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Eighty-nine-old-year Angelica Oyediran, granddaughter of Candido
Da Rocha, talks about her career and life experience with BAYO
AKINLOYE
Tell us about your
parents and siblings.
I was born on December 1, 1927 to a simple parentage. My father
was an architect at the Lagos City Council. His name was
Christopher Akinsola Thomas. He was barely seven years old when he
lost his father and few months later, he lost his mother. It was
his father’s close friend, Papa Vaughn, who took him up. He had
just married and had no children at all. He made my father his
‘first child.’ Later on, he had his own children – three boys and
one girl. My father died 50 years ago on October 27, at the age of
71. Candido Da Rocha objected to my parents’ relationship. He
wanted all his daughters to be taken to Brazil and marry Brazilians
and none of them accepted that offer. My parents’ first child died
as a baby. The second one Cyril Akin Thomas was educated at CMS
Grammar School. He grew up to become an architect like my father.
Unfortunately, he died suddenly at the age of 41. Before his death,
he married and had children. My third brother, Ademola Thomas, was
a building engineer. He studied in England and during Shehu
Shagari’s administration in the second republic, he was made a
minister. He died about four years ago, at the age of 86. I was
given birth to after him.
Was there anything that stood you out among your
siblings?
I was the only child born by my mother unaided. My mother was
alone in the house. My father had gone out to play lawn tennis at
the Yoruba Tennis Club. My brothers were with my grandfather at
Water House to spend some time with him. My mother was cooking when
she discovered that she was feeling funny in the kitchen. She felt
that the baby in her womb was about to arrive. She hurried up and
arranged the food on the dining table. She went into her room to
lie on the bed. The baby (myself) arrived shortly after that.
Nobody helped her. It was a divine delivery. I was born strong and
healthy. She told me that among her children, I was the only one
who did not have convulsion and malaria.
Tell us about your education and
occupation.
I attended Methodist Girls High School, kindergarten and
primary; later I went to CMS Grammar School. I also attended
Baptist Academy. I was part of the first HSC class at Queen’s
College, Lagos. Unfortunately, I failed school certificate
examination. In those days, if you failed English, you had failed
everything. I did not answer the essay well and for that reason, I
failed. But Dr. Whittaker was so fond of me that he asked me to
repeat the examination. I repeated it and failed again. The second
year I was to sit for the examination again at QC, there was Prof.
Oladele Ajose, he was a son of one of the former Oba of Lagos –
Ologun Kutere Ajose – and they came from Epe, Ibeshe. He married a
British wife. He and his wife started the Nigeria branch of British
Red Cross. She came to QC to recruit members for the organisation.
Some of us showed interest. After some discussion and registration,
the lady called me and said she was impressed by my contributions
during the meeting. She was surprised to learn that I failed
English judging by my English. Despite the failure, she recruited
me to join the Red Cross. They sent me to England in 1951 to study
some administrative roles. Upon my return to Nigeria, I was sent to
the mid-west, eastern and northern Nigeria. I was employed and
worked for the Red Cross for about 15 years before I got
married.
How did you meet your husband?
I was married to an elderly person. We got married five years
after he lost his wife. He was made the first liaison officer in
Washington DC, US. We got married there. He was later redeployed to
Sierra Leone to become the first Nigerian High Commissioner to that
country. While we were in Sierra Leone, I became the head of
diplomats’ wives and with my experience in social
activities, I supported my husband to
succeed in his duty.
Last year in April, when the Queen of England (Queen Elizabeth
II) clocked 90, I wrote to her reminding her that while we were in
Sierra Leone, she came on an official visit. I was introduced to
her with my husband at a lunch, a dinner and also at the ballroom.
My husband danced with the Queen and Prince Philip danced with me.
She replied my letter and sent me a thank-you card.
What did you do after you left the Red
Cross?
Following my husband’s death, the Nigerian government under
(Gen. Yakubu) Gowon invited me to work for them. Before then, I had
worked for the Christian Council – as a liaison officer (between
Nigeria and foreign governments) during the civil war. I was the
chairman of the advisory committee to the government on relief and
rehabilitation who got aids from the British government. I was the
one going to the war zones to bring people from the Biafra line
liberated by the Federal Government’s troops to offer them
assistance including relief materials.
The end of the war met me in Asaba, Delta State and I took aids
from organisations like the United Nations Refugee, USAID, German
Caritas and the Roman Caritas. The aids were under my control. I
was responsible for over 5,000 children taken from the Biafra side
to Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon. I went to the two countries to
negotiate the repatriation of the kids to Nigeria. All of them were
reunited with either their parents or guardians. Sometimes, I was
in some villages in the East but God protected me during the
period.
What was your most frightening moment during the
war?
There were occasions that I would be outside with my Land Rover
in a village while rapid exchanges of gunfire were going on. There
was a crucial moment when Alao – the head of the Air Force – and I
travelled on the same plane, DC6. There was no fastening of
seat-belt. We were sitting over boxes of ammunition and the Biafra
soldiers knew that Alao was on that plane. They tried to shoot it
down but he flew the plane as high as he could. We arrived at our
destination – Port Harcourt – safely on that day. At the next trip,
I was not on the plane with him. His plane was shot at and he was
killed. God saved my life on many of such trips.
There was an occasion when Archdeacon Kale and the late Steve
Rhodes’ sister, Gloria Rose, were on an expedition with me. They
said they wanted to assist me take care of the war-stricken people
and we were in Calabar sector that was liberated. On morning at
6am, we were to go to the airfield to board a helicopter. I am a
psychic person; I get spiritual messages. That morning, as we were
having a cup of coffee, something told me: ‘You’re not going on
this trip. If you go, it will be disastrous.’ I told the others
that we were not going on the trip. They felt disappointed that
they had come all the way from Lagos to be part of the trip. They
also thought I was being funny when I told them about the warning I
received. The helicopter flew past and it never returned – it
crash-landed. Its pilot suffered life-threatening damages that he
had to be flown to Canada. If I had gone with him (I might have
died) but God wanted me to be 90 and even more.
What other touching experience would you like to
share?
During the civil war, there was large-scale starvation – not
only on the Biafra side but also on the Federal Government’s side.
There was a child I adopted from the civil war brought to Lagos by
the late Benjamin Adekunle (Black Scorpion). I was in a hospital to
operate my left eye. While the Federal Government’s troops were
attacking the Biafra side, his mother and father were killed and
the boy was blinded in the attack. Nobody knew any other relative
of the child. I adopted the child and enrolled him in a school for
the blind, from there to King’s College boarding house and later,
to the University of Jos. He became a lawyer, got married and has
children who are progressing in life.
How are you related to the man said to be the first
Nigerian millionaire, Candido Da Rocha?
My mother was the third daughter of my grandfather, Papa Candido
Da Rocha. I am the second granddaughter of Da Rocha of Casa d’Agua
– Water House. My grandfather’s father was Esan from Idifi, Ilesa
(in Osun State). During Queen Victoria’s era when the British
colonised Nigeria, years after they had founded it, Queen Victoria
sent a representative to govern Nigeria. During that era, the
British announced their programme of education for Nigerian
children and appealed to parents in the country to bring their
children to Lagos to study. My great-grandfather was one of the
children brought from Ilesa to school in Lagos and history has it
that during that period, children were brought to Lagos and sent to
classes to be educated. Some of them were kidnapped either on their
way to class or while returning home from school by Ijebu traders
and sold as slaves to Portuguese sailors – who were capturing
people on the West Coast of Africa in those days.
Esan was one of those abducted. Quite a few of the children
abducted died on the way – from Lagos to Badagry. But God preserved
my great-grandfather’s life. He arrived in Badagry some months
later with others captured. Fortunately for him again, on arriving
Brazil, Bahia, Salvador, he was employed by a merchant who dealt in
textiles. There, he was given the name, Da Rocha. But he was quite
uncomfortable to be living in captivity in a strange country. He
was not alone; there were many people like him, abducted in Nigeria
and sold into slavery in Brazil. But as they grew up in that
country, they formed a group and hired a place which they made
their secretariat. Following that, they made a strong approach to
the then governor of Brazil demanding their freedom.
Were they granted the freedom they
requested?
Eventually, they succeeded and finally returned to Nigeria,
arriving in Lagos. It took them 13 months to get back home from
Brazil. On arrival, Esan Da Rocha was one of the few returnees that
approached the then Queen Victoria’s representative in Lagos
requesting a place for their resettlement in their country and they
were apportioned the area between the Central Bank of Nigeria on
Broad Street up to Kam Salem, at Obalende.
The Water House was built by Esan Da Rocha on the land
apportioned to him. He had two portions of land because he came
back with his wife of Nigerian origin and four children – two males
and two females. He was also given a portion of land at Tinubu
Street.
When Esan built the house, he built it as a replica of the house
he lived in Brazil. That is why there are Brazilian architectural
designs in the building.
Where I stay now was not built by Esan and Candido did not live
on this portion of the land. Candido died in 1959. His properties
were shared by his surviving children – Alexander, Louisa Ebun
Turton, Angelica Folashade Thomas (my mother), and Candida Adenike
Afodu. But my mother inherited this portion and extended the
building on it. When Esan first built the house, about 152 years
ago, there wasn’t proper way of dispensing water for drinking and
other use in Lagos. He had a big well and named the house, Water
House – Casa d’Agua in Brazilian language. He sold some of the
water and gave out some free.
After his demise, he willed this house to Candido and Josephina,
the youngest daughter. The Number 4 Tinubu house Esan willed to
Candido’s immediate younger brother, Dr. Moses Da Rocha – he was
trained in Scotland in medicine. He was a journalist too. He and
Aunty Joana lived there until they died – they died intestate and
their property rolled on to Candido and Josephina. But, at one
stage, Josephina and Candido decided to have the property
re-assigned. So, Josephina had another property bought for her and
Candido retained this house as his own property inherited from
Esan.
Have you been to Brazil to see where your
great-grandfather lived as a slave?
Yes. I was in Brazil in 1983 and I visited the house my
great-grandfather lived at Tororo, in Salvador. I also visited
Bahia and saw the secretariat used by my great-grandfather and
other Nigerians. In that secretariat, there was a voluminous diary
they recorded when they were abducted in Nigeria, their arrival in
Brazil, the masters they served and so on. My great-grandfather
also had some children with his Red Indian wife, who stayed back in
Brazil. Esan died at the age of 88 and was buried at Ikoyi
Cemetery. He was popular in Nigeria and was one of the
foremost financiers. He traded by barter in textile, kola nut,
alligator pepper, bitter kola, and so on. He had a small shop on
the ground floor where he sold bags, gold dust, and textiles of
different types.
How rich was your grandfather, Da
Rocha?
Candido Da Rocha was quite close to the British and the western
world then. He was highly respected and highly disciplined. He
didn’t like dishonesty and lying. I stayed with him in this house
for about three years when my mother moved in here to look after
him. I was very close to him. He loved me and I was very fond of
him. I learnt a lot from him. During the Second World War, Da Rocha
offered one of his properties, Bonanza Hotel, to the British
government to protect some Nigerian students at King’s College, who
were initially in a boarding house at Race Course.
The school was run there until the war was over. Among his close
friends was Herbert Macaulay. Da Rocha refused to be a politician.
When he was nominated to contest an election and people approached
him requesting money to support his electioneering, he said, ‘If
you want Da Rocha you vote for him, and if you want Da Rocha’s
money don’t vote for me.’ Twice, when Macaulay was arrested by the
British colonial government for speaking out against them, Da Rocha
paid (a fine) on his behalf to prevent Macaulay from going to jail
and warned that he would not come to his rescue the third time. Da
Rocha was a staunch catholic. He respected God. He was very rich –
he was a millionaire in those days and very generous. The elite in
those days sent their dirty clothes to Britain for laundry. The Da
Rochas, Johnsons, Dohertys and the Olowus, were foremost wealthy
people. They didn’t wash their clothes in Nigeria. They sent them
abroad for laundry. Some of them had about five dozens shirts, five
dozens vests, five dozens pants, and everything they could
afford.
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