DKM

In 1914, he founded the Ogboni society: Reverend T. A. J. Ogunbiyi, O.B.E I’ve postponed this post too many a times cos I didn’t have some details I needed. I now have those details. I decided to find out more and what I found is one of the most interesting stories in Lagos history. His name is Reverend and Honourable T. A. J. Ogunbiyi, O.B.E. The photo you are seeing was taken when he was already over 80 years old. The caption says he still took a very active part in the religious and political life of Lagos. He was born in Lagos in 1866, Thomas Adesina Jacobson Ogunbiyi. He became a teacher and a priest in the Anglican Church. In 1890 he was posted to Ondo as the first official teacher there, and he single handedly revived formal education at St. Stephen's Anglican Primary School. By 1921 he had risen to become Archdeacon of Lagos. That alone made him one of the most powerful church men in Nigeria at the time. 3. In 18th December 1914, he did something that shocked both the British and the church. He founded the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity. He originally called it Ogboni Onigbagbo, which means The Ogboni Fraternity of the Christians. Think about that. A top Anglican Archdeacon, founding an Ogboni society. For him, it was not about returning to idol worship. It was about saying, a Christian Yoruba man does not have to abandon his culture to be a good Christian. Educated Lagos men were caught between a colonial church that rejected their blackness and a traditional society they were drifting away from. He wanted to bridge that gap. That decision still causes debate till today. Because of his influence, the British made him a member of the Legislative Council of Nigeria in 1936. He was among that small group of African elites who sat at the table with the colonial government and spoke for Lagos. He travelled wide. He visited Jerusalem. And in 1947 he served as a Nigerian member of the Colonial Conference in London. During that trip he visited Buckingham Palace and was received by His Majesty The King. The British gave him the OBE, the Order of the British Empire, for his service. And in Lagos he was known for one thing above all: kindness and generosity. So this is not just an old man in traditional cloth. This is a priest, a teacher, a politician, a cultural reformer, and a philanthropist. All in one life. A man who tried to prove that you can be a devout Christian, a proud Yoruba man, and a Nigerian leader at the same time. That is why they still call him the Reverend and Honourable, even in old age. Now You Know