​ Lagos politics : The return of the Igbo


By Ugoji Egbujo


“Omo Ibo go….go home. Omo…. Ibo go home. If you go home garri go cheap for lagos”.

The pogrom was on in the north and Igbos were being hounded and slaughtered indiscriminately . Many of the Yoruba elite read opportunity into the disturbances.. And Lagos, home to many Igbos, convulsed with hatred for the Igbo. Prominent Lagos Igbos went into hiding and pondered their fate. Hunted like rabbits by death squads , they soon relinquished the idea of waiting out the storm in their holes and had to sneak out of Lagos in darkness. Ordinary Igbos , free to flee, had thronged the motor parks and taken the boos and jeers in their hurried steps.

Those who booed and jeered included not only excited and ignorant motor park touts but also shrewd covetous and perhaps envious civil servants and lecturers who had eyes on positions occupied by fleeing Igbos . A cocktail of sadism, opportunism and delirium. The Igbos in Lagos and Yourba land were perhaps fortunate . The north , seized by their own sense of vengeance, was a literal killing field. Let’s leave the details to belong to our history. Igbos may have fled Lagos in 1966-67 but their participation in Lagos politics had effectively ended in 1951. Nnamdi Azikiwe, otherwise a Lagosian, prevented by corrupted ethnic passions from becoming premier of the west , left for the east . And the implications and ramifications of that dislocation have impaired socio political cohesion in Nigeria till today. So when Igbos fled home in 1966 any doubts about an ordinary law abiding Igbo Lagos resident having same political rights and status as the ‘indigene’ were settled. For Igbos then , Lagos was not , after all, home. You can live in Lagos but do not forget that you belong somewhere else and it wouldn’t matter if you have lived in Lagos or port Harcourt all your life. Once law and order break down, ‘settlers’ fret.


The civil war ended , Igbos with their 20 pounds, poured out of the villages and many returned to Lagos. And Lagos welcomed them. And before long , Igbos , by sheer industry, came to dominate street commerce in ‘Lagos and as their businesses flourished, their numbers grew. The Igbos’ preferred trade apprenticeship system meant that as Igbo entrepreneurs grew they brought in family and friends from the east as apprentices. And apprentices imbued with the “young shall grow” mentality soon became business owners and brought in more apprentices. So unsurprisingly Igbos would dominate whole trade lines likes the motor spare parts and electronics business and all dealings in imported goods. Naturally , they would dominate market complexes like ‘Alaba’, and ‘Aspamda’ and ‘Trade fair’ and ‘Balogun’. And that meant that they would dominate areas like Ajeromi Ifelodun, and Amuwo odofin and Oshodi isolo and Ojo , residential areas around major markets. Preoccupied with commerce, wary of politics, mindful of the war and their residency status, Igbos helped build and develop Lagos but played only at the fringes politically.


The ambitious trader aspired to be the president of the market union or the Eze ndi Igbo Lagos for vain glory but could not wrap his mind around being a member of the house of assembly and didn’t want to take political risks. Igbo professionals didn’t get involved either And despite the pervasive high level of political consciousness of Lagos and despite the intensity of media coverage of Lagos and despite the claim to progressivism by the dominant party of Lagos , Igbos who constitute a significant ethnic minority were kept out of elective positions. There is something glaringly anomalous about a system in which citizens can live all their lives in a city , raise children , pay taxes , have constitutionally protected rights to vote and be voted for but are somehow not expected to occupy elective positions. For indigenes, politically ambitious “settlers” are ungrateful usurpers . And this is a national malaise . Prevalent high degree of urban migration means that many have no other home towns besides where they reside. And how are they supposed to lead fulfilling lives if they can’t seek elective offices? Some are residents/ settlers and some are indigenes. Yet all are citizens. And minorities everywhere have been similarly afflicted whether it be Muslims in Birmingham or Latinos in Florida or Igbos in Sabon Gari kano or the Arewa in Hausa quarters in Aba. Lagos has remained the most cosmopolitan city in Nigeria and the Yorubas have remained one of the most sophisticated and accommodating groups in Nigeria. And nothing in this article discredits the Yorubas particularly.

The culture of exclusivity in Lagos politics existed in spite of the fact that Lagos is the most accommodating of all cites in Nigeria to non indigenes. But since Lagos is the leading light in commerce , politics and tolerance, any attempt to cure this national affliction must start from Lagos. Besides morality, the stake of non indigenes in the state is proportionately too high to countenance their exclusion from effective representation in the governance of the state. The AC/APC in a rather tokenistic appreciation of the electoral weight of the Igbos appointed an Igbo technocrat , to the Lagos cabinet . And such tokens must be appreciated. However any thoughts that that gesture by Tinubu 10 years ago would lead to greater inclusiveness of the minorities in Lagos affairs has been conclusively disconfirmed by the failure of Lagos APC to allow Igbos represent communities where Igbos predominate. It’s even more absurd because we know that the APC has a way of drawing up lists of candidates. The APC was rejected by Igbos in the last polls for less than objective reasons. That reflexive rejection borne of bigotry may have, however , yielded unintended positive collateral effects in Lagos. The electoral prowess of the Igbos in Lagos has been confirmed beyond refutation. The APC lost comprehensively in Igbo dominated areas . Hitherto , many treated claims of Igbos’ electoral importance in Lagos as exaggerated . It is otherwise perhaps inexplicable that the politically astute Lagos AC/APC, that has a reputation for foresightedness and inclusiveness, perennially failed to attach adequate importance to the touted numerical strength and wealth of the Igbos and allocated no tickets to Igbos in Lagos. How did they cede this glory to the PDP? While Azikiwe’s ambition to lead the Western region may be seen as grotesque in today’s Nigeria because he , an Igbo, sought to lead the Yoruba nation. Any ambition by a qualified Igbo woman to pick up APC ticket and represent Amuwo Odofin cannot be an outsized ambition because she seeks to represent a political space in which she is by no means an interloping minority.

The idea that those who are in majority in the state or who are indigenes must decide for inhabitants who would rule over every street and ward is not only undemocratic but immoral. Let’s face it , you can’t sell Amuwo Odofin to Igbos, collect billions for those rural lands, have marsh lands transformed to magnificent estates and yet seek to preclude them from representing Amuwo Odofin in the local and federal assemblies. The sentiment that settlers should not dominate indigenes may not be totally irrational. From Florida to Birmingham , from Paris to Jos north, settlers /indigenes dichotomy has led to social unrest. It is however more plausible to countenance the partial cultural exclusion of minority populations than to condone an attempt to preclude a population from freely choosing their representatives especially if that means settlers taking up elective positions in small localities where they constitute a relative majority. It should be a democratic given. There is therefore no feasible democratic argument to explain a Lagos house of assembly without Igbos or minorities. While one may sympathize with the Yorubas when , with perhaps innocently felt moral indignation , they ask , rhetorically , if a Yoruba can be a member of Abia house of assembly? Abia state has not even cared to have an Imo commissioner. The present governor , T . A Orji sacked civil servants of Imo state origin when he assumed office. Internecine squabbles in the east have meant that Igbos cannot have successful government careers in states other than their home states. Let’s not even discuss Rivers state. Lagos has an Igbo commissioner but Rivers cannot even contemplate that despite the population of Igbos in Port Harcourt. The civil war left many ugly legacies. But since Gov Amaechi has publicly , during the campaigns, claimed he is Igbo, we hope that some pre civil war brotherliness would one day return. South East Igbos are by no means any less guilty. It is sad that Igbos fighting for political Justice in Lagos haven’t established such standards of justice in the east amongst themselves. The general political environment in the east and everywhere else in Nigeria is hostile to political representation by non indigenes. And I must concede that Lagos and the political tendency that constitutes the south west APC is being held to higher moral standards. Lagos sets the pace, if Lagos initiates the practice it would have a great national normative force. The reality many argue is that Nigeria isn’t sufficiently politically mature and sophisticated to tolerate such representation by non indigenes as the polity is rife with inter ethnic and regional rivalry . And that our sense of nationhood is subservient to ethnic allegiance and other parochial identities. Others condemn emphasis on ethnic politics. When freedom and sufficient cohesion are achieved ethnic cleavages will disappear. Ohaneze and Arewa forum and Afenifere if conscientiously run will benefit the nation building. An inescapable reality is that when a minority group legally settles in a locality and achieves significant numbers they cannot be ignored and must be allowed full political participation in the overall interest of the society. This is the right moral and democratic position. Whether it is in Jos north or Sabon Gari Kano, every human being must be treated with equal moral concern and should be accorded human dignity. The irreducible minimum is to allow full active political participation. It’s all the more imperative now , in this age, when many no longer have “ancestral homes” and belong wherever they legally reside. This piece had been written before the sickening pronouncements made by the Oba of Lagos went public. He exuded scorn, contempt and hate. Igbos should forgive the Oba or ignore him. But he should not be spared collective opprobrium and sanctions so that others similarly afflicted are deterred. Igbos do not owe their continued stay in Lagos to anyone’s magnanimity. Igbos like other groups, must with clear headed , reflective sobriety, pragmatically organize themselves politically to make their numbers and wealth and versatility count, protect their interests, promote local and national unity , and help enthrone good governance and excellence in Lagos. And every where else. All who are possessed by bigotry and conceit will in time come to reason. Igbos have been back to Lagos politics but they announced their return on March 28. For many Igbos now, Lagos must be home.

Eko o ni baje o

Beautiful write up

Extremely bad formatting. Op, even after copying and pasting, you no consider paragraphing or at least spacing?

we igbo love yoruba and hausa lands we cannot leave..do u want hunger to kill us?

yoruba pls have mercy on us.

Lol. By the time Yee.b.os finally get Biafura, I foresee many of the Lagos based ones refusing to leave Lagos and the rest of Yorubaland, and even going as far as changing their names to Yoruba sounding ones, rewriting their histories, and denouncing their igbo roots like some igboid groups already have in the SS. Dem love Lagos pass Kilode.

What a nice write up

DjAndroid:
Extremely bad formatting. Op, even after copying and pasting, you no consider paragraphing or at least spacing?

i known you did not read it if you read it you suppose to be crying by now and seek forgiveness from yoruba the guy really finished you guys there .

Maybe you are ryt but just to let you know that the western nigeria is still the most accomodating and intellectually sound people we have in nigeria, and furthermore you would also agree with me that it is only in the southwest will you see an indigene of other region be in the state cabinet and also be a rep. so you need not be hypocritical when wrhting your somehow baseless article because what you wrote about trying to condemn lagos is an act peculiar in everywhere in the world. and thats a fact.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/lagos-politics-the-return-of-the-igbo/

FlyoruB:
Lol. By the time Yee.b.os finally get Biafura, I foresee many of the Lagos based ones refusing to leave Lagos and the rest of Yorubaland, and even going as far as changing their names to Yoruba sounding ones, rewriting their histories, and denouncing their igbo roots like some igboid groups already have in the SS. Dem love Lagos pass Kilode.

I laff in Hausa language did u say rest of Yoruba land? (brown roofs) Mr man Igbos developed Lagos deal with it that is why it is called THE NO MANS LAND

hatred kills

Stupid write up & stupid audience. We igbos are greater than u guys. Fear is killing u guys

McJane:


I laff in Hausa language did u say rest of Yoruba land? (brown roofs) Mr man Igbos developed Lagos deal with it that is why it is called THE NO MANS LAND

hatred kills

Igbo develop lagos? ODE

I'm now more confused than ever about what the IBO's really want . Is it one Nigeria or biafravd Where is the pride and dignity of the IBO man ?? People now see the IBO's as bunch of noisemakers who don't know what they want .You slimmy criminals pray day and night for the destruction of Yorubaland and her people on one hand yet want political inclusiveness on the other hand .
This article has done nothing but only reinforce what most Nigerians already know that IBO's are unserious about wanting out of Nigeria . These economic refugees claim to hate Nigeria but are the only Ethnic group in Nigeria who can't stay in their land . what an irony !!
ON A LIGHTER NOTE , I THINK ONLY THE OSU IBOS FROM EBONYI LIKE THE ONES ABOVE WOULD SUPPORT THIS PRO ONE NIGERIA ARTICLE. THE REAL IBOS WHOSE HEADS ARE REALLY FLAT AND ARE OF COURSE THE DESCENDANTS OF NRI AND CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN ANAMBRA DONT SUPPORT THIS ANTI IPOD JUNK . MAY SHUKU OKUKO BAMBALA HELP US . THE ZOO MUST FALL !!!!

checkolatunji:


Igbo develop lagos?

Igbo did not develop Lagos.
Igbos developed Lagos

"Let’s face it , you can’t sell Amuwo Odofin to Igbos, collect billions for those rural lands, have marsh lands transformed to magnificent estates and yet seek to preclude them from representing Amuwo Odofin in the local and federal assemblies."

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/lagos-politics-the-return-of-the-igbo/

checkolatunji:


Igbo develop lagos? ODE

we knows yellibas can't bear the tot of it they can't swallow the truth pill buhh that's the plain truth u can go and hang urself for all I care IGBOS DEVELOPED LAGOS

Lagos, is naturally a melting pot for various ethnic nationalities, Just like Kaduna.
I hope the SE can extend this magnanimity to non-indegenes, same with the North

quid:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/lagos-politics-the-return-of-the-igbo/

monitoragent:
Lagos, is naturally a melting pot for various ethnic nationalities, Just like Kaduna.
I hope the SE can extend this magnanimity to non-indegenes, same with the North

when last were you in the SE ?

Whathaveidone:



ThenewIbadan come see what this hoe.losh with a receding hairline looking like that of Olive oyl from thimble theatres is saying


[img]http://4.bp..com/-Ir5DN_7mwzw/UngEwcH7ppI/AAAAAAAAOpg/cTPq2iBdjWg/s1600/ti.gif[/img]

if u like call all ur brown roofers that cant still changed the FACT THAT IGBOS DEVELOPED LAGOS

Whathaveidone:

As usual the brown roofers shy away from the truth
THE TRUTH IS BITTER now run along boy

McJane:


As usual the brown roofers shy away from the truth

THE TRUTH IS BITTER now run along boy

That moment when a Tuna wants to spar



Lol.. I just dey tospy you

Whathaveidone:


That moment when a Tuna wants to spar



Lol.. I just dey tospy you

Lol I'm still waiting for ur Ibadan e warrior lemme slam the truth in his face Dont quote me again

It does not matter how much education you give Ibo or the degree of urbanity you put in him after years of living in Yorubaland, he remains a bigot.

This author argued for Ibos right to political office and justice in Kano, Jos, Lagos and so on...where did he mention the rights of others to political ascension in Iboland?

So far since the beginning of this nation, how many Yorubas have been made commissioner in East? I know they will say Yorubas dont travel. In that case we are justified to ahare our political offices amongst us since we cannot be politician anyehere else.


Also from this quote....

when many no longer have “ancestral homes” and belong wherever they legally reside.

I think this applies only to Ibos. Yorubas have ancestral homes and we are proud of it and stick to it. So do Hausas. Just because Ibos dont have ancestral homes and have migrated to live with us does not make our homes their ancestry.
You better go find your roots wherever you lost it at.

quid:

when last were you in the SE ?

No one in his right senses would leave a Singapore for an Afghanistan . What is in that cursed enclave that would attract a noble and proud Omoluabi ?? Nothing !! Even Dangote with all his wealth does not deem it fit to site a pure water factory in that barren and unproductive gully ravaged ,red mudded land of the rising criminals .

quid:

Continue to mask your low self esteem and insecurity by posting junks all over the place . Your Yoruba overlords are colonizing your lazy asses all over the place . You know how many flattinos now bear Yoruba names , eat Amala and Ewedu and speak the Yoruba language fluently . That's how superior races colonize the weak ones . It has been established that most of you IBO's that come to nairaland to convulse about Lagos are actually not original first class IBO's but OSU's from Ebonyi . When the time is ripe , the great Yoruba nation would unleash you Ebonyi OSU's that have acquired optimal Yoruba civilization to go to the gully ravaged east to conquer the first class unadulterated IBOs who are NRI descendants and can only be found in Anambra . All IBO's must be taught the Yoruba civilization .
THE GOD HIMSELF IS YORUBA !!!!!!!!!!

Whathaveidone:



ThenewIbadan come see what this hoe.losh with a receding hairline looking like that of Olive oyl from thimble theatres is saying

Reminez:
.

Another brown roofer?

ImperialYoruba:
I know they will say Yorubas dont travel. .

Sample Yoruba life = =>

1. Born in Ogbomosho
2. Schooled in Odogbolu
3. Worked in Oshgbo
4. Married in Ilorin
5. Transferred to Akure
6. Retired in Ibadan
7. Buried in Ogbomosho

McJane:


if u like call all ur brown roofers that cant still changed the FACT THAT IGBOS DEVELOPED LAGOS

Lmaooo. Ibos also developed Japan. When will you develop Iboland?