Olodi Apapa: A charming enclave of Hausas in Lagos
Even this was done with some more laughter. Finally, it was possible to take the picture after some gentle scolding of the children by some of the elders and onlookers nearby. The popular ‘Hausa line’, located within Olodi Apapa in Lagos State, has been inhabited by Hausas for some one hundred years now and, like […]
Even this was done with some more laughter. Finally, it was possible to take the picture after some gentle scolding of the children by some of the elders and onlookers nearby. The popular ‘Hausa line’, located within Olodi Apapa in Lagos State, has been inhabited by Hausas for some one hundred years now and, like a magnet, it continually attracts persons of Hausa descent from the North. For instance, Danlami who hails from Tudun Wada in Kaduna State has lived there for 60 years. Abdullahi too has lived in the same community for 50 years, while Shehu Katako, Sarkin Hausawa, has also lived there for a total of 60 years.
My contacts say the Hausa community developed the street along which the community is found. Slowly, the population of Hausas grew and grew, until, finally, the neighbouring communities began to refer to the area as ‘Hausa Line’. There are shops, dwellings, restaurants, mosques, tea sellers, shoe repairers, tailors, local barbers (wanzamai) and countless other folks who help to define and give colour to Olodi Apapa. Thus the area came to be called Hausa line, because of the high number of Hausas as well as the unmistakable presence of what may be called Hausa culture.
It is said that people in the neighbourhood be they Igala, Itsekiri, Igbo or Yoruba, jointly refer to the long densely populated street as ‘Hausa Line’. “Any place where Hausas are in the majority is called Hausa Line,” Danlami insists.
He says that he first came to Lagos many years ago to live with his brother who traded in cows. He then joined the cow trade and would bring cows from the North to Lagos, and return to the North with kola nuts and other items which he would source from Lagos.
He says: “I would buy cows from the North and bring to Lagos to sell. After selling these, I would buy rice, flour, sugar and kola nuts and return with same to the North.”
He says he married a Hausa lady in Olodi Apapa who was born in Lagos. There are many individuals who married Hausa wives in Olodi Apapa, that is Hausa ladies born in Lagos.
Some of the parents of these Hausa women were born in Lagos too. There are many Hausa men whose first home is Lagos, for they were born there. There is a high level of intermarriage and mixing of cultures going on in the community. Thus there is a long history of Hausa settlement, not just in Olodi Apapa, but in Lagos as a whole.
Professor Mahdi Adamu confirms this when he writes in his remarkable book, The Hausa Factor in West African History (1978), that ‘One of the greatest sources of military support for Adele, King of Lagos, and later of Kosoko also of Lagos, were the Muslim slaves who were of Hausa, Nupe and Barebari origins’.
Another important resident trader, identified as Sarkin Fulani (leader of the Fulani), says that he used to bring cows from the North to sell in Lagos, and this eventually made him to settle in Olodi Apapa.
“I would spend thirty days trekking with cows from Sokoto. I would sell the cows and take the money back to the North, and buy more cows to return to the South with. Sometimes, ten of us will bring 50 cows from the North and trek with these to the south,” he says.
Long distance trade between the North and South has been going on for centuries, and is a vital aspect of Nigeria’s integration. Sarkin Hausawa says that there is a lot of movement both into and out of the community which stretches from one end of Tolu Street right up to the end of Taiwo Street in the area.
He says migrant workers used to come to the Olodi Apapa area of Lagos a long time ago, and the culture is still alive today. He says: “Some used to come here and work for a few months, and then go back home. While here they sell goats, beans and sugar cane, and also carry out menial jobs. Our people work hard here and then go back later”.
Alhaji Ayuba Alhassan, who hails from Hadejia in Jigawa State, is the 55-year-old Imam of the Arewa Central Mosque, Olodi Apapa. He says the mosque has had five imams since it was established, and that he has been in Olodi Apapa for some 25 years. He says he came to the community to spread Islam, a spiritual duty. “The Almighty inspired me to come here to spread Islam,” he told Sunday Trust. Young men sit in the mosque which has a large central hall and a separate, smaller wing outside.
A merchant sits within the mosque selling caps, which he says he has been doing in the same area for many years. He adds that he is a former staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority, and is receiving his pension. Then there are also those who sell yams in small pyramids in a section of Olodi Apapa. The yam trade is big business in Lagos, they chorus, as they keep on building the small pyramids under the full glare of the afternoon sun.
Here again the comments of Professor Adamu on the roles of Hausas on the economic activities in Yoruba land are appropriate. “Hausas are generally engaged by the chiefs to tend their cattle. The barbers and rope makers are also mostly Hausa and Fulani, these are crafts rarely practised by Yorubas,” he writes. “These Hausa also perform some minor surgical operations such as cupping, bone setting.”
Another prominent figure in the community, Shehu ‘Yarmusa, the Garkuwa of Lagos, has many large houses in Olodi Apapa. He lives in one of these houses, while the rest are rented out to individuals. Some of the houses are tall storey buildings, and they help to define the skyline of Olodi Apapa in an unforgettable way. If you turn and look upwards you cannot miss the numerous houses of the Garkuwa. Sunday Trust is told that the Garkuwa has three wives, two of whom are Yoruba and this is a common feature of most of the families of ‘Hausa line’. Olodi Apapa is a little, charming slice of the North which is alive in Lagos.