No doubt, if anyone is familiar with the popular densely populated suburb of Lagos State known as Agege, they must have always been overwhelmed by the domination of Northerners most especially Hausas in the area. Little wonder what would have transpired ages back for the Hausas to take a second home in Agege? Think no further, by the time you read this write up to the last dot, you must have been accustomed with the whole circumstances that brought about the prevalence of Hausas in the nooks and crannies of Agege.
The fairly busy railway line in Agege cuts through the Hausa community, popularly known as Zango Agege. Obviously, the mood of daily life in parts of Zango in Agege closely resembles the far Northern part of Nigeria, and the story behind the name 'Agege' tells much about ties between the Hausas and Yorubas. Zango in Hausa language means convergence point/place for traveling Hausas. It is also a place cows are kept. This is Agege Lagos with Northern structure. Interestingly, the Yorubas call Zango as Sango Agege.
The community is made up of five parts and each part has a Ward Head. There is an Imam, countless Mosques, endless alleys as well as a big market, many houses and a huge population. This multilingual population can be found on both sides of the railway line. It is said that the train lines were already in place a hundred years ago.
History has it that the trains brought cattle from the North, and conveyed Kola nuts up north from the South West (Yoruba Land). There is a huge trading population in Zango Agege, and it is difficult walking along the path which runs by the side of the railway line. People trade right up to the edge of the busy path, and customers stand within this same place to make purchases. Hausa is the common tongue there, in fact you would think you are somewhere in the North, but you aren't. The feeling lingers, however.
Moreover, the Hausa community of Agege is altogether an unforgettable place. A popular account states that the Hausa community of Agege produced the 200 men who formed the nucleus of what later became the Nigerian Army, the palace of Sarki Hausawa, Alh. Musa Abubakar - Leader of the Hausa community, is adjacent the railway line, and it is encircled by countless traders.
An Hausa angle of the history of Agege revealed that the relationship between the Northerners and Yorubaland dated centuries ago. It was revealed that Agege has always been a stopover point for Hausa traders who are journeying onwards to places such as Ghana, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Togo and Cameroon. The Hausa traders exercise some rest in Agege before continuing on the trips. Thus, Agege began to function like a Zango, for Hausa traders who journeyed up to West African Neighbours to buy Kola nuts and return with same to the North.
After a while, the Hausa traders saw that the weather at Gonja, the Kola nut producing area of Ghana, was similar to that of Lagos, and so Kola nuts seed were brought and planted in the Agege area. This was meant as a simple test, but eventually, the Kola crop began to flourish. The new found treasure on Agege's soil apparently halted the Hausa traders' constant traveling to Gonja, Ghana. Thus, instead of going to Gonja to buy Kola nuts, they now stopped at Orile Agege to buy same, and this new Kola nut was thereafter named Obi-Gonja or Gonja Kola nut. That was how Hausas formally began to settle in the Agege area, much unlike the past when they were simply passing through on trading missions to other parts of West Africa.
