Days earlier, on January 1st, the governor attended Christian and Islamic services at Lagos House.
Jubril A. Gawat @Mr_JAGs
Multi-Religious Prayers held earlier today for the New Year at the Lagos House, Marina Chapel 💒 and the Mosque 🕌 simultaneously, Mr Governor @jidesanwoolu witnessed both.
Governor of Lagos State, Mr @jidesanwoolu and his wife Dr @JokeSanwoolu welcome the Former Governor of Lagos State, Mr @AkinwunmiAmbode and his wife to the 2025 Lagos State Thanksgiving Service at the Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos.
THEME: ‘Harvest of Thanksgiving’ - Psalm 107, 136
Event organized by the First Family of Lagos State with the Ministry of Home Affairs
Today, we celebrated the 25th edition of the Lagos New Year Thanksgiving Service, at Tafewa Balewa Square, a yearly event that began with His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when he was governor of Lagos State.
We used the opportunity to reflect on the significant achievements in our state over the past year. Last year, we successfully launched the first phase of the Red Line, began the second phase of the Blue Line, and advanced major projects such as our food and logistics park and a new children’s hospital.
The recent influx of the diaspora to Lagos highlights our potential as a leading travel and tourism destination. We will continue to deliver on housing, infrastructure, healthcare, and security, making Lagos safer than ever.
This year, we will focus on securing financing for ambitious projects, including a new international airport and expanding our municipal rail system. We also aim to implement the new Electricity Law to ensure reliable power for all.
Fellow Lagosians, 2025 is here, and we’ll prosper both individually and as a collective. Let us embrace our resilience and hard work as we continue to build a vibrant, welcoming city where everyone can pursue their dreams
Governor of Lagos State, Mr @jidesanwoolu today at the 2025 Lagos State Thanksgiving Service at the Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Thanksgiving Service, A Legacy started by the then Governor of Lagos State in Year 2000, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT GCFR 🥇 🇳🇬 ♾️, now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
This event has continued to be a State Tradition to usher in blessings for the State in the New Year and also an opportunity for the Governor to roll out the Government’ plans for the New Year.
THEME: ‘Harvest of Thanksgiving’ - Psalm 107, 136
Event organized by the First Family of Lagos State with the Ministry of Home Affairs
Lomaji Ugorji became very famous for acting in a 1980s situation comedy called Icheoku.
It depicted a court in Igboland during the Colonial Era. The judge was British and Lomaji Ugorji was the court clerk and translator. His (mis)translations often produced funny results. Take the picture above.
In this episode the judge arrives late after the people had been waiting for him for hours. He told the court clerk to tell the people that he was late because he went to another village to hear a case and it was raining cats and dogs, so he had to stay in the village longer than expected.
The court clerk looked at the judge with an expression of shock and surprise on his face. The judge said, "go ahead, tell them what I said".
The clerk told the people (in Igbo), "He said dog and pussy cat were falling from the sky, that's why he didn't come on time". There was disquiet from the people. How can dog and pussy cat fall from the sky?
Ohi Alegbe is a veteran broadcaster and communications expert who has hosted many shows on radio and television over many decades and who has handled public relations for very many companies.
I think the voice over artiste at the end is Manny Onumonu, the legendary broadcaster with Radio Nigeria.
Ishilove: After reading through the very interesting history of the Randles x 3, I decided to read the comments on the thread and I now regret my decision. Instead of focusing on the history of Centre (the history is to put AJ 's visit to the centre into perspective), my fellow Nigerians are busy arguing about tribes and ethnicity like 19th century savages. I am so ashamed of today's Nigerian youths.
Pele. There are certain jobless trolls who have decided to try and derail my threads and turn them into war zones. They used to try and attack me once upon a time, but I always punished them, so now they restrict themselves to senseless and meaningless comments that actually make them look as if they are incapable of basic reasoning.
You'll see the same attempt on my other thread, but people over there just ignored the troll.
Esther Okoronkwo runs a talent competition on her social media accounts. People can join her live streams and exhibit their talent (sing, crack jokes, etc) and her followers will vote to determine whether she should give the contestant money.
Since she is now in Lagos on holiday, she has decided to take the entertainment to the streets.
She stuck one thousand naira notes to a board and the board has a sign that says, "Take one if you love Jesus. Take more if you love Satan". She took the board out on the streets.
The first guy took a thousand naira note, then he stared at the board for a long time, then he said, "Jesus will understand" and took more notes.
People took more notes every single time and she said that "All of you are children of Satan".
She went to the beach on another occasion and offered to give twenty thousand naira to anybody that could make her laugh. The only person that got the full amount was a crazy girl. She said that her own talent was to have sex and that she could have sex with many boys and girls. Esther told her that that was not what it was about. Esther asked the girl if she could make her laugh, the girl said yes, then she said that she couldn't think of anything because she hadn't had sex that day. That made Esther laugh and she got the whole 20k.
Michelle Alozie is a member of the Nigerian female national football team called the Super Falcons. She represented Nigeria at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games.
Alozie was born and raised in Apple Valley, California, to Nigerian parents from Imo State. She played for the Yale Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers at college level and for BIIK Kazygurt at professional level. She is currently playing for Houston Dash in the US National Women's Soccer League.
She obtained a Bachelors Degree in Molecular Biology from Yale University and she works part-time as a cancer research technician at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas.
Esther Ijeoma Okoronkwo was born in Abia State, Nigeria, but grew up in Richmond, Texas in the United States.
She played for secondary schools and universities in the United States and then, after graduation, she played for St Etienne in France and Tenerife in Spain. She currently plays for Changchun in China.
She has represented the Super Falcons of Nigeria since 2021.
naptu2: There was an uproar in 2016 when the Lagos State Government demolished the JK Randle Memorial Hall, the JK Randle Swimming Pool and the JK Randle Garden. Remember that this was around the same time that the famous Ilojo Bar was demolished. Lagosians complained that the government was erasing Lagos' history. Many people blamed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, while some said that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu wanted to steal the land. Many famous and older Lagosians condemned the government in the media. The demolished sites consisted of the Chief J.K. Randle Memorial Hall, Dr. J.K. Randle Swimming Pool and Dr J.K. Randle Love Garden.
However, it later emerged that the government wanted to rebuild the place. Governor Ambode wanted to turn Onikan into a tourist haven and so he planned to rebuild the Onikan Stadium, to take over State House Marina and turn it and Lagos House into museums, to assist the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club to rebuild their stadium, to work with the National Museum to revamp their place and to rebuild the JK Randle Centre.
The new JK Randle Centre will have a swimming pool, a museum, a youth centre, an exhibition hall, a multi-purpose hall, a library, orientation rooms and learning spaces, gift shops, and a lounge. I'm still not sure which of the JK Randles it will be named after.
These pictures of the project were posted by the Lagos State Government around 6 months ago.
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The new J. Randle Center was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023.
The Oba of Benin visited the center in November 2023 because he plans to build a new museum in Benin to house artefacts that were stolen from Benin in the 1800s and are now being returned by European countries.
Many famous people have visited the J Randle Center since it opened.
Bashorun JK Randle is the son of Chief JK Randle and the grandson of Dr JK Randle. He is married to Mrs Folashade Randle (nee Lawson), the daughter of Chief Adeyemi Lawson. She is the little girl that presented a bouquet of flowers to Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Nigeria in 1956.
Bashorun Randle said that his father told him, when he was 10 years old, that he should not expect any inheritance from him. His father said that all he owed him was a first class education, a first class reputation and a good family name. His father tried to clarify matters somewhat by explaining that those who would take over power in Lagos in particular (and Nigeria in general) are likely to emerge from an entirely different background. According to him, it is only through education that they too would be exposed to opportunities in order to enable them to excel. Anything short of that would be recipe for resentment, envy and vindictiveness. His father died 2 years later, just a few days before Bashorun JK Randle's 13th birthday.
Bashorun JK Randle attended Kings College Lagos before going to the United Kingdom to study accountancy. He said that he only fully understood his father's advice when he got to the UK. His grandfather was the only black person that lived on the Marina in Lagos and his father was very wealthy, so in Lagos he lived like a king, but in the UK he was a nobody and it was his education that saw him through.
Bashorun JK Randle worked at KPMG in Nigeria and he retired as the chairman and chief executive of the company. He also served as the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), chairman of the board of Eko Hotels Limited, pro-chancellor and chairman of the governing council of the Lagos State University (LASU), vice chairman of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) and he has also served on the boards of numerous other companies. He currently serves as the chairman/chief executive officer of J.K. Randle and Co. Chartered Accountants and Sloane Buford and Fulbright Management Consultants, Lagos.
Bashorun JK Randle, like his father and grandfather, has also dabbled into politics. He was the candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP) for the governorship of Lagos in the 2011 elections. He spent most of his time at the 2011 governorship debate condemning the ACN led government of the state for destroying Lagos. When the moderator finally got him to talk about the things that he would do if he was elected governor (rather than condemning the ACN), the then Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola replied that the problem with Bashorun Randle was not his age (JK Randle was the oldest of the contestants), but the age of his ideas. This reply angered JK Randle very much.
He is a prolific writer and is well known for his famous toasts and speeches. He was awarded the national honour of Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) by President Goodluck Jonathan. Two of his children are also named JK Randle.
naptu2: Chief Joseph Kosoniola "JK" Randle (MVO MBE)
Chief J.K. Randle was the son of Dr J.K.Randle. He was born in 1909 and he attended CMS Grammar School and King's College Lagos. He was a keen sportsman in school and loved playing cricket and football. He was also the first captain of the Zik Athletic Club.
His father died while he was in his final year at King's College and although he was the son of a wealthy man, most of his father's wealth was willed to charity. Therefore his dream of attending a university became financially infeasible. He worked as a clerk in Lagos before moving to Ilesha to try his luck at gold mining. He was unsuccessful. He returned to Lagos and got involved in the business world, where he finally found success.
Chief J.K. Randle donated huge sums of money to schools in Lagos. He donated millions of naira (in today's money) each to colleges and organisations. Though he was a Christian, two Muslim schools – Ahmadiyya College, Agege and Ansarudeen College, Isolo as well as a Catholic school – Holy Cross Primary School, Lagos all benefited from his philanthropist gesture. Chief Randle founded the Nigerian arm of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society and he was also involved in politics as a member of the Lagos Town Council.
He held the chieftaincy title of the Lisa of Lagos. It was given to him by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Adeniji Adele. He was also a founding member and later chairman of the Island club. A sports enthusiast, he was vice president of the Nigerian Olympic and British Empire and Commonwealth Games Association and a trustee of the proposed National Stadium at Surulere. He was also the chairman of the Lagos Race Club (horse racing was very popular in Lagos at the time). Randle was the Chef de Mission of the Nigerian Olympic team to the 1956 Summer Olympics. He was awarded the medal of the Victorian Order. He took ill on his flight from Melbourne, and later died at the Lagos General Hospital in December, 1956. Randle Avenue, Surulere was named after him.
J.K. Randle Memorial Hall
The Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was distraught at the news of Chief Randle's death. He decided that something must be done to immortalise him. He secured a piece of land opposite the Prime Minister's Residence (between the residence and the JK Randle Swimming Pool and Garden) and people donated money to build the Randle Memorial Hall. It was used for performing plays and staging cultural shows. Akin Euba, Adelugba, Prof. J.P. Clark etc. and members of the schools of Drama Arts in Ibadan, Ile Ife and Lagos were regular users of the Randle Hall. In fact, J.P. Clark had resident Ghanaian actors there for several years.
Dr John Kehinde "JK" Randle was born in Sierra Leone in 1855. His father, Thomas Randle, was a liberated slave from Oyo, who had settled in Freetown. He later moved to Lagos. John Randle attended the CMS Grammar School in Freetown, Sierra Leone, before working as a dispenser in the colonial hospital. He saved enough money that enabled him to attend the University of Edinburgh in Scotland between 1884 and 1888, graduating with a gold medal in materia medica. Randle and his fellow-student Obadiah Johnson obtained positions in 1889 as Assistant Colonial Surgeons in the Lagos Colonial Hospital. At the same time, Randle practiced privately, treating most of the European traders of Lagos, particularly the Germans.
In November 1890 Randle married Victoria Matilda Davies, the daughter of the famous and wealthy Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies and Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria's god-daughter. Queen Victoria had given Matilda Davies the name Victoria at her christening, had bestowed an allowance of £40 for life and had given her a solid gold christening set. The queen donated the material for Matilda's wedding gown.
Randle resigned from the Colonial Service in 1892. He was angry that as an African he was given about half the salary of a European with the same training, and that he was being required to serve as a doctor in locations far from Lagos. Gilbert Thomas Carter, Governor of Lagos in 1891–97, said of his resignation, "My past experience of native doctors ... does not encourage me to place much faith in their aptitude for this profession..." Randle withdrew his resignation, but asked for an increase in salary to £500 per year. Randle was dismissed from the service in September 1893 for his persistent refusal to make tours of duty to the British military outpost at Ijebu Ode. He devoted himself to private medical practice, in which he was highly successful. He served patients from all levels of society, providing free treatment to the poor. Randle was successful in treating yellow fever and guinea worm infestation.
Dr Randle grew wealthy, acquired a lot of land in Lagos and had a significant shareholding in the Bank of British West Africa (now First Bank Nigeria). He was one of the famous "Victorian Gentlemen" of Lagos (in the late 1800s and early 1900s). He even went as far as ordering his food from England!
He was one of the leaders of the idea that an African Church needed to be created. A lot of Nigerian priests had received advanced formal education in the late 1800s, but this did not translate into senior positions for them. Some African priests had complained, but they were suspended on basically, racist grounds. In 1890 Randle was a member of a committee that invited the pan-Africanist educator, journalist and politician Edward Wilmot Blyden (a Liberian) to Lagos to support them in their dispute over the Niger Mission. On 2 January 1891, at a meeting attended by Governor Cornelius Alfred Moloney, Blyden proposed an independent African Church with Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther as its head. (An African Church was eventually established in 1901 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_African_Church).
Although Herbert Macaulay's Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was the first political party in Nigeria, many political associations had existed long before the NNDP was created in 1922. These associations were created to promote certain causes and fight for certain rights, rather than to contest elections. Dr JK Randle became active in politics and the governor of the Colony of Lagos, Sir William MacGregor, made him a provisional member of the Legislative Council in 1899. Dr JK Randle, along with other notable and legendary Lagosians like Dr Orisadipe Obasa, Sir Kitoye Ajasa, Sir Adeyemo Alakija and Dr Richard Akinwande Savage formed The People's Union, a political association, in 1908.
In my personal opinion, the main problem that the People's Union had was that it was not radical enough for Lagosians. It actually fought against some of the policies of the Colonial Government, but it did not go as far as Lagosians would have liked.
For example, the People's Union fought against the water rate that was proposed by the Colonial Government. The government had planned to tax Lagosians and to use the revenue to build the Iju Waterworks. Many Lagosians, especially traditional Lagosians, felt that the new waterworks would be primarily used by the Europeans and therefore the Europeans should pay for it. The traditional Lagosians were satisfied with the water that they bought from Da Rocha and with the many wells that were dug across the city. When the government insisted on imposing the water rate, the traditional Lagosians, led by the Oba of Lagos, Eshugbayi Eleko, staged a mass protest that led to a riot.
In contrast, although the educated elite, led by the People's Union, opposed the water rate, their reason for opposing it was that there should be no taxation without representation (this was similar to the demand of the American independence agitators). They demanded that the government should conduct elections, so that Lagosians would have a say in how their tax money was being used, only then would they accept the water rate (traditional Lagosians were not ready to accept the water rate for any reason). The educated elite, led by the People's Union, later capitulated when they were threatened by the government (Lord Lugard brought back the idea of the water rate and threatened the members of the People's Union with charges of sedition and threats of agitation).
The members of the People's Union also fought against the proposal by Lord Lugard to convert all land in Nigeria to government property. They toured Yorubaland and even went to London to campaign against the proposal. The government subsequently dropped the idea.
The People's Union waned during World War 1 and Dr Randle and Dr Obasa formed the Reform Club after the war. The Reform Club took an interest in politics and education and seemed to be a continuation of the People's Union.
Herbert Macaulay formed the Nigerian National Democratic Party in 1922 and Governor Sir Hugh Clifford instituted elections in Lagos in 1923 and in response to these activities, the People's Union was revived. However, as I said earlier, it was not radical enough for Lagosians. Herbert Macaulay and his NNDP vigorously challenged the policies of the Colonial Government, while the People's Union advocated for gradual change. The people of Lagos loved Macaulay very much.
The pool and garden
However, our main concern in this piece is the major contributions and donations that Dr JK Randle made to Lagos.
Dr Randle lived in the Marina area of Lagos (you might remember that I told you that Europeans and wealthy Lagosians lived on the Marina before the Onikoyi gave the Europeans land on which they built a European settlement in Ikoyi). He could see as Lagosians were being ferried from the Island to the Mainland and vice versa in boats (which were the main means of transport at the time). Every so often there would be a mishap and a boat would capsize and people would die. Dr Randle felt that the situation could be improved if Lagosians were taught how to swim. He wrote several letters to the Colonial Government, urging them to build a public swimming pool where Lagosians would be taught how to swim, but his letters were ignored.
Dr Randle then decided to do the task himself. He built a public swimming pool in the Onikan area of Lagos and handed it over to the Lagos Town Council to run. He went as far as donating money for the maintenance of the pool. That pool is the famous Onikan Swimming Pool.
Dr Randle also felt that ordinary Lagosians should have a park where they can relax in the evenings. The park and beach at the Marina was mainly used by Europeans and he wanted somewhere that indigenous Lagosians could relax. He therefore built the famous Randle Love Garden near the pool and handed it over to the council to run.
Dr Randle also made huge donations to several communities across West Africa. In 1920 he was appointed one of the vice-patrons of the Sierra Leonean Friendly Society of Lagos. He built a chapel and two schools in his birth town of Regent, and contributed funds to erect a science building at Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone and to support science teaching there. He donated his medical and scientific books and journals to Fourah Bay College, and donated money for a professorship and medical scholarships.
Dr John Kehinde "JK" Randle passed away on February 27th, 1928 at the age of 73. He was buried at the rear of the Ikoyi Cemetery, but in 1940 his remains were moved to the front of the cemetery as a gesture to acknowledge his achievements. JK Randle Road, Onikan (between Tafawa Balewa Square and State House Marina) is named after him.
Idris Aregbe is the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Tourism, Arts and Culture.
idrisconnectingnigeria
Alo o! Alo!! @anthonyjoshua left us with a thought-provoking folktale at the J Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History (@jrandlecentre) in Lagos.
This witty story emphasises that we should embrace our cultural values, so they can be passed on to future generations. This is truly the essence of culture.
Politics › Re: Babajide Sanwo-Olu And Akinwunmi Ambode At Lagos 2025 Thanksgiving Service by naptu2(op): 5:29am On Jan 07, 2025
Pele. There are certain jobless trolls who have decided to try and derail my threads and turn them into war zones. They used to try and attack me once upon a time, but I always punished them, so now they restrict themselves to senseless and meaningless comments that actually make them look as if they are incapable of basic reasoning. 
