Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Lagos Energy City
Lagos Energy City is a 763 hectare development that will be located in Badagry town of Lagos State; it will be divided into two (2) zones with Zone 1 serving as a convention and Tourist Zone, while Zone 2 will be the Energy City Zone.
Location
Country Location
Nigeria
Locality
Badagry State, West Lagos
Site Details
>In close proximity to the ECOWAS market (20 minutes from the Republic of Benin)
>Prime beach front property, fronting the Bight of Benin
>In close proximity to a 8-10 lane highway being planned by the government
>Less than an hours drive from the international and domestic airport
Size
763 hectares (zone 1 and zone 2)
Zone 1: 248 hectares
Zone 2: 515 hectares
Zone 1
The convention and tourist zone is focused on making Lagos the tourist destination of choice in the region specifically in the MICE market (meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions).
Planned Facilities for zone 1 will include the following:
* Convention center
* 500 room convention hotel
* Luxury resort
* Africa spa
* Luxury apartments
* Vacation homes
* Shopping malls and restaurants
* African Heritage center; among others
Facilities in Zone 1 will include the following:
- Convention center
- Performing Arts Center
- Retail Village
- 2 Resorts and Convention Hotels
- Luxury Condominium
- Luxury Beach Front Cabanas
- Afracan Spa
- 18 Hole Championship Golf Course
Zone 2
As the world’s 8th largest producer of oil, and the 10th largest proven oil reserves; Nigeria is an important element in the global energy sector, today and in the future. Zone 2 aims to strengthen the position of the country as a global energy hub, positioning it to join the ranks of other global energy hubs such as Singapore, Houston, Qatar and Calgary.
The zone will house multinational and national companies belonging to the Oil and Gas Industry, including industries in its value chain such as financial institutions, airline companies, government agencies and commissions and IT companies among others.
The 515 hectare energy city zone will include the following:
- Office Complex
- Apartment Complex
- Town House Complex
- Single Family Homes
- Administrative Zone (Polyclinc, Fire Station, Police Station, Administrative Cener, and Helicopter Service)
- Retail Center
- Sports Complex
- Indoor: Badminton, Basketball, Squash courts, Aerobic room, Library and restaurants
- Outdoor: Water sports and Tennis
- International School and Others
Zone 2
As the world’s 8th largest producer of oil, and the 10th largest proven oil reserves; Nigeria is an important element in the global energy sector, today and in the future. Zone 2 aims to strengthen the position of the country as a global energy hub, positioning it to join the ranks of other global energy hubs such as Singapore, Houston, Qatar and Calgary.
The zone will house multinational and national companies belonging to the Oil and Gas Industry, including industries in its value chain such as financial institutions, airline companies, government agencies and commissions and IT companies among others.
Planned Facilities in zone 2 will include the following:
* Office buildings
* Residential facilities for: Executive, Middle management, and staff level
* Retail centers
* Medical facilities
* School and educational centers
* Service buildings
Partners
The Lagos Energy City project is being undertaken with the following partners:
* Lagos State Government
* Siam Design Consortium
* Zenith Bank Plc.
[B][U]Residential accommodation Layout[/U][/B]
Lagos Energy City is being planned to provide and integrated community for people involved primarily in the Oil, Gas and Power sectors in Lagos Nigeria and the Africa continent. The draft plan includes a range of housing in the form of apartments, condimuiums, family houses and town houses to match life style diversity.
The Zone 2 layout will be strong associated with water with lakes and streams to offset the green eco friendly objectives of the development. There will be easy access to school for children, sports facilities and shopping plaza’s to meet the needs of daily living.
The Siam Design Consortium has undertake preliminary work in conjunction with the project sponsors Lagos City Energy to show possible layouts, housing designs and facilities to show the possibilities of the site.
* Apartments
The apartment bocks shown have dual 5 and 6 level structures with open common spaces and balconies. The landscaping will be based on the local flora with grass prominent between buildings. Trees and courtyard areas will be part of the open spaces to ensure that Green will be a strong colour. The unit layouts feature two and three bedroom apartments with full facilities.
LAGOS URBAN RAIL MASS TRANSIT (LRMT) SCHEME FROM IDDO TO IJOKO
The Light Rail Mass Transit scheme is a proposal to introduce a Light Rail Transit System within the existing Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) corridor from Iddo in Lagos State to Ijoko in Ogun State. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between LAMATA and NRC was signed in 2006, to grant access to the 100 ft of NRC right-of-way required for the construction of the LRMT line.
The scheme is approximately 35-kilometre in length with an estimated ridership of a minimum of 500,000 passengers per day. The following fourteen (14) station locations are proposed:
* Ijoko
* Mushin
* Agbado
* Jibowu
* Iju
* Yaba
* Agege
* Ebute Metta
* Ikeja
* Iddo
* Shogunle
* National Theatre
* Oshodi
* Apapa
On May 15, 2007, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, officially performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the LRMT scheme.
Financing
The Lagos Mega City Development Authority is undertaking the LRMT scheme from Iddo to Ijoko as a priority project for implementation within the mega-city. The LRMT scheme is being financed by the Federal Government (45%), Lagos State Government (40%), and Ogun State Government (15%)
MILE 2 TO OJO/OKOKOMAIKO LAGOS URBAN RAIL NETWORK (LURN) “BLUE” SCHEME
The Mile 2 to Ojo/Okokomaiko scheme is a conceptualised innovative rail transit system for the Badagry Expressway in Lagos State. This scheme is planned for implementation in two stages. Stage 1 of this scheme, is a 16-kilometre east to west rail line between Ojo and Mile 2 with the following six (6) proposed train stations
* Ojo
* Okokomaiko
* LASU
* Trade Fair
* Festac
* Mile 2
A future extension of an additional 21-kilometre and four train stations terminating in Marina is also being considered for stage 2 of the scheme.
The benefits of the scheme include as follows:
* Re-establish and enhance the attractiveness of rail transport as an integral alternative mode of transport
* Help to alleviate the existing traffic problems currently associated with the Lagos metropolitan roadway network along the Badagry Expressway by providing additional passenger transport capacity.
* Achieve a travel time of 23 minutes during the busy peak traffic periods (between Mile 2 and Okokomaiko).
* Boost economic activities in an area of the state already renowned as the major commercial centre in the West African region.
* Create a reduction for the demand of approximately 13,000 Danfo vehicles along the corridor.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Ogogoro Women of Third Mainland Bridge
By Toni Kan and Kaine AgaryFarafina Magazine, Issue Nine
Under the Third Mainland Bridge, in the crook of sand that nestles between the reclaimed land and the sea, lies what is in many ways a billion-naira business run almost entirely by barely literate women who cannot tell the difference between gross and net profits. These women do not hold Bachelor's or Master's Degrees in Economics. They have not obtained MBAs from fancy schools with names like INSEAD, LBS or LSE. What these women have is business acumen, grit and what renowned business consultant Paul Stoltz has called Adversity Quotient (AQ), that ability to survive no matter the odds. These women are gin merchants. They receive the commodity in blue plastic barrels hauled across the seas from far-flung parts of Delta and Ondo states. They then retail them to traders who throng the market every Wednesday morning from as early as 6 am to purchase the colourless but potent alcoholic beverage, which comes in handy on cold nights and as a solute for the extracts in local herbal medications. This market is unlike many other markets. For one, there is no signboard announcing that this is a market where you can buy the most potent alcoholic beverage on sale in Nigeria. Is this absence of a sign board a relic of the past, a hangover from a time when the brew that is retailed in this locale was labeled illicit? And then there is the very marked absence of stalls like you would find in other markets. What you have here are waist-high boards and the ubiquitous blue barrels of ogogoro that demarcate each seller’s space. When you alight from the car and walk the 50 meters from the road to the market which is recognized officially as Idumagbo Jetty, you will see blue plastic barrels stretching across the expanse of white sand that is the market. Women dressed mostly in the traditional two-piece iro and buba sit around and chatter, waiting for customers or the boats which berth once a week to offload their cargo. To hear the habitués of this other world tell it, this market has been in existence for over forty years. In fact, forty years is a time line that keeps coming up each time you ask one of the traders how long he or she has been plying their trade in the crook of sand. Anna Dafio, an Ijaw woman from Ilaje in Ondo state is the only one who doesn’t invoke the magical forty years. She tells us that she has been trading at the market for over 34 years. “When I start to dey come this market, I be small girl. Na my mama I dey follow come and e don pass thirty-four years since wey I start to dey come here,” she says in lilting pidgin, her weathered face beaming. The women here want to talk. They are eager to draw close to the recorder the way Nigerians long-starved of access to telephones were eager to obtain cell phones at the dawn of GSM. The main commodities on sale at this market are gin and crayfish. Most of the women sell crayfish to pass the time. The commodity of choice is actually the translucent spirit that goes by as many monikers as there are drinkers. The names by which this drink is called include kai-kai, ogogoro, sapele water, push-me-I-push-you, holy water, akpavin, agaba, ogofi etc. But no matter by what it is called, those who imbibe are unanimous in their verdict that ogogoro is not child’s play. Made from palm wine, ogogoro emerges from fermented palm wine which is then put through a refining process that involves time spent on the fire before the fine spirit is distilled through a pipe connected to a boiling cauldron. What results is a highly concentrated and potent alcoholic beverage, which scared the living daylights out of the colonial administrators who put a stamp of odium upon it calling it Illicit Gin. But like in Prohibition-era America, the ban only made the spirit more desirable. “When I started selling this drink with my mother over forty years ago, things were not easy. You couldn’t sell it in the open like this and if you did, they would place a handcuff on you,” Iya Kike, a tall woman with a slight stoop says through an interpreter, a dark-skinned young Igbo man who is part of the crew. Here in the ogogoro market, Iya Kike is a legend of sorts. Sitting majestically on one of the windows of her boat, a sixty-foot vessel that makes the weekly three-day trip from Ilaje in Ondo state to Lagos laden with blue barrels filled with ogogoro, plantains, dried fish and other items, she oversees activities as goods are offloaded, traded, and moved. She doesn’t leave her boat; she doesn’t need to. Anyone who wants to see her walks the plank across from the water’s edge to the boat. She has been in the business for forty years. Iya Kike and her boats are the very important link between the producers and the market. “I started with my parents but they didn’t own ships. I have had four ships since I started building them. Two are retired now, but two are still active, this one and another in Port Harcourt which is operated by my child.” She says it takes three days to make the journey from Ilaje to Lagos and they pick up merchandise as they move through the creeks which the captain says has its fair share of pirates and robbers. “God protects his own,” Iya Kike says when asked whether she has ever been attacked by bandits. Asked if her late husband was in the same business Iya Kike says he wasn’t and that he had no reservations regarding the kind of work she had chosen to do. “When he met me, I was already doing this business with my parents,” she says with a laugh, then adds, “He came into it with his eyes wide open.” Despite the comfort, relative wealth and acclaim this shipping business has brought Iya Kike, she says she didn’t encourage her children to join in the trade except for the child running the Port Harcourt side of things. “I want my children to go to school. I don’t want all of us to be packed here in the same business like sardines. I want them to go to school and be able to drive limos and Hummer jeeps,” Iya Kike says with a glint in her eyes. In fact most of the women, when asked about their children, are uncompromising about their education, allowing that the children only help out with the business when they are on holiday from school. The market did not always look like it does now, with women marking their spaces with blue gin-filled plastic barrels; it used to have stalls but they were destroyed a few years ago. “Who destroyed the stalls?” “Na Tinubu,” Iya Kike says in pidgin before our interpreter can relay the question. “Why?” “I no sabi,” she says with a gesture of resignation. Even without formal structures, the Ogogoro market is organized in its own informal way. There is, as one is bound to find in any market worth its salt in Western Nigeria, a Baba Oja as well as an Iya l’oja. The Baba Oja is a well-fed man with a pleasant face and questioning stare. His office is set apart from the general populace by tightly-packed plastic barrels set under one of the low-hanging concrete structures holding up the Third Mainland Bridge. The structure is so thick and reinforced that you do not even hear the cars moving at speeds of 100kmph and more overhead. His name is Chief Phillip Jide and he says he is the chairman of the Idumagbo Jetty market which we take to be the official name for this unusual market. His unshod foot is on the table on which a small transistor radio is blaring out music of an indeterminate origin. He removes the toothpick from between his lips and fixes us with that questioning look. We want to know why a man is chairman of a market run almost entirely by women.Chief Jide laughs. “This is not a woman’s market o. There are men too,” he says pointing to a group of young men straining as they roll the barrels across the sand to the 'stalls' scattered around the vast expanse. “But you know how markets are, markets are comprised mostly of women,” he adds before telling us that the Idumagbo jetty is the headquarters of the trade in local gin. Further investigation reveals that the women are the final link in the supply chain. The men tap the palm wine, process it to make ogogoro, package it, and the women sell it. The women give the final grades to the product, testing samples collected with little bottles tied with string, which are dipped into the barrels of ogogoro. Different things such as the amount of bubbles created when the sample bottle is shaken tell the quality of the ogogoro and determine the grade under which it will be classified, Grade 1 being of highest quality, of course. “We have so many jetties but this one is the headquarters,” Chief Jide says, then adds, “Before you can trade here, you have to obtain a liquor licence. Then you can start trading.” He is one of the three men involved fully and officially in the day-to-day running of the market according to what Chief Mrs. Roseline Vince Oyakhilome who introduces herself as First Iya l’oja, tells us. “Una be press people,” she asks after we’ve introduced ourselves and when we say yes, she fires off another question. “Na which magazine una go put this tori?” Satisfied that our story will indeed get published, she gives us a round-up of what happens in the market. “I don dey sell market for here for over forty years,” she begins. “I small like this when I begin dey follow my mama dem come sell for here. When I still dey young dem dey wake me up make I come make puff-puff for the oyibo Julius Berger people wey build this Third mainland bridge.” Moving over to the barrels she uncaps one of them and let’s drop a small white bottle tied to a string into the barrel of gin. When she pulls out the bottle, its three-quarters full. The Iya l’oja then shakes the bottle before she takes a sip then holds it out to us. “This one na Grade 1,” she says smacking her lips and scrunching up her face. “If you wan sabi the one wey be Grade 1, you go put this tester inside,” she says referring to the small bottle. “After you don put am inside you go come shake the bottle. If e foam, then e no be Grade 1. If e no foam, na im be say na Grade 1 be dat,’’ she says with the mien of a teacher educating a headstrong child. The Iya l’Oja goes on to explain that there a wide price deferential between the Grade 1 and Grade 2. “If you wan buy Grade 2, dem fit sell to you for N12, 000. But if you wan buy Grade 1, you go pay N23, 000.” A quick calculation puts the amount of gin being offloaded that morning from the ships and rolled across the sand at about N2.4m if you calculate all of them to be Grade 2 or N4.6m if they are all Grade 1. Mama Kike is perched by the window of her boat, her wrapper tucked between her legs. As we approach her ship, she raises a hand to ward off the sun. The boat is bare inside, all of its cargo already offloaded. There is a mat, a ragged window blind and about seven small generators. “The generators are for light when we travel,” a member of the crew tells us. But why so many of them, we want to know. “If one no good, we go use the other one and sometimes water go enter ship and we go use the generator take pump the water comot,” another pipes up and then to impress us jumps out of the window and lands with a plop in the water below. Outside, by the gangway through which we have entered Mama Kike’s boat, six bare-chested men are struggling to get a long metallic object into the ship. We look closely and find that it is a propeller which had fallen off as they dropped anchor. As the men toil and grunt to get the obviously heavy marine component unto the boat, Iya Kike sits and stares off into the distance, seemingly oblivious to the commotion going on around her. After they have gotten the propeller in position without any incident, a man in a faded white tee shirt walks up the gangway and sits on a bench a few feet away from Iya Kike who barely acknowledges his greeting. One of the men on the ship tells us that he is an NDLEA agent. “We are stationed here because sometimes, they will smuggle drugs through this place,” he explains, then shakes his head when we ask if he has ever caught any one at the Idumagbo jetty. “No. But we have to make sure that the cargo is what they say they are supposed to be carrying.” Seeing how chummy he is with the crew, we ask whether he would really be able to make an arrest if one of them was found to be smuggling drugs. The agent smiles and gives a non-committal answer. “If I discover something, I will radio headquarters. Then they will take action.” A 4-litre jerry can of Grade 1 ogogoro sets us back by about three hundred naira only and three to four kilometers outside the ogogoro market a group of policemen stop us for a routine search. “Wetin dey inside this bottle? One of the policemen asks, pointing to the sealed keg of pure ogogoro. “Holy water,” we answer. “Una dey come from church?” he asks and we nod. “Go on, “ he orders, and we drive off with our jerry can of pure, grade 1 ogogoro, a.k.a. Holy Water.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Adamu-Orisa Eyo. A play of the masquerades
EKO AKETE
ILE OGBON
AROMISA LEGBE LEGBE
ARO SESE MAJA
ENI TI O BA RE EKO
KO YA BU OMI SURU MU
NITO RI PE
KURUMO A NO NI
AGOIN A NO NI
ADAMU ORISA A BA E NI OPA ABATA
ILE OGBON
AROMISA LEGBE LEGBE
ARO SESE MAJA
ENI TI O BA RE EKO
KO YA BU OMI SURU MU
NITO RI PE
KURUMO A NO NI
AGOIN A NO NI
ADAMU ORISA A BA E NI OPA ABATA
Mo yo fen e Mo yo fun ra mi
Yeeeesssuaaaaaaahhhhhhh
The Eyo festival is celebrated only by the Lagos people. It is also said to be the precursor of the present day Brazil carnival. All the main roadways are blocked on the Eyo day to allow the procession pass freely. The masquerade starts from Idumota to Iga Idunganran. Those who take part in this festival, pay homage to the Oba of Lagos. Eyo festival is mainly held on the last burial rites of an eminent chief, but is also held when time demands it.
A DAMU Orisa was introduced to Lagos by Ejilu and Malaki brothers to Olugbani, the Olori to Oba Ado. Oba Ado was the first ruler of Lagos to have his seat of government at Iga Iduganran.
One source stated that Ejilu and Malaki first visited Lagos during the funeral of Oba Ado and as their contribution to the funeral; they brought their set of Adamu Orisas (that is, Adamu, Oniko and Ologede) to take part in the funeral rites.
History had it that Oniko was first brought to Lagos, because it was reputed to have spiritual powers like, the Elegbara of Esu, as well as those of Ogun (God of Iron) and, therefore, capable of driving away all evil spirits and forces on their routes.
Ologede came next because it is also a representative of Elegbara, sharing powers as stated above with Oniko. However, in the hierarchy of Adamu Orisa cult, the Oniko takes precedence.
Adimu Orisa or Adamu Orisa, Orisa for short was the last to be brought to Lagos, but, however, was regarded as being more sacred than the other two and the eldest.
In the early days, the Adimu was usually kept in a boat on the Lagoon to parade the shore for people to view and pay homage. It was at this stage of its history that it acquired the appellation of Orisa Oko.
The order upon which three Orisas were brought to Lagos has since been the order of their outing on each, Adamu Orisa play day. It is a taboo for Adimu to come out without due notification that Oniko and Ologede have paraded the streets, and visiting the various shrines in the early hours of an Adamu Orisa Day.
In fact, it has become a practice for the Oniko and Ologede to call at the conclave of Adimu which today is at Ita-Ado on their return or homeward journey which usually is around 5 or 5.30 in the morning. At the conclave, the Orisas would be received by the elders of the Adimu Cult where prayers and necessary rituals would be exchanged.
It is necessary to state, for the avoidance of doubt, that what Ejilu and Malaki introduced or brought to Lagos were the three Orisas (that is, Adimu, Oniko and Ologede) excluding the Eyo, the masquerade, that wears the flowing gown (Agbada) with an over flowing cloth, carrying the Opambata stick.
The name Adimu Orisa or Adamu Orisas
The name Adimu simply means one with blocked nasal passage (with blocked nose) while Adamu suggests obstructed nose. But the names are applied to suit each occasion, if you have an Adimu, then you can pick the voice when it speaks. But if you have the Adamu, then it does not speak of himself but by demonstration or through the aide de-camp, is the Laba (bag of mystical powers) bearer.
The other Orisas while retaining their district name and characteristics became identified with the name Adamu Orisa.
Awo-Opa
It is also an historical fact that Ejilu and Malaki established an "Irele," conclave of Awo Opa cult at Idunmagbo, which is known as Irele Oke Ipa or Irele Ita Ado.
It is interesting to note that the story of Awo Opa and its brother Egungun is stated in Ife in the Odu Okanran-Ogunda and its origin is tied to the very, very early Oyo settlement. Evidence of contact with Oyo by Ejilu and Malaki would be seen when we examine the Igbo songs for the Orisas.
It is not certain if they were the first set of people to introduce Awo-Opa to Lagos. The Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family claimed that their ancestor, one Adeyemi, a former Onikoyi at Ikoyi, Ile in old Oyo, who migrated to Lagos at the time of Olofin brought Awo-Opa to Lagos. However, it is to be noted that the Eletu Awo owned the Irele Ishagbe which is regarded as the headquarters of Awo-Opa in the whole of Lagos State.
Two other Lagos chiefs, the Modile and Onisemo, both Ogalado chiefs owned and maintained an Irele each. Namely, Irele Offin at Olowogbowo in Lagos and Irele Agege Omi at Pedro Village, Shomolu. It is to be observed that the Ijebus, particularly within the Lagoon area have adopted the Awo Opa and today it appears as if Awo-Opa originated from the Ijebus. The involvement of the Awo-Opa Cult in the Adamu Orisa plays shall be mentioned later in this article.
Camping the Orisas
It was the belief in the ancient time that the dress, the head carvings, and all instruments for the staging of the Orisas should not be kept within dwelling houses or within urban communities.
Therefore, it was the practice to create camp for them in villages of scheduled places to protect their sacredness. History had it that the Orisas were kept at places like Ibefun, Oke Ipa and even near Iperu. It was, therefore, common in the past for people to say that Eyo was coming from Oke-Ipa or at the close of Eyo Day, people would say Eyo, was going to take a boat to Iperu.
I have already mentioned the fact that the Irele, Awo Opa's Cult House established by Ejilu and Malaki is still called Irele Okepa up until today. Oke-Ipa is a village across the Lagoon beyong Ikoyi. It was because of lodging the Adimu in various places for safe keeping that you have it today at Ita Ado, though it is stated that there is a blood relationship through marriage with the Abegede group.
In fact, the Adimu was once kept with a Chief Olumegbon. The fact, therefore, remains that keeping the Orisas in any particular place does not change its ownership or origin.
The origin and family of Ejilu and Malaki and the Orisas
Ejilu Malaki and Olugbani their sister were said to have come to Lagos from Benin at the time of Oba Ado.
The descendants of Ejilu and Malaki subscribed to the above history because of their testimony at the inquiry into the Onilogbale Chieftaincy. The second opinion as advocated by the late Chief Aminu Kosoko is that they (that is, Ejilu and Malaki came from Ibefun to Lagos to ask for their sister Olugbani. It is, however, to be noted that Benin Influence covered a larger area of the Water side, the Lagoon Area of Lagos State.
Benin influence has been noted in Ikorodu, Baiyeku, Ibefun and a host of towns and villages within Lagos State.
Ejilu is said to have died without chidren while Malaki had two sons and one daughter. They were Kulugbe (male) Olasoru (male) and Ibiye-Oroye, The following Igbe song attest to the history:
Mo mi lo gbo itan fun a wa Itan Ile Ejilu, Oji Mala, O bi Kulegbe Iba Adamu O bi Olasoru o to enia O fi Ibiya - roya fi mo Ifanu On ni noe Iye Abgemi Ogbe. The song can be translated as follows: Let me bring forth to you the history.
The history of Ejilu family. He begot Kulugbe, Father of Adamu. He begot Olasoru who became great. He had Ibiye - roye as the last issue. Ibiye-roye married the Oba of Ibefun and begot Ogunmade for the Oba. The Oba of Ibefun thus became the father-in-law to the Ejilu family and the Lagos Royal House through Eralu Kuti. Part of the Oriki for the Ogunmade family states:-
Omo Ibefun, Abe be Joye
Omo Olowojoye meji ogbe iketa ha enu.
The above is a clear proof that the Ogunmades belonged to the Royal House of Ibefun while being part of the Ejilu Malaki family. Today, the various Orisas are kept by descendants or relations of Ejilu, Malaki and Olugbani. Oniko is kept by the Onigemo family who are descendants of Adamu or Sogbo. The Ologede is maintained by the people of Erelu Olugbani (Olori to Oba Ado) at Idunmagbo.
The Adimu is maintained by the Abegede group of the Olorogun Igbesodi or Olorogun-Ntebo and the Ita Ado Group who are also descendants of an Akarigbara Chieftaincy. It is claimed that Chief Kebo or Olorogun-Atebo, brought Adimu and Esu from Benin to Lagos. The Akinshiku, the titular hard of the Adimu Cult is usually appointed from the Abegede Group. The Adimu is called, Mole Ejilu, Mole Malaki. The Oniko is called Mole Ejilu, Mole Malaki, Egungun Onigemo. The Ologede is called Mole Ejilu, Mole Malaki Egungun Olugbani.
Agere as an Orisa
Agere was created an Orisa in the present century. It ranks last on the list of Orisas. It is, indeed, a modern edition to the play. One Bante Seda is said to be the first Agere.
Inclusion Of Eyo
The Adamu Orisa play continued in Lagos after Ita establishment with the three Orisas as the only set of masquerades.
In order to protect the Orisas and control the surging crowd the idea of the Eyo in white flowing robes (Agbada) was conceived.
With the approval of the Oba, the idea was implemented and a number of Eyos in white Agbadas came out on the Adamu Orisa Day at the Oba's Palace and six each were allocated to each Orisa for its security. The Eyo Group became known in later years as Eyo Oba, Eyo Oniloba or Eyo Alakoto Pupa.
The Eyo group thus became the fore-runner of all Eyos and was made the leader and Police with a carrier of "Loba", a bag containing mystical powers of juju to enable the group punish both Eyos and individuals who might break the rules and regulations governing the Adamu Orisa Cult and play.
After sometime, the Orisas and later the chiefs were granted permission to constitute a group of Eyos in their conclave of palaces.
Thus, you have Eyo Adimu, Eyo Oniko, Eyo Ologede and for the chiefs you have Eyo Eletu-Odibo. Eyo Ojore, and Eyo Egbe, Eyo Saba etc.
From the above, it clear that Eyo Laba is the fore-runner of all Eyo groups and hence it is right to call the group the "Olori Eyo." It has to be stated that the Eyo Laba Group is attached to the Akala Cult and most of the leaders of the group in the past belonged to the cult.
The Adimu Cult has some interaction with the Osugbo Cult due to the involvement of late Apena Ajasa, who held the offices of Akinshiku, the Apena of the Osugbo Cult and that of Olorogun-Atabo, all at the same time.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Legal Towers, Lagos (Approved)
Legal Towers, Victoria Island, Lagos. This residential estate will offer an exclusive residential enclave in a prenium Victoria Island location. To be built on a site ajacent to the Lagos Law School, the estate will consist of 30 luxurious apartments each with its own service quarters, swimming pool, well designed gardens and lawns, and a club house with a bar and gym.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Eldee gist.......
come o, our girl Kemi in ATL dey spread word say eldee too fat, hin no fit work his little weenie, she say hin breast be 34ds, hin Ikebe be like woman own. Buhhahahahahahahahaha. We no know if this na another disgruntled groopie abi na tru yarn...I don send message to my people in ATL to confirm or deny. tru tru sha, Eldee need to go invest on top treadmill.
No be me o, na so we hear am o.........................
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