By mid-morning on Thursday, July 23, 2026, the palace ground at Ikate Kingdom in Surulere, Lagos State looked like a marketplace, with rows of glistening chest freezers, lines of industrial sewing machines, welding machines, hand-washing basins and grinding machines arranged like a small trade fair. With each item waiting for a name to be called, hundreds of traders, artisans, and everyday residents of Ikate Kingdom gathered at the open-air venue on Olaogun Street were full of excitement.
Yet, the occasion was the tenth anniversary of the coronation of Oba Lateef Adams as Onikate of Ikate Kingdom, Surulere and to mark it, the monarch did not choose fireworks or a lavish private banquet but a mass empowerment programme. One that would ripple through the community for years, in the form of business tools handed directly to those who needed them most.
It was the culmination of ten years under a monarch who had promised, from the day he ascended the throne, that his reign would be measured not just in ceremony but in the quiet, practical difference it made to the people who lived under it.
The programme was the initiative of the king but supported by friends and those who love him. The Onikate of Ikate Surulere, reflecting on the scale of what had gone into putting the programme together, stated that what originally seemed like it might be a modest affair had, in the end, drawn far more participants, and far more resources than initially anticipated.
“The initiative is simply based on the thinking that if God has blessed you, then you have an obligation to also bless those around you. You can see us handing out some cash to some people. 100 of them in total and each of them got N100,000. Some of these people sell bread, cook and sell noodles and there are people who sell pure water among them. With that amount, they can add the capital towards improving their businesses and such would also positively affect their households.”
“Empowering my subjects gives me joy,” Oba Lateef Adams said simply, when asked what had inspired the scale of the gesture from a monarch marking just a decade on the throne. It might have been tempting to make the anniversary about himself; a display of longevity, of survival, of power consolidation, instead, the Onikate of Ikate Surulere turned the event toward the ordinary people of his kingdom: the hairdressers who had been making do with worn-out equipment, the young mothers hawking sachet water on foot, the traders whose entire livelihood depended on a freezer that had broken down many times, among others.
Making a clear distinction between the empowerment driven by his desire as a father and those usually organised by politicians seeking office or already in government, Adams stated: “This is definitely different from a politician would do, I am a royal father. Politicians get allocations and others allowances for their consistency. For royal fathers, government does not give us any such money. Even the little we get as salary is not enough to take care of the household. So, this is directly from me to uplift people in my domain.”
That distinction mattered to those who received the gifts, many of whom said, almost identically, that they had never expected anything at all.
Among the long line of beneficiaries that day, from Bola Ayinde who got a hair washing basin, Noimot Lawal who got a grinding machine, Taiwo Morenike who got a chest freezer, among others, two stood out. The first is Farouk Ogunriola, a young man who had completed his apprenticeship in a fashion house three years before and due to the death of his mother, had been unable to start off on his own due to his inability to buy the sewing machine needed. “There is no way I would describe this machine as anything other than a miracle because there was no way I would have been aware, let alone have the connection to be able to get on any such list to secure this tool which is critical to my life. This is why I am so grateful and in tears hearing my name as a beneficiary of this empowerment programme,” he enthused, speaking in Yoruba.
The second is an elderly man, Baba Mathew Aluko, who has a legacy of years of managing a small shop with his wife, grinding pepper for many in the community. With a machine breaking down often, he felt close to the edge. What my wife and I have always done is grind pepper for people in this community but due to the issues we have with our old grinding machine, I just didn’t see a way out as we could not afford a new one. With this new machine, we now have a new lease of life and I thank the Onikate and his Olori for the much-needed support.
For Joseph Mary, a hairdresser based on Olayemi Street around the popular Kilo bus stop, the notification came the day before the ceremony through a phone call she hadn’t anticipated, which informed her that palace representatives wanted her details. “They came in a vehicle a few weeks back and there were about four of them in the car,” she recalled. “They asked for my name and phone number. I didn’t expect it. I was surprised when they called me yesterday.”
When the moment came to receive her item, a brand-new hair washing basin used in hair salons, the emotion was immediate. She had been managing her old basin for more than ten years, and had been quietly saving to replace it.
“I’m very happy. The basin I’ve been using is over ten years old. I was thinking of buying another one but I have been struggling to gather the money, because it is expensive. But now that I have this, I am full of appreciate to the king and his household.” Her gratitude extended, as it did for many recipients, beyond herself. “May Almighty God bless our daddy,” she said, using the affectionate term many in the community use for the Oba. “Wherever the money to buy this came from, may the blessings go back to his family, his wife and children.
Azeezat Odubona Anisola, one of the hundred people who got N100,000 cash, said she sells cold drinks in one of the streets in Ikate Surulere. According to her, she has been hoping for a miracle for a while and the money represented that. She heard that the palace was organising something for people who sold sachet water and had quietly hoped to be one of those on the list for meagre support. What she received instead exceeded her expectations. “I sell drinks by buying ice blocks in the market, and you know how the market situation is now, with the price of ice blocks,” she stated.
When palace officials first approached her, she said she was so consumed by the more immediate worry of what her children would eat that day that she barely registered what was being asked of her. “My daughter said, ‘Mummy, someone is calling you.’ I answered, and they asked, ‘What’s your name?’ I told them. They said, ‘What do you need? I said, ‘I don’t need anything, I don’t know you.’ It was only later that a man nearby explained that they were people from the palace trying to help people grow their businesses, that they wanted to give a little money. In the end, I got N100,000, not freezer but it is enough money to lift my business higher,” she submitted.
On her own, Olori Risikat Adams, the queen, described the months of groundwork that preceded the ceremony, especially the process of identifying genuine need across the town, rather than simply announcing an event and waiting for people to come forward. “I went round this town, maybe about ten times, to see the people who really needed it,” she said.
Watching the turnout on the day, she said she was struck by how sincerely the gesture had been received. “The people really accepted it. A lot of people turned out, not just because of the occasion but because they genuinely needed what was being given. I’m happy that we gave it to them, and I pray God helps them use it well, not to sell it off, but to use it to make money, to take care of their children. From there, their children can go on to university. The industrial sewing machines, the welding machines, freezers, hair washing equipment and are tools that they can put to great effect. Same goes for those who got the money, I’m happy we did this and pray that next time, we can achieve even more.”
Also speaking, Chief Olayemi Salami, the Lisa of Ikate Surulere, was effusive in his praise of Oba Adams. “We thank God for our Kabiyesi. It’s been ten years since he was enthroned and he has brought real change to this community. For the tenth anniversary, after years of donating clothes, rice and other household items, he believed there should be something more to help people make money for their own families. That is a measure of the man leading us in this community who is always focused on how the people would benefit and live better. Anyone in this community, ask them about our Kabiyesi, and they will always tell you something good about him. That is why we continue to pray for him,” he stated.
He described the empowerment gifts, work tools, chest freezer, cash grants and others as a natural extension of the Onikate’s philosophy that a celebration should not end with a party but should leave something durable behind.
