• Erelu Dosunmu Photo: Sun News Publishing

Woman of the Sun Index

It was a few minutes after 7pm at the banquet hall, Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Lagos. Some guests were already seated at the venue of the Women of Substance award ceremony clad in white. As soon as she stepped in, all eyes turned in her direction.

You could never miss her imposing presence, fair complexion and regal steps in any crowd. Meet the Erelu of Ikeja and Ogudu Princess Mudirakat Adeyi Mopelola, as she takes you through her routine. "After the Oba, the next person is the Erelu. She is the senior woman in the town and her duties include taking care of the palace. I have been the Erelu of Ikeja for three years and Erelu of Ogudu for two years."

Happily, she recalls the day she learnt that she had been nominated to take the position. "I must say that I rejected the offer initially. Then I was a businesswoman, selling textiles. That was my mother’s trade and I went into this after my education. So, that day I told them there was a woman who was known as erelu. But they took me to her and she told me that she wanted me to step into her shoes".

In Osun State, you discover a powerful woman with this title. Erelu Olusola Obada, two-time deputy governor. A woman who sure knows her onions. She is a quintessential grassroots mobilizer, a lawyer and distinguished woman of substance. Her father, Prince David Olatunde Agbeja was a distinguished permanent secretary in the old western region and a former Managing Director of National Bank of Nigeria.

Next you unveil Erelu Angela Adebayo, another striking woman to behold. Her pretty face came to the limelight when her husband was elected governor of Ekiti State in 1999. Adebayo had her secondary education at the prestigious Queen’s College, Lagos, and proceeded to the University of Ibadan where she bagged a degree in Architecture. Her second degree took her to the University of Lagos and a third at Cambridge University, England.

The title is so grand that some use it to qualify women they admire. "I served close to four years from 1977 to 1981 under Francisca Emanuel, who I am inclined to describe as my own ‘Erelu’ of the Nigerian public service", says Wunmi Akintide of her former boss and first Nigerian female permanent secretary.

Many years back, King Sunny Ade waxed a hit album extolling the virtues of a powerful Lagosian, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu Fernandez. She is Erelu Kuti IV of Lagos, an elegant and glamorous woman. Born into the royal family of Prince Adewunmi and Ajoke Dosunmu of Lagos Island, Dosunmu became a widow at the tender age of 25 with two children to cater for. She remarried again in the 80’s but the relationship later collapsed.

Dosunmu initiated a foundation specially designed to promote commerce, arts and culture. Today, she’s a champion of arts and culture.

As you scroll down memory lane, you discover that the first Erelu, Kuti, was a younger sister to Oba Akinsemoyin, one of the earliest Obas of Lagos. Unfortunately, the Oba had no male child. But there was a medicine man from Ilesa, Alagba, who came to the palace and predicted that the Oba would have a male child. He then started consulting the oracle for the Oba while also preparing medicine for him.
Eventually, the Oba had a son and he was very happy. At a point he called all his daughters and said he would like one of them to marry Alagba in appreciation for what he did for him. But all the princesses refused, they found it degrading for them to marry a medicine man.

However, Erelu who is a sister to the Oba but living within the palace volunteered to marry Alagba and she did. Alagba and Erelu then relocated from the palace. They later had a child, Ologunkutere. On the day they went to present the child to the Oba for his blessings, the Oba was very happy. He blessed the child and at one point removed his crown, put it on the child's head and also placed the child on the throne.

For everyone who witnessed the event, it was very symbolic. This action meant that Oba Akinsemoyin had chosen a successor in Ologunkutere. Ologunkutere therefore emerged as Oba and since then, all the Obas of Lagos had come from the Ologunkutere lineage. No Akinsemoyin had been Oba since then. The Erelu also became the mother of an Oba and head of the princes and princesses in the palace.