By Moshood Adebayo
It was carnival-like in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital as the Egba people remember the late Iyalode Efunroye Tinubu, the first woman to own a motor car in Nigeria, who died 133 years ago.
Tinubu, after whom the popular Tinubu Square, Lagos was named, died on December 3, 1887 after reportedly taking ill two days earlier.
Traditional worshippers led by family members among who were Christians and Muslims offered prayers for the repose of the soul of the legendary woman warrior.
Secretary of the Iyalode Efunroye Tinubu Family of Ojokodo, Gbagura, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Chief Tajudeen Lekan Tinubu, a chartered accountant, who coordinated the remembrance ceremony also explained why the family will continue to celebrate the legendary woman.
His words: ” The reason for the continued celebration of our matriarch, Mama Tinubu is beyond us of whom I’m a great grand son.
“I was born into this compound, Iyalode Efunroye Tinubu Compound, Ojokodo- Gbagura Abeokuta, many decades ago.
”To God be the glory, although I’m now a chartered accountant, but I grew up and I stayed here (in this compound) for my primary, secondary and tertiary educations.
“ So I grew up to meet our forefathers, celebrating this woman within and outside this compound. So it’s what we met in the hands of our parents that we are doing and we will continue to do so.
”Besides this legendary woman being remembered in Lagos, Abeokuta, Sierra Leone for her commercial endeavours, including her slave trade activities, the mark of Madam Efunroye Tinubu is still there in Sierra Leone. Even in Lagos, she had a lot of parcels of land which we are trying to recover from people who have enroached upon.
“’As a family, we owe her a sense of duty, not as a family alone, but the entire Egba nation as a whole. For the records, when the Dahomean war broke out, Mama Tinubu was instrumental to its defeat, particularly those trying to over run the Egba, putting all her personal resources, including wealth into the war to assist the Egba. So the Egba owe her a duty to be remembering her annually. Since God endowed her with the fame and popularity, we as a family must sustain the tempo.
”We are proud of the heritage and fame that she left behind and we will continue to sustain it by remembering her as we have been doing on annual basis. It is also our prayers and desire that those coming behind us will also celebrate this woman of substance’.
Tinubu, though made her exploits in Lagos, where she became an “iron lady”, she was born in Ojokodo, Gbagura where her father also hailed from.
Her mother was of Owu extraction, hence her statue erected in Totoro-Owu area of Abeokuta is an honour to immortalise the great woman of commerce.
Although, she held sway like a colossus, in Lagos, Tinubu never forgot her native town of Abeokuta where she was honoured by her people as the first Iyalode of Egbaland.
