Have you ever been in an altercation with someone in Lagos and the person told you, “I go show you say I be Mushin babe”? Or something like, “No dey take me play o. Na Mushin dem born me, and na Mushin I for grow up”?
Lol. Just in case you didn’t know, Mushin na strong place o. Mushin chaps no dey play. If you know, you know.
One would guess that this display of bravado stems from Mushin’s reckoning as one of the Lagos suburbs known for constant neighbourhood gang clashes, where rival gangs like to flex muscles, engage in supremacy battle, armed sometimes with guns, cutlasses, broken bottles and more. These clashes often result in killing of persons, destruction of vehicles, burning of houses and sometimes shops, and other forms of mindless destruction.
Located 10km north of the city core, adjacent the main road to Ikeja, Mushin, a local government area in Lagos State, boasts of 14 wards – Alakara, Babalosa, Babalosa/Idi-Araba, Idi-Araba, Idi-Oro/Odi-Olowu, Ilasamaja, Ilupeju, Ilupeju Industrial Estate, Itire, Kayode/Fadeyi, Mushin/Atewolara, Ojuwoye, Olateju, and Papa-Ajao. It is mostly a residential area notorious for its congestion, inadequate sanitation and low-quality housing.
However, the centre of Mushin is located around Ojuwoye Town, where the Owoye shrines are located.
In many communities in the area, as in many Lagos suburbs, it is easy to find young people engaging in abuse of substances like Rophypnol, Swinol, 502, Shisha, Goscolo, and varying grades of weed.
But Mushin is not all about neighbourhood gangs and fights.
Encyclopedia Britannica describes Mushin as “the site of a large industrial estate” where “commercial enterprises include spinning and weaving cotton, shoe manufacturing, bicycle and motorized-cycle assembly, and the production of powdered milk”, and where “agricultural produce is brought for sale in the large central market”.
And, Mushin has an interesting history of origin. The prevailing story has it that the name “Mushin” comes from two Yoruba words: “Mu”, which means “pick”, and “Ishin”, a fruit.
According to the story, Mushin was founded over 600 years ago by two hunters/explorers – Odu-Abore from IIe-Ife and Aileru from Benin. Before then, it was a jungle begging for habitation, and no one wanted to be identified with it. The two men met in the area by coincidence and chose a spot under the Ishin tree, located along the road to Eko (Lagos), as their abode. The place soon became a resting point for many travellers on their journey to Lagos on foot. With time, people started to join the two hunters to form a village. Because of its strategic position, the village gradually grew into a town and later a commercial city.
Meanwhile, despite their internal wrangling, youths of Mushin know how to put aside their differences and unite against a common threat. You remember in 2020, during the COVID-induced lockdown, when the One Million Boys robbery gang moved from place to place around Lagos terrorising residents? They didn’t dare enter Mushin. Reports had it that Mushin boys united to repel their attack at Ilupeju. Imagine what would be if these energies are channelled to a positive cause!
