De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi I, the Akran of Badagry, has died after ruling for 48 years, making him one of Lagos State’s longest-serving monarchs.
Born on September 18, 1936, he was the fifth child of De Wheno Aholu Ajiyon-Kanho, the 17th Akran of Badagry. He attended Salvation Army Primary School in Lagos, Methodist School in Badagry, and Methodist Teachers’ College in Ifaki, Ekiti, between 1956 and 1957.
Before ascending the throne, he worked as a teacher in Badagry Division and later became a journalist. His journalism career began in 1961 at the West African Pilot as a diplomatic correspondent and chief reporter for the Post Group of Newspapers. He later joined the Daily Sketch as a senior sub-editor before moving to The New Nigeria newspapers, where he became Acting News Editor (South).
His exceptional work earned him a grant from the International Press Institute to study at the University of East Africa, where he graduated with distinction and shared a prize on the Law of the Press with a Ugandan journalist.
The Lagos State Executive Council approved his appointment as Akran on October 7, 1976. He was crowned on April 23, 1977, assuming the title De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi I.
As paramount ruler of the Ogu people in Nigeria, he chaired the Badagry Divisional Chieftaincy Committees, overseeing more than 100 recognized chieftaincies across Badagry, Ojo, Amuwo-Odofin, and Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government areas.
He served on the Lagos State Judicial Service Commission from 1979 to 1983 and held leadership roles in various organizations. At the time of his death, he was Chairman of the Chieftaincy Committee in Badagry Local Government and Permanent Vice-Chairman of the Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs. In October 1990, he represented the Council at the National Council of States in Abuja.
He received the national honor of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) on March 7, 1981.
During a pilgrimage to Italy, France, Egypt, and Jerusalem, he was received by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and later earned the title Jerusalem Pilgrim (JP) after visiting the Holy City.
The Akran’s palace hosted many notable visitors, including Rosalynn Carter and her daughter Amy, wife and daughter of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, who called Badagry “the Canterbury of Nigeria.”
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