My bus-stop will continue to exist in Lagos, Charly Boy blasts Bariga LCDA

 

 

 

…Sowore fumes 

 

By Bose Adelaja 

 

CITIZENS COMPASS— 75-year-old singer and human rights activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, on Sunday, said his bus-stop, Charly Boy bus-stop, along Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos-State, would continue to exist for humanity sake.

He was responding to the renaming of the bus-stop by Bariga Local Council Development Area.

The bus-stop which had been in existence for decades was renamed after a renowned hip-hop artist, Olamide Adedeji, popularly known as Olamide Badoo.

According to him, the bus-stop was not a creation of any government be it local, State or federal.

He said the bus-stop grew out of a people’s love for him and his large, fearless heart.

In a chat with Citizens Compass, the activist recalled his activism for the ordinary people.

Going down memory lane, Charly Boy was noted for activism and the convener of Our Mumu Don Do movement.

He was popularly referred to as “Area Fada”.

The immediate past council chairman of Bariga LCDA, Kolade David, announced the renaming of the bus stop describing it as a move to honour some hard-working Nigerians.

According to Kolade, “As an administration, we took our time to reflect on a number of our people who have put the name of our local council out on the global map through their respective God-given talents and craft, as well as eminent personalities in our nation and our beloved state and local council who have contributed immensely to the development of our nation and our state. Today, we will be officially renaming streets in honour of the legacies.”

Responding, Charly Boy said: “Nobody will dare beat you for this truism.

“And should anyone be foolish to try, they’ll have me to contend with.

“A Charly Boy Bus Stop that wasn’t a creation of any government – whether local or state…

“A Charly Boy Bus Stop that grew out of a people’s love for a man and his large, fearless heart…

“A Charly Boy Bus Stop that has been in existence for almost 4 decades, long before these _idiatic_ politicians learnt how to wear pata – that is even if they were born then sef…

“That is the same Charly Boy Bus Stop that the _idiats_ with a 4-year life span in office will think they can just erase with one _stoopid_ press release.

“Dem nor well, aswear.

“The combination of dangerous tribal bigotry, cheap non-Fela approved igbo, adulterated _loud_ , and fried palm oil on the brain has very dangerous repercussions, indeed.

“At any rate, that name, Charly Boy Bus Stop, will remain for as long as humanity exists…

“The people, and especially the okada riders who gave that iconic bus stop it’s equally iconic name, will never ever cease to call it what they’ve always called it for the better part of 40 years…

“Let the _idiats_ send their goons into every bus, onto every okada, stand at the bus stop 24/7, all year round, to arrest the hundreds of thousands that will continue to shout:

“Charly Boyyy?”

“O wa o!!!”

In her response titled, “Charlie Boy does not deserve a bus-stop in Lagos,” Mrs Ebunola Adebusoye, the Deputy Women leader of Indigenous Lagos Teachers Association, lauded the renaming of the bus-stop.

“My name is Mrs Ebunola Adebusoye. I’m the Deputy Women leader of Indigenous Lagos Teachers Association

“I write this in my personal opinion. My group has not authorised me to do this on its behalf, but I have to do it after consultation with the Lagos General Secretary, at least to avoid organisational indiscipline. I’m happy I was given the go-ahead to write my own personal opinion.

“I speak on the reigning issue of the renaming of Charly Boy Bus Stop in Lagos to Badoo Bus stop, an exercise executed by the Chairman, Bariga LCDA.

“First of all, I thank the Chairman for living up to the expectations of the people of Gbagada where Charles Oputa, alias Charly Boy also referred to as Area Father lived and tormented the residents for many years. As a Lagos indigene and from the Royal home, we are proud of what the Chairman did.

“At 65 and as a retired School teacher, I have a sense of what morality means.

“Having a Bus Stop with the name Charly Boy is an attempt to glorify immorality of the highest order.

“Firstly, Area Father never had a Bus Stop allocated to him at Gbagada. When he moved here many years ago, the first thing he did was to pull down the existing Bus Stop signpost which was second Pedro named after a prominent Lagos family that had put in sweat and blood to the growth, fame and rise of Lagos.

“Charly Boy was never officially allocated any Bus Stop. That is the truth. Calling the place Charly Boy was his own creation.

“Secondly, Charly boy lived in this area as a little beast. He tormented the residents, turned the place into a jungle, a hub for hard drugs including cocaine and hooliganism. I lived close to him for about 5 years. Myself and my husband had to relocate to Ikorodu because of this nuisance.

“He was an extremely bad influence on youths and the core values of Yoruba Nation.

“I recall his attack on a 70 year old Mr Akinyemi who challenged his rascality.

“He ordered his thugs to beat up the old man who he stripped naked.

“I recall the children of this old man who came to challenge him were also beaten up.

“These actions, if taken in any civilised world would have been challenged by the relevant authority and Charly Boy would have been sent to jail.

“He was contemptuous of Yoruba people who he derided and insulted so often.

“He has no respect for the tradition and values of his host.

“He owed his landlord seven years rent which he never paid. The landlady, a Yorubaland woman died of hypertension

“Charly Boy converted the rented apartment into a studio that his wife managed. He pulled down the fence and converted the building to his own shape.

“He would insult and harass the woman, playing music all day and all night. The woman died.

“People who support Charly Bus stop should tell us what single contributions he made to Lagos or to the people of Gbagada. Monuments should be named after heroes not hooligans and common criminals.

“I’m shocked that a certain Omoyele Sowore is supporting Charly Boy. Does it mean that he learnt nothing from the University of Lagos he claimed to have attended? Does it mean he has no tradition, no culture and no morality? Does it mean Sowore never read history and he is unaware of what is called the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People to the extent that Indigenous people exist in Lagos, a history Sowore wants to erase through his unbridled, shallow, crude, infantile and self serving revolutionary pretences? A true Revolutionary should deserve honour nor scorn from his own people. Perhaps this is why his futile, ashes-in-the-wind Presidential ambition is nothing but a profit driven venture to scam people and enrich himself. Sowore had dug his own political grave. I never knew he was such a senseless, rabid illiterate.

“Does Sowore know what Yoruba people are going through in our own land? Where was Sowore when 4 traditional rulers were killed in Yorubaland? Where was he when Owo was bombed and many Yoruba people killed? Which Nigerian does he speak for? Where does he seek to vote when he portrays himself as Yoruba enemy? Does he know what Yoruba people are going through at Ladipo in the hands of Igbo people?

“How can someone who wants to lead Nigeria urinate on his own people? Does it mean Sowore has no wisdom at all?

“Any Yoruba person opposed to the renaming has no sense of shame. I do not know of any ethnic group in the world that would allow her values and heritage to be trampled and turned into sputton, and all the people do is to watch

“How many bus stops were named after Yoruba people in the whole of Eastern Nigeria?

“Some irresponsible Yoruba people claim Lagos belongs to everyone.

“That is an insult and an assault on us whose ancestors own the land.

“Kano, Enugu, Owerri, Calabar belong to certain ethnic groups, so why should Lagos belong to everyone? It is just silly and provocative for anyone to slogan this assault on the people of Lagos.

“We hereby caution and warn those who think they can continue to spit on Lagos heritage to beware of the wrath of our ancestors and at the fullness of time, we shall challenge them by all means necessary.”

Responding to Mrs Adebusoye, Sowore in a message titled, “Still on Charly Boy bus stop! Lagos is not a kingdom, it is a city of the people!”, said, “I read hubris written by one “Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye,” who claimed she is the “Deputy Women’s Leader of the Indigenous Lagos Teachers Association,” a group I had never heard of before, but let’s assume it does exist.

“She presents a diatribe laced with xenophobia, political cowardice, and ethnic-baiting; in it, she invented grievance and tried very hard to weaponize culture.

“What “Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye nee @jidesanwoolu did was use falsehoods, bitterness, and insecurity to trigger ethnic purity, whereas this is just a weak attempt to create political allegiance to the godfather of Lagos in Abuja, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT and his Lagos boys.

“This reminds me of the age-old propaganda scripts once used against the Afrobeat Maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the same argument they offered in hounding @AreaFada1 was also used against Fela, who was a bona fide Yoruba, they also claim he didn’t pay rent, that he was a bad influence on the youth, that he was harassing his neighbors, that he killed his electrician, and that he kidnapped a police officer’s daughter. That he prevented the railway from crossing, and next, they burnt down Kalakuta Republic and reassigned his property to the state.

“When Fela Kuti died, his Ikeja Shrine was reportedly converted to a church in the place now known as the “Computer Village,” it should have been” Fela’s Village.”

“They were so eager to erase his legacy, but it was a futile attempt, for Fela’s legacy has now become a global phenomenon. But they never learn. Ask yourself why the scripts haven’t changed.

“The attack on @AreaFada1 is still the typical strategy to criminalize creative dissent and try to silence those who challenge authoritarianism.

“The truth remains that Lagos is NOT a kingdom; it is a city of the people. The Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Hausa, Ibibio, Brazilian returnees, the Saros-Sierra Leoneans, and many others built Lagos City’s greatness.

“No tribe owns Lagos more than those who live in it and make it breathe.

“They make you feel like they care about the indigenous people of Lagos, yet they are the first to dislodge them from their natural habitats with bulldozers when “non-indigenes” crave pricey landed property/ies.

“Mrs. Ebunola’s” diatribe also wasted time on a baseless attack on my educational background, @SaharaReporters, and protests; these show exactly why Nigeria is stuck, because those who should be retired into silence are screaming the loudest with poison-laced tongues.

#RevolutionNow.”

In a chat with Citizens Compass, the President, Yoruba Indigenes Foundation (YIF), Dr Olumide Aderibole Phillip, said, “It’s long overdue. This is not about Charly Boy but the entire Igbos living in Lagos State, what has Charly Boy done in Lagos or Yoruba land to deserve a bus stop or street name after him. I think it’s the best decision made so far by either the state or the local government.

“It looks somehow that Sowore of all people is arguing about the renaming of Charly Boy bus-stop. I believe time will tell as they have the guts to tell us that Lagos is no man’s land.”

Meanwhile, popular human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, in a statement titled, “Statement on the politically and ethnically motivated renaming of Lagos streets,” said, “I have watched the video footage showing Lagos LGA officials arrogantly and garrulously renaming streets across the state. The manner in which these actions are being carried out—vindictive, haphazard, and laced with ethnic undertones—leaves no doubt that this is not merely a matter of urban planning, but a calculated political vendetta.

“These street renaming appear to be part of a xenophobic and divisive agenda, orchestrated to target specific ethnic groups and punish political opponents of the ruling APC regime in Lagos. It is a blatant attempt to erase legacies, provoke communities, and lay the groundwork for a dangerous socio-political crisis in a state that prides itself on diversity and cosmopolitan identity.

“In particular, I strongly condemn the cynical renaming of the Charly Boy Bus Stop—an iconic landmark tied to decades of creative resistance and people-powered culture in Nigeria. This act is not just petty; it is a spiteful rewriting of history meant to silence dissent and discredit voices that have long challenged authoritarianism.

“Lagos does not belong to a single party.

$Lagos does not belong to a single tribe.

“Lagos does not belong to any godfather.

“These actions must be reversed.

“The public must resist this creeping authoritarianism masked as civic order.

“We will not watch in silence as Lagos is weaponised for tribal, political, or ideological cleansing.