₦airaland Forum

Renaming Streets In Lagos: A Cosmetic Change Without Cultural Protection, By Rasheed Akinyele

July 31, 2025
OPINION

The Lagos State Government recently announced the renaming of several streets and public spaces to better reflect Yoruba cultural heritage. One notable change was the renaming of “Charly Boy Bus Stop” to “Olamide ‘Baddo’ Adedeji Bus Stop.”

The move triggered widespread debate across both social and traditional media. Some hailed it as a cultural win, a celebration of a local icon. Others, myself included, questioned whether such symbolic acts truly serve the purpose of preserving Yoruba identity in a rapidly changing city.

Names Change, but Who Stays?

I grew up in that part of Lagos. Back then, the area was simply called “Second Pedro.” Later, it became “Charly Boy.” Now it is “Baddo.” These evolving names reflect shifts in popular memory and collective identity. But behind the renaming lies a more pressing concern: what becomes of the people tied to those memories when they can no longer afford to live in those spaces?

This renaming exercise is just the latest in a long-standing tradition of using symbolic gestures to mask deeper systemic neglect. Streets and bus stops may carry cultural weight, but they do not determine the presence or power of a people. Ownership does. And in today’s Lagos, indigenous ownership is fading fast.

Land: The Heart of the Matter

Who owns Lagos today?

This is not a rhetorical or philosophical inquiry, but a socio-economic reality. More and more, indigenous Lagosians are being priced out of their ancestral lands. Places like Ikoyi, Victoria Island, and Surulere are slipping beyond reach, not just for living, but for doing business, raising families, and building generational wealth.

Land is being sold, legally and informally, to wealthier buyers, many from outside Lagos or even the South West. These buyers invest and build, as is their right in a free market. But where is the foresight from the sellers? Where is the policy framework from the Lagos State Government that ensures a balance between development and cultural continuity?

Without land, culture becomes nostalgia. And nostalgia is not power; it is in fact longing without leverage.

When Symbolism Becomes a Substitute for Substance

Here lies the core contradiction. In its quest to reassert Yoruba identity, the government seems to be prioritising optics by renaming bus stops, repainting signboards, sponsoring festivals. These actions are not inherently wrong, but they are insufficient.

What do we gain by changing “Ozumba Mbadiwe” to “MKO Abiola Avenue” if the people whose heritage is being honoured can no longer afford to live there?

What message do we send when we proudly emblazon Yoruba names on signs, while the original landowners have been displaced to Mowe, Ifo, or Akute?

Cultural presence must be material, not merely symbolic. If housing, inheritance, and education are not protected, Yoruba identity in Lagos will survive only in archives and museums, and not in living, breathing communities.

Political Implications of Cultural Displacement

The last presidential election should serve as a wakeup call. In what was presumed to be a Yoruba political stronghold, a Lagos born candidate of Yoruba descent lost to a rival who drew support from other ethnic blocs. This was not treachery, it was maths. A demographic shift rooted in displacement.

Cultural nostalgia does not translate into political power. You cannot dominate electorally where you no longer dominate demographically. Voting strength follows population density. And population density is inseparable from land ownership. Once land is lost, political influence often follows.

The Role of Traditional Institutions

Traditional rulers, community chiefs, and family heads must also bear responsibility. Many have sold communal land for short term gain, with little regard for future consequences. These lands rarely return once sold.

There is an urgent need for reforms that protect what remains:

- A transparent and modern land registry that tracks ownership trends and signals danger zones.

- Community land trusts to reserve property for descendants of original settlers.

- Housing subsidies or incentives to help young indigenous Lagosians remain within ancestral communities.

- A cultural economic strategy that links heritage preservation with tangible economic benefit.

Building a Truly Inclusive and Sustainable Lagos

Lagos has long prided itself on being cosmopolitan and welcoming. Yoruba hospitality made that possible. But true inclusion should not require erasing the indigenous. Protecting the original inhabitants is not an act of exclusion, it is a duty to both ancestry and posterity.

Development is only meaningful when people can live where they were born, raise families, and pass on both land and identity. True cultural protection is not renaming “Charly Boy” to “Baddo.” It is making sure the children of the land do not have to migrate to Ogun State to find affordable housing.

Renaming Without Reform Is a Dead End

Street renaming may generate headlines, but it cannot replace structural policy. As Yoruba people, and as Nigerians who care about justice and history, we must resist the temptation of shallow symbolism and demand systemic reform.

As our elders wisely remind us:

“Tí ilẹ̀ bá tán nílé, kó sí ohun tí a lè fi kọ ilé mọ́.” Meaning, “When the land is gone, there is nothing left on which to build a home.”

Let us not protect culture in theory only to lose it in practice, as the road to cultural preservation begins not with renaming but with reclaiming.

SaharaReporters

This renaming exercise is just the latest in a long-standing tradition of using symbolic gestures to mask deeper systemic neglect. Streets and bus stops may carry cultural weight, but they do not determine the presence or power of a people. Ownership does. And in today’s Lagos, indigenous ownership is fading fast.

This government took divide and rule to the most dangerous level, using tribe to divide Nigerians.

Rwanda experienced genocide influenced by foreign actions, but now we have Nigerian politicians fueling potential genocide on their own country. Tueh!

Voting Tinubu out of office has to be #1 priority for 2027.

Lagos is not a no man's land. It belongs to the Yorùbá people and they can do at will as they want. Anyone grumbling should go back to their father's hometown and develop it.

Irony of this is that 95 percent of people stoking this ethnic fire are not from Lagos. Gawat family is from Igbaja, Kwara. Same as Ajetunmobi, because they were born in Lagos Island they lay claim to non existence origin. Most of them claiming Lagos Island dont HAVE a building to the fathers name. They should go and read what caused first World War.

All this Lagos news and it's name remaining is becoming stale and obselete.. they can change names for all we care.. but the original dwellers go still hold it down.. fullstop
Most of the Govs that has ruled the state originated from other states.. Aside fashola, which other Governor is indigenous to Lagos. They should kiss the truth and stop wasting people's precious time bawo

Finquas:
All this Lagos news and it's name remaining is becoming stale and obselete.. they can change names for all we care.. but the original dwellers go still hold it down.. fullstop
Most of the Govs that has ruled the state originated from other states.. Aside fashola, which other Governor is indigenous to Lagos. They should kiss the truth and stop wasting people's precious time bawo

Do the people who support ethnic bias in Lagos State truly want the indigenes of Lagos State have a say in their land? They sideline the natives of Lagos, support those outside Lagos to rule it and yet frown at other other people who are also from outside Lagos.

Can they support someone who is not from Oyo state to rule Oyo State?

For anyone that cares, this is just typical Tinubu political tool at tribal manipulation for election purposes

Very soon, they will start … they said “Lagos is no Man’s land” mantra. Very predictable people but the empty headed Nigerians fall for it every time.

The street renaming is just aimed at widening the ethnic fault lines in readiness for 2027.

Tinubu is the champion of tribal/ ethnic politics in the history of Nigeria. He promotes and actively funds it.

Sowore Condemns ‘Xenophobia, Ethnic-Baiting’ In Lagos Over Charly Boy Bus Stop Renaming, Says Same Tactics Used Against Fela Kuti

July 27, 2025
NEWS

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has criticised an opinion article written by Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye, who backed the decision to rename the Charly Boy Bus Stop in Lagos.

The bus stop, originally named after veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, was recently renamed Baddo in honour of indigenous rapper Olamide Adedeji, also known as Baddo. The renaming was carried out by the outgoing Chairman of the Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Kolade Alabi David.

Sowore, in a statement posted on his X handle, rejected the move and lashed out at the justification provided by Adebusoye, accusing her of promoting ethnic division, falsehoods, and political loyalty to godfathers.

In a post shared via his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Sunday, Sowore described Adebusoye’s comments as “a diatribe laced with xenophobia, political cowardice, and ethnic-baiting,” accusing her of attempting to weaponise culture to curry favour with political power brokers.

Sowore began by noting that he had never heard of the group Adebusoye claimed to represent — the “Indigenous Lagos Teachers Association” — but granted it the benefit of the doubt. Regardless of its legitimacy, he said her submission reflected a broader agenda of ethnic dominance and intolerance.

“What ‘Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye nee @jidesanwoolu did was use falsehoods, bitterness, and insecurity to trigger ethnic purity,” Sowore wrote, “whereas this is just a weak attempt to create political allegiance to the godfather of Lagos in Abuja, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT and his Lagos boys.”

He likened the attacks on Charly Boy to the historical persecution of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, recalling the state-backed vilification, destruction of his property, and eventual erasure attempts after his death.

“The same argument they offered in hounding @AreaFada1 was also used against Fela… They claim he didn’t pay rent, that he was a bad influence on the youth, that he was harassing his neighbors… and next, they burnt down Kalakuta Republic and reassigned his property to the State.”

“When Fela Kuti died, his Ikeja Shrine was reportedly converted to a church in the place now known as the ‘Computer Village,’ it should have been ‘Fela’s Village,’” Sowore added.

He argued that, like with Fela, the attacks on Charly Boy were nothing more than “the typical strategy to criminalize creative dissent and try to silence those who challenge authoritarianism.”

“The truth remains that Lagos is NOT a kingdom; it is a city of the people,” Sowore asserted. “The Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Hausa, Ibibio, Brazilian returnees, the Saros-Sierra Leoneans, and many others built Lagos City’s greatness. No tribe owns Lagos more than those who live in it and make it breathe.”

He also accused those behind the ethnic rhetoric of being the same people who displace indigene Lagosians when land becomes valuable.

“They make you feel like they care about the indigenes of Lagos, yet they are the first to dislodge them from their natural habitats with bulldozers when ‘non-indigenes’ crave pricey landed property/ies,” he said.

Adebusoye’s Article

The controversy stems from an article written by Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye titled "Charly Boy Does Not Deserve a Bus Stop in Lagos." In the article, she expressed strong disapproval of naming a bus stop after Charly Boy, calling it “an attempt to glorify immorality of the highest order.”

Adebusoye, who said she received approval from her group’s general secretary to express her personal opinion, accused Charly Boy of antisocial behaviour, including drug use, incitement of violence, and harassment during his years of residence in Gbagada, Lagos.

“Charly Boy lived in this area as a little beast. He tormented the residents, turned the place into a jungle, a hub for hard drugs including cocaine and hooliganism,” she claimed.

She also accused him of disrespecting Yoruba traditions, owing rent for seven years, and contributing nothing of value to the Lagos community.

Adebusoye’s criticism extended to Sowore himself. She questioned the legitimacy of his education, activism, and presidential ambition.

She also claimed Sowore was attempting to erase indigenous Lagos history by suggesting Lagos belongs to all Nigerians.

“Some irresponsible Yoruba people claim Lagos belongs to everyone. That is an insult and an assault on us whose ancestors own the land,” she wrote, warning: “We hereby caution and warn those who think they can continue to spit on Lagos heritage to beware of the wrath of our ancestors and at the fullness of time, we shall challenge them BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY.”

"Why the scripts haven’t changed"

Sowore dismissed Adebusoye’s rant as a “baseless attack” filled with “falsehoods, bitterness, and insecurity,” and accused her of regurgitating propaganda scripts reminiscent of past authoritarian eras.

“These show exactly why Nigeria is stuck, because those who should be retired into silence are screaming the loudest with poison-laced tongues,” he wrote.

Reaffirming his position, he insisted the fight is bigger than a bus stop—it is about the right to free expression, inclusive identity, and resistance to oppressive narratives.

“Ask yourself why the scripts haven’t changed,” Sowore urged. “#RevolutionNow.”

[color=orange]SaharaReporters[/color]

He likened the attacks on Charly Boy to the historical persecution of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, recalling the state-backed vilification, destruction of his property, and eventual erasure attempts after his death.

AGAIN LAGOS IS NO MAN’s LAND: CHARLY BOY….


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS9Pc4rrITQ?si=mYOio6lDKPF8JIZU

People are not interested to ask what name was those streets, bus stops bearing before the renaming. Did anyone contest when it was changed back then?

I really don't see why this issue should be discussed back and forth . Anyone who cited tribal coloration with it should effect same in his region. Case closed

Let them go and change there own names in there respective regions. We don change we don change be dat. To let u all know more to come.

Your culture is inside your language and beliefs.

Anything else you're doing to protect or preserve your culture that is not your language and beliefs, is a complete waste of time. That is why whenever and wherever a colonial empire conquered a new land, the three things they always changed are:- 1. Language, 2. Education 3. Religion.

The CIA agent who wrote what could be called Yoruba ontology that's known to the world is a Jew named Ulli Beier. He wrote everything about Yoruba life using alien cultural consciousness.

Beier arrived Nigeria in 1950 under the guise of being a cultural refugee running away from Europe, claiming to have found love in African culture and spirituality. Nigerians believed him and accepted him with open arms but South West Nigeria was the epicenter of his activities.

How Ulli Beier came to Nigeria and what he did here is exactly how and what the beautiful female CIA agent sent to spy on Iran, destabilized the security of top Iranian government officials. It's exactly the same script! The only difference is that Beier's attack was on African culture.

Beier penetrated the Yoruba elite class even Obas, and took a chieftaincy title, founded two magazines, changed literature from Yoruba language to English language, masked his name and published psychological attacks on African culture using Yoruba names.

That's what is called an attack on culture. And it was done by a white man.

But today, the black man is interested in merely a cosmetic surgery of changing street names, instead of going back to restore what the white man fooled you and removed. Yet, Ulli Beier has a street named after him in South West Nigeria!!

Oh, my people perish for lack of knowledge.

More details in my upcoming book. Stay tuned......

helinues:
People are not interested to ask what name was those streets, bus stops bearing before the renaming.

I really don't see why this issue should be discussed back and forth . Anyone who cited tribal coloration with it should effect same in his region. Case closed

Do you want a street named after you? I can make it happen.

What is this has to do with common man? I have completely lost interest in this Nation things are going anyhow everyone do what they like.Judiciary, Police,Military and other security agencies has been reduced to nothing

You want to destroy the unity of a country because of one naughty politician who does not give a hoot if you exist just because he is from your tribe?

Ignorance is the 1st disease. Lagos state does not have the power to name or rename streets or bus stops.

Lagos state did not rename streets. The local governments did.

The naming and renaming of streets is under the authority of the local govts.

So once I read “Lagos state” I didn’t bother to read because it was clear the author is ignorant.

We have not changed the names below but we are foaming in the mouth because of some ethnic street names? I laugh in British Massa’s accent 😂😂

Kingsway Road in Ikoyi Lagos - Named after British monarchy, Kingsway Road is actually a common road name across British colonies
Queens Drive in Ikoyi Lagos - Named after British monarchy, Queen Elizabeth the second precisely
Marina Road in Lagos Island - Used by British colonial administrators, tied to shipping/maritime trade
Old Carter bridge in Lagos was named after Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter who was a British colonial administrator
Lugard Avenue in Abuja and Kaduna - named after Lord Frederick Lugard, first Governor-General of Nigeria
Macpherson Road in Lagos - Named after Sir John Stuart Macpherson, Governor of Nigeria (1948–55)
Bourdillon Road in Ikoyi Lagos - Named after Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor of Nigeria (1935–1943)
Glover Road in Ikoyi Lagos - Named after Sir John Glover, Governor of Lagos colony (1863–1872)

For Chinedu's sake, the capital of Rivers state was named after Lewis Harcourt, a colonial administrator and a paedophile. But yes let's worry about some street named after non-indigenous Lagosian. E go tey before we get sense for Naija

You're gonna learn, and you're gonna learn the hard way 😂 😆

givedemwotowoto:
This government took divide and rule to the most dangerous level, using tribe to divide Nigerians.

Rwanda experienced genocide caused by foreigners, but now we have Nigerian politicians fueling potential genocide on their own country. Tueh!

Voting Tinubu out of office has to be #1 priority for 2027.

Nice piece by the writer .
Lagos must do more that just renaming streets . Structural reform is the most important thing like the writer opined . What is the political authority in Lagos doing about protecting indigenous rights ?

I’ll end by rephrasing the writer ‘ Inclusion does not include erasure of indigenous rights’

Let those who have ears hear

MufasaLion:
Lagos is not a no man's land. It belongs to the Yorùbá people and they can do at will as they want. Anyone grumbling should go back to their father's hometown and develop it.

It's obvious you didn't read the subject before commenting

The most important take away from the write-up for me is the part where he mentioned housing subsidies, cos that's a major reason why some poor Lagosians and other Lagos-based Yorubas are being forced to relocate to parts of Ogun state. A local woman mentioned this on TikTok during the last election, but it didn't trend much. They are renaming streets, but are they really paying attention to the needs of Lagosians and other Yorubas in Lagos? Renaming bus stops won't change anything!

How many Lagos state civil servants and retirees did they help with affordable housing? These are the main issues! You pay 70k minimum wage, how much can the average civil servant afford for a 2-bedroom flat in any Lagos owned apartment? These are people who vote for you, what are they getting in return?

Well, the Alausa elites can continue living as if they have no competition or responsibility towards Lagosians and Lagos-based Yorubas. At the end of the day, Lagos isn't one man's property, only God can decide the future and change is the only constant thing.

What happens in europe is called racism what happen im nigeria is called tribalism. Man is selfish in nature. I am igbo, born and raised in lagos. I will never claim what is not mine. I bought land in lagos and when it became a family issue i backed out for my life... bit when same wanted to repeat itself in my hometown in east i fought with all might to defend my property. Pls igbos should stop dragging what they can not win. Make your money in lagos and go back home. We are just running away from a lot of things we have in the east thereby committing it into the hands of some criminal element. Lagos nah person get am... lagos by map nah yoruba land pls lets focus on why we are here. Lets Respect ourselves so they will respect us.

iwaeda:
Irony of this is that 95 percent of people stoking this ethnic fire are not from Lagos. Gawat family is from Igbaja, Kwara. Same as Ajetunmobi, because they were born in Lagos Island they lay claim to non existence origin. Most of them claiming Lagos Island dont HAVE a building to the fathers name. They should go and read what caused first World War.

stop giving yourself false hope.
During the civil war, why did you all abandon every other things you have worked for all through your lives and got yourselves evacuated to the East.?
Why did your so called 95% remain in Lagos during the war?
stop being so toxic to your hosts allover the world

MufasaLion:
Lagos is not a no man's land. It belongs to the Yorùbá people and they can do at will as they want. Anyone grumbling should go back to their father's hometown and develop it.

Once I acquire a piece of land and paid in full, Lagos partly belongs to me too. Kiss the truth

Charly Boy Bus Stop Was Popular Because I Lived There And Did A Lot


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2RP__d9t4M?si=V-w2dv_tCmui2Npi

MufasaLion:
Lagos is not a no man's land. It belongs to the Yorùbá people and they can do at will as they want. Anyone grumbling should go back to their father's hometown and develop it.

Read the article before commenting. It will help you make an informed contribution.