by Chuks Oluigbo
“Many many things happen for Ojuelegba…” sang Oritse Femi in his “Double Wahala” track, a remake of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s song.
Some ten years before Oritse Femi was born, the late Afrobeat maestro had used Ojuelegba as a metaphor for the confused state of Nigeria in the song titled “Confusion”.
Fela sang thus: “For Ojuelegba, moto dey come from-u east / moto dey come from-u west / moto dey come from-u north / moto dey come from-u south / and policeman no dey for centre / na confusion be dat-ee-oh…”
Wizkid, whom the younger generations have been trying to place side by side with Fela, also has a song dedicated to Ojuelegba.
Such is the popularity of one of the busiest crossroads in Lagos State, South-West Nigeria, located in Surulere Local Government Area.
Being a major stop on the ever-busy Ikorodu Road, Ojuelegba is a vital connection point for travel between the Mainland and the Island areas of Lagos as well as within the Mainland area. It is central to three surrounding districts of Surulere, Yaba and Mushin. Equally, places like Ikeja, Oshodi, Itire, Lawanson, Orile, CMS, Idumota, Ijora, Ajegunle, Apapa and many others can easily be linked from Ojuelegba.
Ojuelegba’s rowdy setting is legendary. This comes from its uniquely-dense spaces and the buzz of commercial activities that go on even on the streets. Bank branches conspicuously dot the Ojuelegba environs, adding corporate flavour to the otherwise pedestrian buzz. The popular Tejuosho market, Spar and other businesses around the area make the stretch from Ojuelegba to Yaba a beehive. Here is where dealers on window blinds beseech you with their in-your-face, sometimes annoying “customer-come-and-buy” chit-chat.
East of the Ojuelegba crossroads is where Yaba College of Technology is located, and not too far away is the prestigious University of Lagos. The highly-rated Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is also located not far away from Ojuelegba, while on the south is the popular National Stadium, a key venue for notable national and international sporting events. It shouldn’t surprise, then, that traffic congestion is one of the hallmarks of Ojuelegba. At such times, though, the Ojuelegba bridge has come to prove a huge blessing to motorists as it serves as an escape route, especially for those that are on a continuous move on the expressway.
Urban legend has it that Ojuelegba at some point, precisely in the 1980s and 90s, boasted boisterous night life as night crawlers intermingled between Fela’s Moshalashi Shrine on Agege Motor Road and the red light district stretching from Ayilara Street to parts of Clegg Street.
Has anything changed about this centre of human and vehicular traffic that many prefer to call an “urban jungle”?
Not much. Ojuelegba is still a place where people hardly go to sleep. No matter what time of night it is, Ojuelegba is never bereft of human presence as people can be seen on the streets going about whatever business only they know of. Even some food-sellers make night their morning at Ojuelegba.
More so, the lights around Ayilara still turn red at night, and men with itchy groins rove the night like unburied corpses in search of softer palms to scratch their itch. Only that they have to be cautious of other kinds of night-roamers, especially those who carry more than condoms in their pockets seeking another kind of satisfaction.
