PÉLÉWÚRÀ

PÉLÉWÚRÀ is the dramatised story of a true-life character who rose from humble beginnings to become the most powerful woman in Lagos. It is also the story of Lagos in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The town was a rich potpourri of indigenous people, mostly of Awori descent, and Yoruba returnees from slavery experience in Brazil and other places, as well as people from other parts of the Northern and Southern Protectorates.

Born into this diverse ferment, the unlettered daughter of a fishmonger, Péléwürá grew into her own through the sheer force of her personality and her native intelligence. As the politics of the nascent Nigerian nation began to take shape, she positioned herself and her market women’s association to play crucial roles. Her friendships with such figures as Governor Bernard Bourdillon, Herbert Macaulay, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, and her role in the formation of the first national political party, NCNC, were the stuff of legend.

PÉLÉWÚRÀ tells the story of how a remarkable woman helped in shaping the history of her town, and her people.