𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞? 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐀𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐮 𝐂. 𝐃. 𝐀𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐧, 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

By Peter Dansu  Badagry’s story should have been one of uninterrupted prominence. This is a town often described as the cradle of Nigeria’s ...

By Peter Dansu 

Badagry’s story should have been one of uninterrupted prominence. This is a town often described as the cradle of Nigeria’s development. It hosted the first storey building in the country. It welcomed the earliest missionaries. It produced early administrators, educators and statesmen. At a time when Nigeria was still finding its feet, Badagry was already walking ahead.

So how did a place with such pedigree end up struggling for recognition even within Lagos State.

The question becomes more painful when history is revisited. Badagry once produced a king who was not only a traditional ruler but a parliamentarian, a regional minister of local government and economic planning, and later a minister of finance. Today, the same Badagry is often content with peripheral political appointments, watching from the margins while others shape decisions that affect its future.

One name captures both the glory of the past and the irony of the present. Oba Claudius Dosa Akran.

Born in 1899 into the respected Kopon family of Jegba quarters, Oba Akran belonged to a generation that believed leadership was about service, not noise. His path was shaped early by education, thanks to a Catholic priest who convinced his father to allow him attend school at a time many still doubted Western learning. From St Gregory’s College to King’s College, Lagos, he was trained for responsibility, not entitlement.

He entered public service in 1926 through the Post and Telegraph Department and spent over twenty years learning the mechanics of administration, communication and governance. By the time he left the service in 1947, he was already a seasoned public servant with a national outlook.

When he ascended the throne as Aholu Jiwa II of Jegba and became Oba Akran of Badagry, he did not retreat into ceremonial comfort. Instead, he carried Badagry into the national conversation. In 1951, he represented the town in parliament, giving Badagry a clear voice at a critical moment in Nigeria’s political evolution.

His competence soon spoke for him. In 1952, he was appointed Regional Minister of Local Government and Economic Planning. Later, between 1962 and 1966, he served as Regional Minister of Finance. At a defining moment in Nigeria’s history, a king from Badagry was entrusted with managing a regional treasury. That trust was not symbolic. It was earned.

Back home, his leadership translated into tangible progress. As a leading figure in the Badagry Town Council and the Egun Awori Native Authority, he pushed for development that would outlive him. In 1955, Badagry Grammar School was established under his influence, becoming the town’s first secondary school and a foundation for human capital development. Infrastructure improved. Communication services expanded. Roads and electricity followed.

Oba Akran embodied a time when Badagry did not beg to be seen. It led by capacity, by intellect and by contribution. The town produced leaders who were central to decision making, not afterthoughts in political arrangements.

That is why the present reality hurts. How did a town that once produced a finance minister king become satisfied with third tier relevance. How did Badagry move from shaping policy to pleading for appointments. How did a cradle of national development drift to the edges of state politics.

These questions are not attacks. They are mirrors.

Oba Claudius Dosa Akran’s life reminds Badagry of what it once stood for and what it is capable of again. His story is not just history. It is a challenge. A reminder that decline is not destiny and relevance is not granted by pity but earned through vision, unity and purposeful leadership.

Badagry has been great before. The real question is whether it is ready to be great again.