Life As A KOSOKO Family Title Holder

• Prince ABIODUN OLOJO KOSOKO Tells City People

Not too many people will meet the very good looking and amiable Prince Abiodun Olojo Kosoko for the first time and not like him.

This is because he exudes a warm and endearing personality that makes people gravitate towards him and feel extremely comfortable in his experience. But perhaps the most compelling part of his personality is his humility. Despite that he is a blue blood, a prominent member from the illustrious Kosoko family for that matter, Prince Abiodun Olojo Kosoko carries absolutely no chips on his shoulders. No Pride, No Airs. The only pride about him is that he does not conceal, is the fact that he’s a true born Kosoko, and one with two significant traditional titles he’s extremely proud of.

This young charming prince who does not look anything near his age, (he’s in his mid-50s but looks more like a man in his early 40s)  proudly holds two significant titles – the Oloja of Lagos and the Alase of Ebute-Iga. He is a proud traditional gate keeper and one who has shown total commitment to uphold the enduring legacies of the Kosoko dynasty.

Believe it or not, Prince Abiodun started out as a wild life practitioner. He’d spent a large chunk of his life after Youth Service venturing into the thick bushes and forests trying to make life better for the animals there in and contributing his quota to making sure they do not go into extinction.

Two weeks ago, Prince Abiodun Olojo Kosoko accompanied his charming wife, the delectable newly appointed GM of LTV, Sola Kosoko, to the City People Awards for Excellence event held at Etal Hall, Oregun, Ikeja, where she was honoured with an award for her remarkable contributions to broadcasting in Nigeria.

Just before his wife picked  up her award, City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) had a brief chat with Kabiyesi and it was such a huge pleasure talking to him. Enjoy excerpts of the interview.

Kabiyesi, I know you’re from the illustrious Kosoko family, sir, but do tell us a bit more about yourself

Alright, my full name is Abiola Olojo Kosoko and I am currently the Oloja of Lagos and I am also the Alase of Ebute Iga, a town in Ikorodu division. This is where you will now see the Benin and Awori connection. And so I am the Alase of that town and Alase reports to the Oloja, so right now I am occupying the two titles, so I report to myself.

Oh, really? I get that now.

So I am a graduate from three schools, a Polytechnic and 2 Universities and I was born on the fifth day of May, 1970 so I am an old man now. I am married with children. And I used to be a wildlife practitioner.

You are a Wild life expert?

Yes I do animal capturing,

I maintain most of the zoos in Nigeria until I became a traditional gate keeper and before then I studied Estate management. I am a chartered Estate Surveyor, a chartered town planner and I am a coordinator from Nigeria association of Zoo owners and parks operators, so that makes me the western coordinator of the wildlife advocate office. So, majorly, I am into tourism development and marketing and on that ground I stand and want to maintain as a traditional gate keeper.

That’s a  very interesting resume.

Apart from the fact that you were born into the illustrious Kosoko family, how have you been able to sustain your passion for culture and hold down the traditional positions you occupy?

You see, there are two ways to it. The first is, if you are merely interested in it, it’s different from when you are anointed. When you are anointed to  take over certain positions, the spirit comes in and takes over but when you only want to become what you have not been anointed to become, chances are that you will simply remain there, that is when you don’t understand when and how to talk, and what to do and how to do it. And most times, people, I think I am not a regular person anymore because of what I do, how I do things and what I see. You see, truely I have this blue blood in me from my mother’s side and my dad’s side as well but that does not stop me from understanding the principles of who I am and this principles of who I am is always boiling in me to protect the culture and traditions of who I am and on that ground I have continued to see myself as a promoter of culture and promoter of destination. And coming into the traditional platform of being a traditional gate keeper that makes me to understand that I don’t need to be keeping culture alone, but now I need to bring in tradition and make sure that the heritage is always maintained.

Not for my own sake but for the sake of those people that would be coming behind me. That’s what gave me the reasons to start looking at what I can put together that would outlive me, because if you live as a traditional ruler and you think you have something to gain, there is nothing to gain except the legacy you leave behind. Your legacy comes out after you are gone. So that is why they said “nkan ti Oba ba se, leyin ti oba ba lo ni wan ti so”

Meaning it is only when the king is no more that people talk about his deeds. So it is better for me to keep the legacy alive when I am gone, so that when it gets to my own lineage again, it’s going to take about 10000 or 20000 years again, my own descendants will not be put aside. I need to do something beautiful that no matter how poor or rich my children will be, the people would be there to give them support to continue to exist and that is the beauty about what I am thinking and that is what I think I should continue to do.

Tell us, how did you get involved in wildlife?

Its one funny story because I read Town Planning, and I did estate management. Being a chartered member I realized in the estate world people are getting involved in other things. Most of the seniors were getting in other businesses, trying to do some other things. Because people don’t understand that the buying and selling of real estate management, of estate surveyor and valuer is all about renting and rentals, and renting and rentals was becoming the activities of washer men and dry cleaners. So what I did was to start looking for how to move and move to something else and being a town planner I figured that, okay, let me change the face of being a town planner, from the usual line drawings into  wild life planning and getting into wild life Planning, that made me to say, okay, let me start a Zoological Garden, So I started the first zoological Garden in Lagos after the collapse of the old one in binning, the one they know as binning zoo. Later, I started a new one that is known as Origin Gardens and from there I became prominent that I started maintaining other people’s zoos and setting of zoos I am the person that set up the President Obasanjo Presidential Library Wild life Park. I started from scratch, I employed and I trained people. So what I did again was to see myself going to learn how animals are being handled traditionally, so that made me to go to Katsina. The Katsina man handles snakes, it is not charm, they understand the principles. How the Kaduna man handles hyena and so on, those are the things I had to learn. I had to take time to learn them. Those are the things I embedded into my life, that make me a professional and in that again, I started looking at, how do I promote destination because going through the history of Lagos you’re going to see the historical sight mostly named by my own progenitor Kosoko, going by what he has accomplished in life in Lagos, because without him there is no Lagos, without Lagos there is no Nigeria. So it is his action that brought about the bombardment of Lagos and Lagos being a colony and for the British to start moving to the entire land, that is the principle that I looked at, that I needed to do something that would make me also share the glory like my fore fathers that had it. So wildlife is a beautiful thing that would make every individual to see nature as a thing that you need to protect for human beings to continue to live, because if you don’t make nature to come into reality, man would be shut out from being in existence.

How involved are you in wild life now that you are saddled with the  responsibilities that come with the traditional positions you occupy?

Yeah, it’s a tough one because  then you see me with this Afro hair and because I didn’t have time much time for myself, I go on combat shorts and all the rest and then, all of a sudden, everything changed from my usual way to wearing native. I never had native outfits but now, its what I wear mostly. So, what I started doing is to see how I can create history out of a dead zone of our cultural line that is being put aside and that gave birth to me establishing Kosoko memorial museum. Its the history of Lagos being put together, talking about pictorials, descriptive history, musicals, instruments and fun stuffs. So those are the things that are being put together.

How long did it take you to put this up?

Between 2 years. Its is in the palace now, in king Kosoko’s palace. So, what I did again is, I said how do I also maintain the history, the cultural heritage of Africa? That brought about the Kosoko royal institute of African tradition and royal values and we will be having the grand opening ceremony this  December. Its going to be on the 6 hecters of land, and it is about 4.2 billion naira worth of project.

That’s amazing …..

Okay, let me also break this down to you. You know the Oloja of Lagos is a title given to Kosoko in 1833 by his kid brother,  Idewu made that happen and after Akintoye also made it a real one and the British also made it happen again in 1863. There is a letter to that effect so that made Kosoko the grand commandant and protector of all the markets and it’s environs. He is the Oloja of Lagos and Kosoko had nobody but women as his deputy and that brought about the Oloja of Lagos. So Madam Tinubu was the first, Nimota Apeniwura was the second, Habibat.. was the third and the current holder, Folashade, is the fourth. So that is  different from Alase, Alase is the traditional custodian of a Ebute Iga and the major person that determines the cultural thrive of Ikorodu division, so he is the custodian of the Oro deity in the entire town and decides what happens and he ushers in the first festival in Lagos State. So those are the two titles I have.

I am sure if we engage you for the next one hour you would still have a lot to share with us. Finally, sir, tell us about your wife, the very popular television personality, Sola Kosoko?

(Smiles) Adesola Kosoko is a good woman that has a lot inside her. If given the opportunity, Sola can make heaven a place for everybody to stay because she is a mother that doesn’t care much about what happens to her, provided that she has taken care of everyone around her as a mother. She is a wife that doesn’t create barriers, either invisible or physical, between her and her family, whether in her own side of the family or my side of the family. And of course, we both come from the same dynasty, the Eshinlokun Royal family. She is from the Odunsi Royal Family and I am from the Kosoko family. So, in a way, internally, we are all cousins. Indeed, she is a woman of many parts.

What was the first thing that struck you about her when you first met?

Yeah,  apart from her beauty, I saw that she is a woman that is independent minded. She doesn’t need so much of a man’s contribution for her to achieve her goals and that made me see that this is one lady that can go on her own independently and become whatever she wants to be. Even if I am not there she can stand on her own, so all she needed was a shoulder to lean on, so I provided the shoulder for her as a spring board and here she is today.