In the early 1950s, Olabode Thomas was the kind of man Lagos talked about: London-trained barrister, co-founder of the Action Group, one of the first Nigerians to hold a central ministry. Today a long street in Surulere carries his name.
The story goes that in 1953, sitting as deputy chairman of the Oyo council, Thomas did not rise when the Alaafin, Adeyemi II, entered. Worse, when he spoke, the elders said it sounded like a dog barking.
"Let him bark, then," the king is supposed to have said.
Days later, Thomas fell sick. People say he barked until he died. He was thirty-four. Whether he died in Ijebu-Igbo or Lagos depends on which account you believe.
Medicine had its own answer. Oyo had another. Seventy years on, the street keeps his name and the town keeps the story.