Before his Lekki Sunsplash went under, it was without a doubt, the biggest yearly beach concert in Nigeria, if not in Africa.
Dapo Adelegan
And with its death (Lekki Sunsplash) Nigeria or Lagos, has never witnessed a show of such magnitude and it is doubtful if it will ever see such again in this era of insecurity.
Fela on Lekki Sunsplash stage in 1988
On that score and many others, it will not be an over description to tag the Ondo State born, a man of many firsts who saw the future, invested in it but unfortunately, the Nigeria situation arrested its development.
Dapo Adelegan in the1980s/90s established DP Lekki, a company that was behind Lekki Sunsplash, took it to a completely virgin Lekki/Maiyegun Beach in 1988 for an annual musical concert that held every December then for more than two decades.
Before then, there was nothing like that anywhere in Nigeria except for the one hosted at Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, LITFC, by Jide Adeniyi’s Poaston, every Easter called Easter Jamboree.
Lekki Sunsplash featured the best of Nigerian musicians including the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. In fact, in that era, if you were a musician in Nigeria worth the name, and you had not played on Lekki Sunsplash stage, then you were a learner.
The show was so huge that attendees struggle to attend, journalists especially, the entertainment writers, scamper for invitation cards to cover it. The then Oyingbo office of Lekki Sunsplash was usually a mecca of activities in the run up to the event.
The company was one of the first arrival in what is today known as Lekki/Ajah axis of Lagos that is now peopled by men and women of ‘means’. Only two other entities, a pentecostal church owned by the late pastor Oduyemi and Lekki Conservative Gardens own by the late Chief S.L. Edu and managed by one of the sons of the personal physicians to Tafawa Balewa, Dr Adekoyejo Majekodumi who was also the owner of St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, were pathfinders in Lekki .
Lekki Sunsplash was a huge tourism outlet that the then military government of Lagos State would have tapped into by providing all the necessary infrastructure and today, it would have been a destination point for tourists from all over the world and more money to Nigeria but it was allowed to die as nobody cared as long as there is still crude oil from Niger Delta.
With Lekki Sunsplash gone, Adelegan put on his thinking cap again. This time he ventured into outdoor advertising with another of his company, Benjamin Black. A company that introduced neo light outdoor advertising; another innovation in the history of billboard advertising in Nigeria. Apart from advertising brands, it was a delight to behold in the night at the strategic places like Allen Round About in Lagos State where the billboards were placed. By this time, Adelegan had moved his corporate office to Jibowu/Yaba area close to WAEC national office.
Years after, Benjamin Black went into history books with its innovation. Though, many others have taken over as nature hates vacuum but history will continue to remember Adelegan as a man who brought neon light street advertising with his Benjamin Black to Nigeria
