The Chairman of Adamakin Investments and Works Limited, Akindele Adamakin, has called on the Federal Government to bestow a posthumous national honour on the late business tycoon, Madam Efunroye Tinubu.

Adamakin made this call on the occasion of the 138th remembrance of Madam Tinubu and the company’s End-of-Year celebration.

The event held on Wednesday night at the Civic Centre, Lagos, saw Adamakin argue that Madam Tinubu deserved the honour as she was regarded as the most powerful female figure in 19th-century West Africa.

He also cited Tinubu’s contributions to commerce and the territorial integrity of Lagos and Abeokuta.

Adamakin, who is also the sole administrator of the late Madam Efunroye Tinubu’s estate, used the event to also call for justice regarding the expansive estate of the late Tinubu.

Adamakin said, “The significance of this event is to let the political class in Lagos and across Nigeria know that the land they live on was acquired genuinely.

“If she were in another part of the world, she would have been canonised. Her tomb in Abeokuta should be a global tourism hub for people from America and beyond to see that a black woman owned such a vast estate by purchase and conquest long before the white man’s influence peaked,” Adamakin said.

He lamented the removal of indigenous history from school curricula, noting that while Mansa Musa is celebrated in Mali, Nigeria’s own legends risk being forgotten.

“She was a woman who dealt with the Portuguese before the British annexation. She was a woman of the brain, not just beauty, leaving a legacy that predates modern schools and hospitals,” he added.

A highlight of his address was clarification of the Tinubu family tree, particularly the link to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

While acknowledging the President’s role in taking the ‘Tinubu’ name to global prominence, Adamakin noted a disconnect between Lagos- and Abeokuta-based branches of the family dating back to 1945.

“The real Tinubu that our President bears is Madam Efunroye Tinubu. We are using this medium to reunify and bring all Tinubus to the table. We want the President to be aware that the generation of Madam Tinubu is very much alive and seeking a unified front,” he explained.

Chief Adamakin did not hold back on what he described as the massive illegal occupation of the Tinubu Estate by both private individuals and government agencies, spanning areas from Lagos Island through Ibeju-Lekki and deep into the Lagos mainland.

He recalled the 1853 banishment of Madam Tinubu by the colonial administration to ‘Ibobi’ (now Igbobi), then a dense forest, and highlighted historical landmarks such as Tinubu Village and Tinubu Close as proof of her acquisitions.

“If you go to the mainland today, you see Tinubu Village and Tinubu Close. This is not a myth; it is a legal fact recorded since the colonial era. Most of these lands were acquired by her through purchase and conquest,” Adamakin said.

He criticised government decisions that have ignored court orders regarding the estate, urging those occupying the lands illegally to heed the family’s call.

“The hungry man has no principle,” he warned, stressing that the current economic climate makes the recovery of family assets even more critical.

Linking national insecurity to poverty and lack of education, Adamakin argued that decades of economic decline, including the collapse of the naira since the 1980s, have fostered an environment where “a man would rather break the physical than die of hunger alone.”

He called on the government to prioritise education as the primary tool to tackle insecurity.

The event, a vibrant mix of history and culture, attracted several luminaries of the Nigerian creative industry, including veteran Nollywood actors Segun Arinze, Saheed Balogun, Adewale Adeoye (Eleso), Owolabi Ajasa, Anthony Ogundimu, Doyin Amodu, and Abolaji Amusan (Mr Latin). (PUNCH)

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