At 96, the President-General of the Market Men and Women Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abibat Mogaji, died peacefully in Lagos yesterday. She left behind worthy legacies in politics, commerce and philanthropy. Her last public assignment was performed in her capacity as the Chairman of the Lagos State Market Development Board.
For almost 70 years, her name was synonymous with the Lagos market, its pride, beauty, varieties, pains and prospects. There was never a time her leadership was disputed. She had also articulated the interests of the market men and women and pressed for welfare programmes for traders throughout the country.
Mogaji had shown those traits and promise of leadership as a kid trader and apprentice learning at the feet of Madam Pelewura, a successful and influential trader, during the colonial period. She achieved her freedom after serving her boss with loyalty, honesty, principle and faith. Immediately, she built on that time-tested trading reputation. When she started her own business, she became a household name in the metropolis, 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 debt recovery. She also exposed many traders to variety trading, customers relations, confidence building, lending and borrowing with dignity and keeping of trading promise.
Mogaji achieved fame by dint of hard work, self-sacrifice and commitment to the goals of life. She was 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. As a parent, she groomed people without sparing the rod to spoil the child.
A rich trader, she became a philanthropist. She sponsored many indigent students up to tertiary institutions. She was also a pillar of support for many youths who ventured into small scale businesses. The prominent market leader has also sponsored many Muslims for holy pilgrimage to Mecca and Christians to Jerusalem from her pocket.
Unknown to many, Mogaji was a politician. She had joined the Action Group (AG) led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the fifties, mobilising support for the party leader during the campaigns. She was an active member of the AG Women Association led by the late Mrs. Olayinka Rosiji, mother of the late Chif Ayo Rosiji, the party secretary. Through her political activities, she became intimate with Mrs. HID Awolowo. Community historians recall that when the late Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu wanted to replace Basorun J.K Randle as a councillor in the Lagos Town Council, Mogaji was one of the eminent Lagosians who campaigned for him, despite the stiff opposition by the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) chieftains, including Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Alhaji S.A Adewale (The boy is good), Otunba TOS Benson, Chief Adeleke Adedoyin and Dr. Ibiyinka Olorunnimbe.
Mrs Mogaji was not a woman of letters. But, during the AG crisis, she rejected overtures from the late Chief Ladoke Akintola to desert Awo. Throughout the period that Awo was in prison, she was always part of the partisan birthday ceremonies organised for the late sage.
Alhaji Mogaji was among the party women who rallied support for Alhaji Lateef Jakande in 1979, who ran for the governorship on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), when he defeated Alhaji Ladega Adele of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and also in 1983. She was part of the Reconciliation Team to Kwara State to resolve the protracted crisis in the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) between Senator Cornelius Adebayo and Chief Sunday Olawoyin. As Mrs Awolowo recalled, women recorded success where the men failed.
In this dispensation, old age had caught up with the Amazon. But in her old age, she did not mock her political antecedent. She had been a pillar of support for progressives politicians in Lagos State, led by her beloved son, Senator Bola Tinubu. Many politicians had often run to her residence at Sunday Adigun Street, Alaus, Ikeja, for endorsement. She was said to be influential on her son, although she also had cause to disagree with him in the public once, while pleading for traders who were temporarily sleeping overnight in market in Lagos. While the former governor aid said that the practice was illegal, Mrs. Mogaji still pleaded on behalf of her primary constituency to the governor to allow them to sort themselves out before applying disciplinary measures.
During her life time, she was honoured with the chieftaincy titles of Yeyeoba of Lagos, Yeyeoba of Ikirun, and Yeyeoba of Kweme. She was also honoured with the Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa) by the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo. She was also conferred with the national award of the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) and Member of the Order of Niger (MON) by the Federal Government.
