold on Lagos Island.
The carnival was a time of fun, laughter and merriment. However, from the 1970s to the early 2000s, the great Lagos festivals of Carnival, Eyo and Egungun were marred by violence between youths from different sections of Lagos or groups of masquerades. These festivals became synonymous with injury, destruction and death.
Fashola Era
The Lagos State Government, headed by Babatunde Fashola, decided to get involved in organising the Carnival and Eyo Festival in order to ensure that activities are conducted in a safe and secure environment and that it serves as a means to attract tourists to the state. Government involvement has returned the carnival and Eyo Festival to what they were known for; laughter, music, dancing and merriment.
Government agencies such as LASTMA, LASAMBUS, RRS, Operation Mesa, Neighbourhood Watch, etc are fully mobilised to ensure that the event is hitch free. Corporate bodies are involved in sponsoring segments of the carnival, with some providing free food, drinks and souvenirs for celebrants. BRT buses convey members of the public to the Tafawa Balewa Square free of charge. There are also open top double-decker buses that give tourists a great view of the festivities. Famous musicians such as 9ice also perform at the carnival.
A new innovation was added to the celebration of carnival with the introduction of the junior carnival. Primary and secondary schools on Lagos Island are invited to send students to represent their schools at the junior carnival. The junior carnival did not hold this year because the carnival was moved to a new date due to the 2015 elections.
The costumes are made by students/residents of the Lagos State skills acquisition centres and the cost is borne by sponsors.
naptu2: In the past, the groups that attracted the most attention at the carnival were the Campos Square, Lafiaji and Gelede (traditional masquerade) groups, but in recent years, in my opinion, they've been overshadowed by LOCOMOTION, which came second in 2013 and first in 2014.
Locomotion is usually made up of four sections - the main drum section, the horn section, talking drummers, crazy dancers and regular dancers.
naptu2: Carnival is usually held in Lagos three times in a year - Boxing Day, Easter Monday and New Years Day. However, in 1991, the carnival was staged in November to mark the movement of the Federal Government from Lagos to Abuja (President Babangida, Mrs Babangida and Governor Rasaki were on the main float and there were street bands, dancers, gelede masquerades and dignitaries like the Oba of Lagos, Commodore Akhigbe, etc around them).
Video: Different parts of Lagos have their traditional colours, but my favourites are the green and gold of Campos Square (the Brazilians) and the red and white of Lafiaji. This is Campos Square.
Carnival has been held on the streets of Lagos for over a hundred years. It was brought to Lagos by returnees (mostly former slaves or decendants of slaves) from Brazil and Cuba who returned to Lagos in the 1850s. These returnees are known as Popo Aguda.
Prominent members of the Cuban and Brazilian (Popo Aguda) group include G. Hilario Campos (Campos Square is named after him) and Placido Adeyemo Assumpçao who later changed his name to Adeyemo Alakija.
Other prominent members of the Popo Aguda group include Chief Antonio Oladeinde Fernandez, Mr Francisco Abosede, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, Sir Festus Marinho, Mr Toyin Pinheiro, Justice Bolaji Candido Johnson, Professor da Rocha-Afodu and Major Francisco Olumide Pereira.
Fanti Carnival (also known as Caretta) was brought to Lagos Island by these Brazilians who settled around Campos area in Lagos State and on Lagos Island to be specific. It was introduced by the Da Souza and Kanaku families. The masked rider and the horse are aspects of Brazillian ranch life. Some of the men dress like cowboys and they are known as FASUTINI and they ride bicycles while their leader rides a horse.
It is important to stress that, in the early days women did not partake in the dressing up in masks and different clothing, but they were allowed to go around with the different actors.
As time went on, the people living in Lafiaji area, also on Lagos Island, started participating in the carnival. Later still, other areas of Lagos, like Obalende, Surulere, Yaba, etc caught the carnival bug. Until recently, Lagos was the only part of Nigeria that hosted the carnival.
Today, we were part of something truly special, the return of the Lagos Fanti Carnival. It wasn’t just a celebration; it was a powerful reconnection to our roots, a revival of a cultural legacy that has shaped who we are.
Today, the streets of Lagos Island transformed into a vibrant tapestry of colour, rhythm, and expressions of community.
The Fanti Carnival, with roots dating back to the 1800s, was enriched by Afro-Brazilian returnees who brought not only samba beats and intricate costumes but also architectural artistry.
Today, we experienced the return of this historic event and the unique cultural identity of Lagos Island.
This year’s carnival was exceptional, featuring three main attractions, an Afro-Brazilian Food Showcase, a Heritage Art Exhibition, and the grand parade. We enjoyed performances by local musicians and dancers, as well as cultural groups showcasing traditional masquerades and samba-inspired drum ensembles.
It was an absolute pleasure to see so many people come together to embrace the spirit of unity, resilience, and joy that the Fanti Carnival embodies.
Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024 — Obono-Obla
By Bayo Wahab
April 20, 2025
Okoi Obono-Obla, former special adviser on public prosecution to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, says members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc led by Abubakar Malami have been plotting against President Bola Tinubu since April 2024.
He said some members of the bloc recently criticized the president and their purported plan to dump the ruling All Progressives Congress started less than a year into Tinubu’s administration.
Obono-Obla accused Malami of initiating the plan, adding that the former Attorney-General of the Federation should not be speaking for the CPC because he is not a founding member of the bloc.
“He has no right. Malami cannot speak for CPC. He came from PDP. He had even ran for election in 2007 under the platform of PDP,” Obono-Obla.
Recounting the early days of the CPC, he said, “I was among the people who put the political association known as CPC together.
“When we went to register that association as a political party, I was among the national officers who went to INEC to register that political association as a political party. That was in 2008. He was not there.
“I became the national interim adviser from 2008 to 30th December 2010. And then the party was already registered by INEC in 2010. We were going to have our first national convention.
“So they asked those of us who were interim officers and interested in contesting in the national convention to resign, and I resigned.”
After the party was registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2010, Obono-Obla said he held the national deputy secretary in 2011, while Malami served as the party’s national legal adviser until the CPC was dissolved.
How Malami’s plot against Tinubu started
Obono-Obla revealed that some members of the CPC bloc started a move to undermine Tinubu’s government at a dinner in a hotel in Abuja.
“This thing did not start because President Bola Tinubu is not doing well,” he said.
“Last year, 28th of April, Emeka Nwajiuba, who was minister of state for education, he was also a member of the CPC merger committee.
“He’s from Imo state. He invited me for a meeting. He said, ‘Obla, come, we want to have dinner in a hotel in Maitama, Abuja, to celebrate Sallah.
“So I went, innocently. I didn’t know what they were going to do. I just went to have dinner.”
He said Malami, former CPC state chairmen, and individuals previously expelled attended the dinner.
“All those people were there, and something told me that this thing is political.”
According to him, the dinner quickly turned political as Nwajiuba and Malami criticised the Tinubu administration.
“That government was not yet up to one year in office. It was on the 28th of April, 2024. Then Malami spoke. Then the people they invited, some of them were very unhappy, they were angry.
“They said, ‘Look, we put you in government, ministers for eight years; you were very powerful.
“Somebody like Abubakar Malami, he was very powerful. ‘What did you do to help CPC as a party? What did you do to ensure that CPC is not marginalised? Why are you now coming to us?”
He said it became clear to him that the grievance was longstanding and politically motivated.
“They couldn’t say anything, and so they started planning this thing since last year. It’s not today,” he added.
Obono-Obla maintained that the recent move by some CPC bloc members against the President was planned.
“It’s planned, it’s not because the current president is not doing well. They have something that is disturbing them, and we don’t like it.”
Meanwhile, founding members of the CPCP, Farouk Aliyu, former minority leader of the House of Representatives and Osita Okechukwu, former director-general of the Voice of Nigeria, have refuted the claim that the CPC bloc within the ruling party plans to defect ahead of the 2027 elections.
The ruling party chieftains said the CPC bloc remains committed to supporting Tinubu’s second-term bid.
Morocco 2025: Flamingos Get Cash Reward For Win Over Algeria
April 20, 2025
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, and billionaire businessman Kunle Soname have announced a cash gift of N6m for the Flamingos.
The Flamingos thrashed Algeria 4-0 in the first leg of their 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup final qualifying round tie at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday.
Queen Joseph (brace), Zainab Raji and Aishat Animashaun were on target for Nigeria in the game.
NFF president, Ibrahim Gusau announced the cash gift after the game.
Gusau explained that that the sum of N2m is from the NFF while the sum of N4m is a gift from Soname.
Bankole Olowookere’s side will face the Algerians in the reverse fixture at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida on Friday.
The overall winners will earn a berth at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
U-17 WWCQ: Flamingos Record Comfortable 4-0 First Leg Win Against Algeria
April 19, 2025
Nigeria’s Flamingos thrashed Algeria 4-0 in the first leg, final round of the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Ikenne, Ogun State, on Saturday.
Queen Joseph bagged a brace while Zainab Raji and Aishat Animashaun each scored a goal.
Joseph gave the Flamingos the perfect start when she scored just one minute into the encounter.
Raji then made it 2-0 in the 13th minute while Joseph got her second of the game to put the Flamingos 3-0 ahead.
Then in the 90th minute Animashaun completed the rout to make it 4-0.
The second leg will come up on Friday, 25 April in Blida, Algeria.
The winner over the two legs will qualify for this year’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
The World Cup is billed for 17 October to 8 November and will be competed by 24 teams.
Culture › Re: Photos And Videos Of The Lagos Fanti Carnival (2025) by naptu2(op): 11:26am On Apr 21, 2025
