By Nkasiobi Oluikpe/Lagos
Elegbede
Have you ever met a centenarian looking like a septuagenarian? Everything about him, his looks, walks, utterances and just everything he can think about is smart. Nothing about him suggests that he has spent over 100 years on the surface of the earth, except his eye sockets.
He does not wear glasses; yet, he has eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. Despite being a centenarian, he has a complete set of teeth which he flashes at intervals.
The tribal marks on his cheek-bones are fading away and you have to look very closely to know that he has tribal marks identifying him as a native of Oyo town, in the heart of Yoruba land. He has sharp, retentive memory, telling you about events of almost 100 years ago, giving dates with mathematical exactitude. Yet, four generations have flowed out of him! His great, great grand children bubbled about during his centenarian birthday which held recently in Hogan Bassey Church, behind National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
He was born 365 days before Sir Frederick Lord Lugard amalgamated Northern and Southern protectorates into what you now have as corporate Nigeria. He gives you an eye-witness account of how Nigeria evolved into what it is today. He tells you of 1930s, the days before motor cars began to ply Nigerian roads; the days when Raleigh bicycle was status symbol for the wealthy. He tells you how he was enlisted into the army to fight in the Second World War and how he dropped the idea following discouragements by his siblings; how Adolf Hitler rocked the world with atomic bombers and the days of “control,” when food stuffs were rationed to the citizens. Listening to Pa Aiyekale Hamzat Elegbede was like browsing through the encyclopedia of the millennium, giving you an eye-witness account of events which took place throughout a whole century.
Recalling one of his experiences, he mused: “I called at Agodi in Ibadan in 1939. This was the venue for recruitment of soldiers into the Army. I was recruited that year. I was to proceed to Apata Gangan for training in the art of warfare. I told an uncle about my adventure into the Army. But, he discouraged me. He reminded me that I was the only son my mother had and that I would throw the old woman into doldrums if I went to war – and died. So, instantly, I disengaged from the army.”
Young Elegbede then faced the dilemma of what to do for a living. He had earlier spent seven years to learn how to repair bicycles, but later faced the problem of raising capital to start the business of bicycle repairs, sales and merchandising. This predicament looked almost insurmountable. A relative then suggested the idea of moving down to Lagos in search of the proverbial greener pastures.
“Yes, I have an uncle in Lagos,” Pa Elegbede told his relative. “But, I don’t have his contact address. I don’t even have the train fare – nine pence (nine kobo) – to get me across to Lagos.”
The relative encouraged him to overcome these initial obstacles in pursuit of the greener pastures. Somehow, this encouragement paid off.
The train finally arrive Lagos. He said. “I had worried about where to go, how to put shelter over my head, how to make a start. I looked into the empty sky, I saw hopelessness. I clinched to my faith in Allah. He was my only ray of hope at that hopeless moment. Luckily, as I stepped out of the railway station, I saw a lady who resembled Kehinde whom I knew way back in Oyo town. I accosted her. ‘Madam, you look like Kehinde, a native of Oyo. Are you a twin sister? Yes, I am the twin sister, my name is Taiwo. It’s true, my twin sister lives at Oyo. I heaved a deep sigh of relief. I knew at that moment I was going to have somewhere to lay my head at the end of the day. I was delighted to have somewhere to start, after all.
“Do you know the way to Baba Elegbede’s house? Yes, he is our Baba, our grand patriarch here in Lagos. I had to wait in her shop till the end of the day’s business so that together we would go home and go to see Baba Elegbede. My meeting with Baba Elegbede was a warm reunion. He hugged me with all his might.
After exchanging pleasantries, young Elegbede told Baba his reason for travelling down to Lagos, but did not fail to mention that he had earlier enlisted into the Army. Of course, the old man echoed the discouragement for taking such an audacious adventure as joining the Army, pleading that better days would come to him here in Lagos. Young Elegbede accepted the pleas of the old man, and quickly settled down to life in Lagos. He joined his uncle’s merchandise, selling parts of sewing machines in a warehouse in Lagos. I earned six pence (six kobo) a day, he said. And that was a quick good pay for a rural migrant to Lagos.
Public transportation was non-existent in those days, so he had to trek all the way from Obalende through Idumota, and had to walk through the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Ikoyi, in Lagos, where the white men played golf and lived in those days. Pa Elegbede began to dream of setting himself up in the business of bicycles repairs and sales and needed the sum of three pounds to take the first step.
“I secured a loan of three pounds from Aiyebukola Elegbede, my uncle. This got me my first Raleigh bicycle. I soon bought another bicycle, making two. I repaid the loan and this sense of honesty impressed my uncle who said he would give 10 pounds if I requested for such a facility because of my gentlemanly behavior.
“I started off at Anikantamo, a location in the heart of metropolitan Lagos. I became popular as a bicycle merchant, in and around Isalegangan, Ita Faji, Oke-popo and Amuto. I rented an apartment at 2, Lawrence Lane, Ojikutu compound in Lagos, and married in 1942.”
What is the secret of Pa Elegbede’s longevity?
“God gives long life,” he says. “I live within reasonable limits. I eat eba, amala and the native food. But, I stopped eating eba 15 years ago, when I turned to eating wheat for its nutritious contents.”
In 1960s, Pa Elegbede had become renowned on Lagos Island as the foremost Raleigh bicycles merchant. “I repair bicycles, I sell bicycles and people from Badagry come to me to get their strong bicycles.” A good number of his customers were Igbo people, and when Nigerian civil war broke out, they left for the Eastern Region and this exodus badly affected his business.
“I told my wives I was going to learn how to make blocks. They wondered how I would turn into an apprentice at such an advanced age.
“I was to spend the next nine months as an apprentice in the craft of making building blocks. Afterwards, I secured a site at Iponri, which was still a forest in 1958 when we were re-housed at the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) Housing Estate at Hogan Bassey zone in Surulere. It was from here that I went to start my block-making industry at Iponri.
“Block-making is more lucrative than bicycle business. I was able to raise enough money to build a house in my home-town, Oyo – a modest bungalow of eight rooms. Just before the construction of the house was over, some tenants from Ekiti came forward to rent apartments from there. One of them gave birth to twins as soon as they moved in. This was a good omen, my people thought. My block-making business was still booming and I soon erected another building in Ijeshatedo, Surulere, here in Lagos.
“Lagos of those days witnessed few millionaires, Nuru Oniwo, Ajao, and Da Roscha had his palatial mansion at Kakawa Street, in Lagos. These were the few people who could afford saloon cars. They were few and far between.
“I had a property at Alaka, in Surulere, and it was to be taken over by government so I employed Thomas and David Chambers, public solicitors, to pursue the matter for me. It was lawyer Abina, a lawyer in the chambers, who handled the brief and was awarded 65 pounds. I paid five pounds as legal fees.”
It would be recalled that Pa Elegbede was born at Ile Onsha, in Opara district of Oyo town and moved over to Ibadan at the age of 22 when he started to learn the art of bicycle repairs. He married late Wulaimot, then Alhaja Sabitiu Elegbede and Alhaja Sidikatu Elegbede and blessed with many children, grand children, great grand children and great, great grand children.
The post A hale and hearty centenarian appeared first on Daily Independent, Nigerian Newspaper - news,sports,politics,bussiness.