Badagry: October 21, 2023.Dr Julius Garvey, son of legendary Marcus Garvey has been given a new name by the Akran of Badagry. He is now called “Ajigo of Badagry
Kingdom” which means in Yoruba language, “the Child returns home”.
This took place at the Palace of the Akran of Badagry as part of activities leading to the Grand Finale of the 4th Edition of the Badagry Door of Return Festival, in Badagry, Lagos State.
Dr Garvey who could not help expressing his excitement and the joy of return, maintained that it is, indeed, a long awaited home- coming. He promised to remain connected and rooted to Badagry, Lagos and Nigeria as homeland.
Dr David Anderson of the United States of America, who has been to Badagry for three consecutive times and has the revered title of Jogbo
of Badagry Kingdom, and had also been named Mautin, added that it is always refreshing and heartwarming to come home to his motherland, Badagry.
Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and Initiator of the Badagry Door Of Return Festival, believes that if the event is well harvested, exploited and positioned, it will become one of the best tourism products of Nigeria, given its Diaspora content.
The 27 member historic African Diaspora team to the Badagry Door of Return Festival visited historical sites and monuments revealing the
true perspectives of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade.
The first port of call of the team was the Seat of the British Canon donated to King Aholu Wawu of Badagry in 1843.
At the Lagos State Heritage Museum, it was a sad recollection at the horrendous pictorial presentation of the evils of slavery.
The delegation was also at the Mobee Family Museum Relics, depicting the height of man’s inhumanity to man through the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade.
At the Seriki Williams Abbas Slave Museum, relics of Brazilian Baracoon of 1840 and Point of No Return, Gerefu-Badagry, were visible.
Day 2 of the Badagry Door of Return Festival ended with a heart rending theatrical enactment of the boisterous African continent, blessed with rich flora and fauna, demonstrating the dastardly consequences of Slavery, the renaissance and the renewed hope of the historic African Diaspora reconnecting with the homeland, directed by Prof Sola Fosudo.
