Ajele Cemetery was a major cemetery on

Lagos Island Lagos Island () is the principal and central Local government areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos, Nigeria. It was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian ce ...

demolished by the

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

military government under Brigadier

Mobolaji Johnson Mobolaji Olufunso Johnson (9 February 1936 – 30 October 2019) was a Nigerian Army Brigadier who served as Military Administrator of the Federal territory of Lagos from January 1966 to May 1967 during the military regime of General Aguyi-Ironsi ...

in the 1970s. Ajele in Yoruba means government administrative official and the cemetery was so named because of the many British colonial officials who were buried there.

Demolition

Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson, military governor of Lagos State demolished Ajele Cemetery in December 1971 in order to situate the

Lagos State Secretariat Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. The demolition met with a lot of criticism and many historians and commentators noted the loss of valuable history. Prof J.D.Y. Peel noted that the demolition had deprived ''"Lagosians not only of a precious green space in the heart of the city but of the memorials of their forebears"''. Nobel Laureate

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

called the demolition ''"the violation of that ancestral place"'' noting that ''"the order came from the military governor: 'Dig up those dead and forgotten ancestors and plant a modern council building – with all its lucrative corollaries on that somnolent spot".''

Notable burials

* James Pinson Labulo Davies *

Samuel Ajayi Crowther Samuel Ajayi Crowther ( – 31 December 1891) was a Yoruba linguist, clergyman, and the first African Anglican bishop of West Africa. Born in Osogun (in what is now Ado-Awaye, Oyo State, Nigeria), he and his family were captured by Fulani sl ...

* Consul Benjamin Campbell * Police Magistrate Josiah Gerard *

Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was an English historian, poet, and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster General between 184 ...

References

External links

* {{Find a Grave cemetery Cemeteries in Lagos History of Lagos Demolished buildings and structures in Lagos Buildings and structures demolished in 1971