Statesmen, politicians, government officials and other eminent Nigerians have been paying tributes to the departed market leader and politician , Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, who passed on recently at 96. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the involvement of the Amazon in the Southwest and national politics.
In the fifties, women participation in politics was limited to attending rallies, campaigns and voting. Only few women were fielded as candidates for elections. But among the prominent women leaders who mobilised for political action was the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, who passed on last week in Lagos at 96.
She was a relentless market activist, woman of substance, philanthropist, and promoter of Islam. But the deceased President of Market Men and Women Association of Nigeria also made her marks in politics. She was in the class of women politician like the late Mrs. Olayinka Rosiji, the leader of the Action Group (AG) Women Association and the late Mrs. Jolubu Kolade, a leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) women’s wing. The market matriarch was also a close associate of Mrs. Hannah Dideolu Awolowo, the widow of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Alhaja Mogaji was a consummate politician. Yet, she played her politics without expecting any exceptional personal reward. She paid her financial dues to the coffers of the AG and UPN, unlike nowadays payment of party dues is old-fashioned. She also organised the market women into “political cells” across the old local councils, thereby making it easy for the parties to mobilise them under her indisputable leadership. For over 60 years, Mogaji was the voice of women in Lagos. She used her platform, the market association for interest articulation andf aggregation.
Three years ago, the Yeyeoba of Lagos, Ikirun and Kweme, was appointed as the Chairman of Lagos State Market Development Board. The appointment by Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) crowned her involvement and service to the members of this strategic community who account for her pre-eminence in the metropolis. On her wheel chair, she spoke as the market ambassador and endowed the office with visibility. Throughout, she acted as an effective bridge builder between the government and the masses.
“All market men and women are important and government should carry them along,” she said at her inauguration by the former Head of Service, Alhaji Yakubu Balogun, who presented her with the certificate of appointment, amid applause by other board members.
Throughout her market career, her leadership was never disputed. Not only has she articulated the views and interests of traders, her name has been synonymous with Lagos market, its pride, beauty and varieties, its challenges and pains, its prospects and pitfalls. It is a no mean feat that she has led the organisation without betraying the group’s objectives and without abusing her exalted office.
During the colonial period, Alhaja Mogaji had shown that promise of leadership as a kid trader and an apprentice learning at the feet of Madam Pelewura, a successful and influential trader. She was not afraid of the rain and scourging sun, the devastating threat to hawking, and the discomfort associated with buying and selling in the city. She was faithful to her boss to the end, making her to earn her trust and receive her blessing. Mogaji achieved her freedom after serving her boss with loyalty, honestly, principle and faith.
Immediately, she built on that time-tested trading reputation. When she started her own business, she became a household name in Lagos, mentoring young leaders and organising them into associations and societies for interest articulation and aggregation. She taught the principles of profitable trading, diversification of commercial ventures and traditional debt recovering in her informal School of Commerce. She also exposed many traders to variety trading, the value of hard-work, customers relations and confidence building, lending and borrowing with dignity and keeping of promise.
Alhaja Mogaji achieved fame by dint of nets-work, self-sacrifice and commitment to the goals of life. She is a focused trader and employer of labour in the informal setting. Many who came to her as trading apprentices later became so intimate with her and she treated them like blood relations. She was also a strict disciplinarian. As a parent, she groomed people without sparing the rod to spoil the child.
But, early in life too, her human face, human heart and milk of human kindness came to the fore. She became a philanthropist, channeling resources to the poor and needy. Her house became the rallying point and refuge for widows, homeless and other artisans and peasants who needed succor. Many youths became graduates on her unsung scholarship. Numerous others were aided to be up their businesses. Although an advocate of religious harmony, the devoted Muslim was a frontline defender of the faith who sponsored many religious activities in the media.
Unknown to many, Alhaja Mogaji is also a politician. The Amazon was active in the hey days of party supremacy and hierarchical discipline when party followers paid dues as financial members, when political consensus received majority endorsement, when leaders were credible, and when government was responsible and accountable. She had joined the Action Group (AG) in the fifties, mobilising support for the leader, Awolowo, during campaigns. She was an active member of the AG Women Association led by the late Mrs Rosiji, mother of the late Chief Ayotunde Rosiji, prominent Egba politician and celebrated National Secretary of AG, until the split in the party at the Jos Conference in 1962. She printed banners and posters for the AG politicians for free and steered women to endorse Awo and other candidates at the polls.
Paradoxically, Lagos, her main base, was firmly under the control of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who had become a parliamentarian in Ibadan. But, when the AG seized the storm, Alhaja Mogaji played a prominent role in securing the bloc vote of women for the new party in Lagos. Her mobilisation prowess, despite her lack of formal education, puzzled the NCNCers like Otunba TOS Benson, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Alhaji S. A. Adewale (‘the boy is good’) , Dr Ibiyinka Olorunnimbe, Chief Adeleke Adedoyin, and Prince Adeyinka Oyekan, who later became the Oba of Lagos. Through her political activities, she became intimate with Mrs. HID Awolowo.
When the late Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu wanted to replace Bashorun J. K. Randle as a councilor in the Lagos City council, Mogaji was one of the eminent Lagosians who campaigned for him, despite the stiff opposition by the equally powerful Lagosians in the NCNC, who objected to the ambition of the “political lad” in the fifties. Dawodu later became the chairman of the council after independence.
During the military rule, she was a force to reckon with. When the prices of food jumped up in Lagos, the first military Head of State, Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, pleaded with her to appeal to the traders. But she also demanded for social amenities for the people from the government. Reflecting on the incident, Ironsi’s secretary, Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu, who paid a condolence visit to the family, said: “The former Head of State sent me to her to appeal to her to reduce the price of foodstuff, which she did. She did not leave it at that. She called me and said, my son, I have done my part. What about the General. I said he will do his part.”
Her lack of education may have robbed of cabinet appointments in Lagos State during the long period of military rule and during the Second Republic. Alhaja Mogaji was among the top women leaders who rallied women behind Alhaji Lateef Jakande for governorship of Lagos in 1979, when he defeated Prince Ladega Adele, and 1983, when he defeated Hakeem Habeeb.
Her services to the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), even at the centre, was legendary. An Awoist, she played a prominent role in the crisis resolution agenda of the AG and UPN under Awolowo. She accompanied Mrs. Awolowo to Offa, Kwara State, on a historic peace mission mooted by the leaders the UPN to reconcile the late Chief Josiah Sunday Olawoyin and Senator Cornelius Adebayo, following the crisis that broke out after the 1982 governorship primaries. Then, Awo and Jakande supported the governorship ambition of Olawoyin, the Asiwaju of Offa, while former Governor Bola Ige of old Oyo State and Senator Abraham Adesanya backed Adebayo. It was not easy for Olawoyin to let go, especially when there were indications that UPN would ride on the back of the protracted crisis between Senator Olusola Saraki and Governor Adamu Attah to power. He felt that he should be the candidate, in view of his past contributions to the progressive fold. Twice was the shadow election held, and Adebayo won on all counts.
To prevent the escalation of the intra-party crisis in the Kwara State UPN, the duo of Mrs. Awolowo and Mogaji left Lagos for Offa to pacify Olawoyin. As the Yeyeoba of Ife later recalled, the woman recorded success where men had failed.
Mama Mogaji was not lettered, but when the elite deserted Awo in the days of political tribulation in the First Republic, she rejected overtures from Chief Ladoke Akintola, leader of ‘Demo Party’ and controversial Premier, to defect from the AG. Throughout the period that Awo was in jail, she was always present at Ikenne home of the leader for the yearly birthday celebrations. She was a pillar of support for Mama Awo and other oppressed progressive leaders under the honour of the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA).
Three years ago, she reviewed her political life during her birthday at her Alausa, Ikeja residence. She said: “I have seen it all. I have interacted with Zik, Balewa, Sardauna, Ironsi and Gowon. I have played my role and served my people. all I have been saying is that market women and the masses should be catered for”. The remarks were reminiscent of her farewell address to former military President Ibrahim Babangida, during the commissioning of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos. Mogaji said: “Ibrahim and Maryam, as you are going to Abuja, you should not forget Lagos. You should not forget us because you have been part of us”.
Mogaji was also a “June 12” crusader. An apostle of justice, she had decried the criminal annulment of the historic election won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola. In fact, she went to appeal to Babangida in Abuja to rescind his decision on the cancellation of the results.
Mama Awo and her compatriot, Mama Mogaji have weighed down by the burden of old age. In their old age, they were only dictating the tune on wheel chairs, although their powers of ideas and mental recall remained intact. Reflecting on that inevitable limitation at the twilight of life, Mrs. Awolowo, who is ever fond of her friend, said that the early tolls and deep political involvement later, actually sapped their energy. At private level, she also bore the vicissitudes of life with philosophical calmness.
Under Tinubu Administration, there were allegations that some traders had converted their market shops to residence by sleeping overnight there. Government threatened to deal with the culprits. Drastic measures were proposed to curb their desecration of the markets. It was Mogaji who brokered peace between the government and aggrieved market women.
In 2011, the women leader also endorsed Fashola for a second term, ahead of the party’s endorsement. During her birthday, which was attended by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leaders-Chief Bisi Akande, Alhaji Olatunji Hamzat, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, and prince Abiodun Ogunleye, she raised up the hand of the governor. Turning to former Governor Bola Tinubu, Mogaji, she said in Yoruba: “I was here in this house when you said that you have discovered the best man to take over from you. You have spent eight years. Fashola will also spend eight years”.
In appreciation of her contributions to the socio-economic and political development of the country, Mogaji was bestowed with the national honour of “Member of the Order of Federal Republic” (MFR) and Commander of the order of the Federal Republic (CFC) by the Federal Government. In addition, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, gave her a honorary doctorate degrees.
