AJEGUNLE MUSICIANS HONOUR MIGHTY MOUSE, JOHN OBOH -
THE FATHER OF AJ MUSIC
All protocols observed.
“We are not only celebrating the man who created a sound. We are celebrating the man who created opportunities for people.”
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, distinguished guests, fellow musicians, producers, creatives, friends and members of the Ajegunle community.
we stand before you not simply to remember a great musician and producer, but to honour a man whose creative vision changed the musical identity of an entire community.
We are here to honour John Aigbokhan Oboh, popularly known as Mighty Mouse, the man we proudly call the Father of Ajegunle Music.
For those of us who came through Ajegunle and experienced that era, Mighty Mouse was much more than a music producer. He was a renowned DJ, a mentor, innovator, experimenter, teacher, benefactor and, above all, a musician who believed in the power of his own dream.
John Oboh is documented as the pioneer of the Ajegunle music genre, a sound that emerged in the early 1990s from the musical environment of Ajegunle and drew from African rhythms, Edo Esan samba, reggae, jazz and other influences. His Jahoha Studio became an important creative centre for the musicians who helped take that sound to the Nigerian mainstream.
WE MISS OUR FATHER
Those of us who were young musicians around Mighty Mouse miss him deeply.
We miss his voice.
We miss his ideas.
We miss the way he could hear something in a musician that the musician had not yet discovered in himself.
Most importantly, we miss the father figure behind the music.
Mighty Mouse understood that talent does not always come with money. He therefore created a space where young musicians, producers, engineers and aspiring artists could learn, experiment and develop their abilities.
His studio was not simply a place where people came to record and leave. It became a place of learning and opportunity.
Many people who could not afford professional studio time were given opportunities to record, learn and develop. His generosity helped create a generation of musicians and music professionals.
That is one part of his legacy that must never be forgotten.
THE STUDIO THAT BECAME A SCHOOL
Mighty Mouse established Jahoha Studios in Ajegunle, and the studio became an important training and production ground for the emerging Ajegunle music movement.
From that environment came artists associated with the rise of the Ajegunle sound, including Daddy Showkey, Daddy Fresh, Baba Fryo and Marvellous Benji, among others. Contemporary accounts also document his work with artists such as African China and others.
But when we talk about those names, we must remember the man behind the platform.
Mighty Mouse did not merely produce stars.
He helped create an environment in which stars could emerge.
And that distinction matters.
MIGHTY MOUSE WAS A MUSICIAN - NOT ONLY A PRODUCER
Perhaps one of the greatest things we sometimes fail to remember is that Mighty Mouse was an artist himself.
Before many people knew him primarily as the producer behind other people's hits, he was experimenting with his own music.
His first album, 'If Them Nor Ready,' became an important laboratory for his ideas and for the sound he was developing.
He was not copying anybody.
He was experimenting.
He was taking African rhythms, reggae, dancehall, jazz, local musical traditions and the realities of life in Ajegunle and asking a simple but powerful question:
Can we create our own sound that speaks in our own language and reflects our own experience?
The answer was yes.
That sound became what we now recognise as AJ Music/Ajegunle Music.
Mighty Mouse's own account of the creation of the Ajegunle sound describes his desire to combine traditional African rhythms with reggae and other contemporary influences, while using the language and experiences of the people around him.
A SOUND THAT REFUSED TO STAND STILL
One of the most remarkable things about Mighty Mouse was that he never believed music should have borders.
He created AJ Music from a foundation of African rhythm and Ajegunle street culture, but he was always prepared to experiment.
His collaboration with Mr Remi produced memorable work, including the celebrated “Folashade”, and their musical partnership became part of the story of the Mighty Mouse era. Mr Remi himself has spoken publicly about Mighty Mouse's role in nurturing musicians and about their musical journey together.
He also collaborated with Piper Norman, taking his experimentation in another direction by bringing African rhythms together with Scottish Celtic musical influences.
That collaboration resulted in the Afro-Celtic musical expression associated with Mighty Mouse Culture Beat and Piper Norman, demonstrating that the man who created Ajegunle music was never afraid to take his sound outside the boundaries of Ajegunle.
This is important because it tells us something about the man.
Mighty Mouse did not create AJ Music to imprison it. He created it to give it wings.
HIS VISION WAS SPIRITUAL
For Mighty Mouse, music was more than entertainment.
It was a calling.
He believed deeply in his creative vision and pursued it with an almost spiritual passion.
He believed that people from Ajegunle could create music that would travel beyond the streets where it was born.
He believed that African musicians did not have to wait for somebody from somewhere else to define their sound.
He believed we could take what belonged to us - our rhythm, our language, our stories, our struggles, our humour and our culture - and turn them into something powerful.
Today, we know that dream became reality.
The music travelled.
The sound evolved.
The rhythms influenced new forms.
The Ajegunle movement helped create a pathway through which later Nigerian street sounds and artists could express themselves with greater confidence and authenticity. Contemporary commentary has specifically linked the AJ sound and its evolution to later forms including the creation of dance steps such as Galala, Konto, Swor and Alanta,etc, to match each varied creative.
And that is why we must understand Mighty Mouse not simply as a man from the past.
His fingerprints are still on Nigerian music.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE DREAM
No great creative journey happens in isolation.
Mighty Mouse was fortunate to have people around him who believed in him and supported his journey.
We acknowledge his mother, Chief Comfort Oboh, and members of his family who stood by him.
We also recognise the contributions of Mabel Oboh and Josephine Oboh-Macleod, whose support and belief in John's creative vision formed part of the foundation upon which his musical journey developed.
Published accounts have specifically documented the role of Mabel Oboh in helping Mighty Mouse establish his studio and the role of Josephine Oboh-Macleod in connecting him with creative opportunities, including the collaboration with Piper Norman.
Behind the music were also countless young artists, musicians, engineers and producers who were hungry for an opportunity.
Mighty Mouse gave many of them that opportunity.
WE LOST HIM TOO SOON
John Oboh died on 18 September 2023, aged 56, after battling cancer.
He left us physically, but he did not leave us musically.
He lives through the songs.
He lives through the rhythms.
He lives through the musicians he mentored.
He lives through the producers and engineers who learned from his methods.
He lives through the sound of Ajegunle.
And he lives through every young musician who believes that an idea born in a small community can become something the world will hear.
WHY WE ARE HERE TODAY
As representatives of Ajegunle musicians, we have chosen 29 August 2026 to honour the man we call King John I - Mighty Mouse, the Father of AJ Music.
We are not here merely to hold a memorial.
We are here to reclaim, document and celebrate a musical heritage.
We want the younger generation to know who John Oboh was.
We want musicians to understand that the history of Nigerian popular music is not only the history of performers whose faces appeared on television.
There are people behind the sound.
There are producers behind the stars.
There are innovators behind the movements.
And there are pioneers whose contributions must never be erased.
Mighty Mouse was one of those pioneers.
OUR MESSAGE TO THE WORLD
Our message today is simple:
AJ Music has a history.
AJ Music has a father.
AJ Music has a legacy.
And that legacy deserves to be preserved.
We therefore call on musicians, producers, historians, cultural institutions, government, media organisations and the Nigerian entertainment industry to document and preserve the history of Ajegunle Music and the contribution of John Oboh.
Let us teach the younger generation that innovation can come from anywhere.
Let us teach them that greatness does not always begin in the biggest studio.
Sometimes it begins in a small room in Ajegunle with one man, one idea and an unwavering belief that something new can be created.
That was Mighty Mouse.
He believed in the dream.
We are living in the reality of that dream today.
THANK YOU
On behalf of the Ajegunle musicians and artists gathered here today, we express our profound gratitude to Josephine Oboh-Macleod for helping to make this celebration possible and for continuing to keep the Mighty Mouse legacy alive.
We also sincerely thank Mabel Oboh for her continued support, involvement and determination to help us tell this story properly.
To the family of John Oboh, to the musicians, producers, engineers, fans, journalists and everyone who has kept his music alive - we say thank you.
And to our brother, our mentor, our producer, our musician and our father:
Mighty Mouse, John Oboh - you may be gone, but your beat is still playing.
Your dream is still alive.
Your children in music are still singing.
And Ajegunle has not forgotten you.
Today, we honour you.
Today, we celebrate you.
Today, we say to the world:
KING JOHN I, MIGHTY MOUSE - FATHER OF AJ MUSIC - YOUR LEGACY LIVES ON.
Thank you.