Abuja: Under the blistering Lagos sun, the city often feels like a restless drum-always beating, always loud. But in ‘White Lagos’, travel journalist Pelu Awofeso invites readers into a different rhythm of the metropolis: one dressed in flowing white, whispering in the language of drums, chants, and memory. The book, now in its second edition, is the product of more than a decade of watching Lagos shed its everyday skin and step into the ancient world of the Eyo Festival-a world most Lagos residents only glimpse from the roadside.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, coastal heritage, urban history, and cultural preservation are intertwined in Pelu Awofeso’s work on the Eyo Festival, exploring how the historic Eyo festival is documented, remembered, and represented in contemporary Lagos culture. Awofeso’s journey into this world began in 2003, when, as a young journalist, he first covered the festival held to mourn Oba Adeyinka Oyekan II and usher in a new Oba of Lagos.
‘Since 2003, I’ve seen about four Eyo festivals,’ he tells the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at a reading of the book during the opening of the Port City Reading Room in Apapa, Lagos. ‘I kept field notes, conducted interviews, collected every scrap of information I could. All of that became White Lagos.’ Published first in 2017 as part of the Lagos@50 celebrations, the manuscript he had nursed for years finally found its form when he pitched it as a cultural gift to VIPs attending the anniversary events. The state’s Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, affirmed this, adding that the maiden edition was sold out.
Now in a fresh second edition, White Lagos returns with a new cover and updated content. Awofeso notes that the second edition was published, courtesy of the programme, hosted by Goge Africa, with its first public reading as an invitation to re-examine a festival many believe they already know. Yet, as Awofeso insists, most people don’t. From the sidelines, Eyo is spectacle: a sea of masked figures in white agbada, tall hats bobbing like waves on a human ocean, staff striking the air as they sweep through streets emptied of vehicles and filled with reverence. Then, the book turns the reader around, away from the performance, and leads them quietly backstage.
‘Many people only see Eyo from a distance. They don’t know what happens behind the scenes-the months of divination, the rituals, the family negotiations, the daily steps that lead to that one grand day.’ At the heart of White Lagos is a festival that refuses to be ordinary. The Eyo Festival is not annual, cannot be scheduled casually, and will not be reduced to a tourism slogan. It is, first and always, a rite of passage for the dead-kings, white-cap chiefs, and Lagos indigenes whose lives etched deep marks into the city’s history.
Occasionally, Eyo is summoned for a living dignitary-a visiting traditional ruler, a president, a world-stage moment like Queen Elizabeth II’s visit in 1956 or FESTAC ’77. Yet even then, tradition insists that a deceased figure be attached, anchoring the festival firmly in its ancestral duty. The ritual, as Awofeso describes it, is both lavish and costly. The Lagos State government spends heavily-he heard in confidence that the most recent edition cost around ?10 billion-not to make money, but to make meaning.
Heritage, in this case, is measured in centuries. Depending on which account you choose, the first Eyo either strode into Lagos in 1750 or 1854. Either way, the festival has survived for 200 years or more, slipping through colonialism, modernity, and rapid urbanization without losing its core. Preservation is not an abstract concept here; it is embodied. Young boys and teenagers, cloaked in white from head to toe, walk side by side with elders. Through them, Lagos rehearses its memory.
Reviewing the book, Dr. Hope Orivri, a Development Communication Specialist, tells NAN that White Lagos presents the new guidebook as a vital lens into the Eyo festival, designed to help both locals and visitors truly engage with this iconic cultural event. According to her, rather than merely observing the spectacle from afar, readers are invited to understand the layered history, meanings, and symbolism that define the festival. Orivri, also a journalist and Chief Executive Officer of Ports City Reading Room, notes that the book explores the dual narratives of Eyo’s origins: one tradition traces its roots to the ancient Benin Kingdom, while another locates its beginnings in Ikorodu, north of Lagos.
Ultimately, White Lagos positions the Eyo festival as a living archive of cultural identity-showcasing the values, beliefs, and aesthetic richness of the people of Lagos. ‘For travellers and locals alike, the guidebook functions as both an introduction and an invitation to appreciate the depth of this heritage,” Orivri said. Simply put, in a city that rewrites itself daily, White Lagos stands as a reminder that beneath the billboards and flyovers, some stories are still told in white-slowly, solemnly, and in honour of the dead, so the living may remember who they are.