You made alot of sense, I think you should create another thread for this. I have some practical suggestions that can help SW to tame this nonsense FreeStuffsNG:
Talk is cheap. The most peaceful way to resolve it is the law of reciprocity by collaboration. Igbo should not cheat Yoruba and Yoruba should not cheat Igbos.
LAGOS GUBER & PLIGHT OF IGBOS: Law Of Reciprocity Is The Solution
Background
For weeks leading to the elections till now, I notice a profound tension and apprehension from the majority section of Igbo who do not respect and appreciate the warm reception they enjoy in Lagos. Please note that a minority of Igbo in Lagos are not part of the unappreciative tendencies fuelling the hostility the Yoruba now have against the Igbo in Lagos.
Since 1999, Lagos state government from under Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (1999-2007) till date has been giving free education , free health and employment to our Igbo visitors in Lagos like the Yoruba natives since we are all Nigerians.
This is no longer sustainable without reciprocity before it is too late as real danger looms.
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Hero or Villian?
If Asiwaju Tinubu is blamed for creating the root cause of this socio-political problem then he should be part of those to fix it. Fix it as soon as possible before a 'native warrior' character in the mould of then young Gani Adams, who was barely able to communicate in English, rise up among the Yoruba youths and do it violently like we experienced in the 90s that forced Igbo to flee Lagos in fear and the Idi Araba Hausa/OPC wars . That will be bloody option hanging like sword of Damocles over our heads. Hence, I want us to use reciprocity to solve the problem.
I recall that some Lagos indigenes and notable Yoruba leaders including late Dr Fredrick Fasheun, founder of Odua Peoples Congress, OPC, protested then that the Yoruba who mostly suffered from the pre-1999 broken down Lagos ruined by bomb blasts, filth etc under poor management of successive military governments were not being prioritized in terms of rewards, economic opportunities and welfare needs but these leaders eventually yielded to Asiwaju's pleas that the benefits will go round and the Yoruba natives should exercise patience.
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Today some of those who opposed the all- comers approach of Asiwaju Tinubu leading a subnational government believe that he was the one who shrank the chances for the natives. They blame Asiwaju for giving 'too much' of Lagos oppprtunities to the Igbo and giving less part of the opportunities to them who suffered most. They are angry today that Asiwaju Tinubu sacrificed their yearnings and future for his future presidential ambition. Some of those disappointed Yoruba are tendencies behind clamour for Yoruba nation. They no longer trust Tinubu and Nigeria.
Curiously, most of the Igbo who directly benefited from the free provisions made by Asiwaju Tinubu-led government and still benefitting from these policies sustained by subsequent Lagos governments turned out to be unappreciative and hate Asiwaju most.
They hate Asiwaju Tinubu. They hate his wife. They hate his children and they hate everything about him.
The kind of hate is unprecedented to the point the tension today is the fall out of it.
All the good gestures and liberal policies initiated by Asiwaju Tinubu have been retained by successful governors but are still not appreciated by majority of Igbo in Lagos who have daily influx into Lagos because they have heard of opportunities in Lagos. The competition is now getting more intense and the Lagos state government appear to be pretending that the problem is not real.
Every four years, these Igbo residents in Lagos deliberately gather to promote the politics of lies, hate and bigotry against the dorminant political interest of their Yoruba host. The 2023 the candidate they are backing lost again calls for a foresight on how to stop these deep hate for the Yoruba politics the Igbo in Lagos play.
What solution do I propose?
Law Of Reciprocity
Law Of Reciprocity Is The Solution.
Let me explain.
Reading comments here and on social media, my conclusion is that anyone who attacks, insults , curses the Yoruba and notable Yoruba leaders is the one these majority of Igbo love.
From Rufai Oseni, former radio broadcaster and now Tv host on Arise Tv, is a Television station with a huge Igbo viewership , now to Chinedu Rhodes-Vivor, LP Gubernatorial candidate, who for years openly supported the proscribed IPOB group (linked to the coordinated arson in Lagos in 2020) and reportedly use derogatory words to insult and mock Yoruba and notable Yoruba leaders including Pastor Enoch.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, RCCG worldwide
Other Igbo folks online and offline are openly boasting that their main reason for suppporting LP is because Mr Chinedu Rhodes-Vivor, is one of them , raised to speak Igbo fluently like them and has an Igbo political godfather, Mr Peter Obi, former Anambra state Governor.
The Yoruba are livid and feel completely disrespected. A notable Yoruba leader, Ayo Fayose, former Governer of Ekiti state; described it as insensitive to the Yoruba for a party to present a candidate who can not speak Yoruba to govern a Yoruba state.
What he did not say openly is that the choice of a Chinedu Rhodes-Vivor who can not speak Yoruba is deliberate political mischief. Chinedu Rhodes-Vivor was selected by Igbo who do not speak or understand Yoruba as reward to him for being anti Yoruba and proscribed IPOB of Igbo extraction many believed worked for Mr Obi in the election votes from Igboland were allegedly rigged massively.
Igbo Insensitivity and Arrogance In Lagos.
The insensitive Igbo who derisively regard Lagos as a no man's land can not arrogantly claim to be the host of the Yoruba in their own land and enjoy the benefit of an entitled visitor in Lagos without the Yoruba having a single reciprocity from.the states of origin of these Igbo who mock and insult daily. It is a recipe for serious resentment of Igbo and anarchy by the Yoruba Lagos.
It is fair to adopt reciprocity as a Lagos state and Southwest policy so that all these bigotry and hatred these Igbo show for the Yoruba will reduce if not stop.
I have listened to a few vexed Yoruba and I heard why some stayed away from voting for Asiwaju is because they are angry with him, they believed he traded off the reciprocity in order to advance his personal political interest so they are demanding that if LASG give certain privileges to Igbo in Lagos there should be commensurate privilege given to Yoruba in Igboland too. Until this is done, the Yoruba will not stop feeling cheated and the bigotry and hatred caused by lack of gratitude on the part of some Igbo will not stop.
The Yoruba can be a Commissioner in Igboland too. A Femi should be able to move around to campaign to be Abia state governor like Mr Chinedu in Lagos too and you do not need to kill a fellow Igbo for celebrating the victory of a non-Igbo in Igboland.
Nobody does that to Igbo in Yorubaland. So reciprocity is a fair and just demand.
For 8 years, Mr El Rufai, Governor of Kaduna state kept Yoruba in his cabinet and extended free govt services to non Hausa. Such a state and its indigenes resident in Lagos are qualified for reciprocity in Lagos while states that are hostile to Yoruba and in fact, states without appointment for Yoruba should not recieve political appointments in Lagos .
States with indigenes in Lagos that do not hire and provide free heathcare and free education to Yoruba in their states too should not qualify for benefits of reciprocity. This should extend into streets naming, award of contracts, allocation of shops and hackney permits. These are finite oppprtunities and you must first give it the natives and whatever is left should meet the condition that the Igbo state give same opportunity to Yoruba in Igboland before we give it to Igbo in Yorubaland.
Only in Igbo states do we not have other tribes in their states exco,ministries etc. It is not a balanced relationship and I see reason in the complaint of the Yoruba who feel cheated.
Since democracy returned in 1999, Lagos has given a lot yet not even a single state in Igboland has ever appointed a Yoruba into their exco. It has to stop and reciprocity will stop it. Even property acquisition, especially a finite resource like land, should henceforth be scrutinized and rationed to demand reciprocity from the states of origin of the Igbo resident applicant and justice served.
Benefits
The benefits are too numerous and sustainable.
Jobs will be more abundant to the Yoruba natives at home and away from home.
This reciprocity policy will help provide jobs and social benefits to all Yoruba in other states especially if this policy of reciprocity is adopted by all the southwest states.
It will equally help draw mostly talents and less of lazy or criminal elements to the Southwest from the South East which in turn will help improve the economy of Yoruba states and Yoruba living outside SW, especially in Igboland.
The Yoruba need the jobs here at home too and those resident in Igboland should benefit from jobs in Igboland so that the same privileges the Igbo benefit here in Yorubaland their govts are giving with reciprocity to the Yoruba.
Our economy in SW will grow in leaps and bounds with the policy reciprocity.
The State Executive councils and state Houses of Assembly in the South West should fornulate an effecrive strategy and laws to domesticate the policy of reciprocity in their states like they did with the Amotekun law.
A more radical variant of this pragmatic policy was adopted and implemented by the Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto-led Northern Nigeria government in the 1st republic . It was very effective to quickly help Northern Nigeria ramp up human capacity and infrastructural development before the Premier's life was terminated violently on January 15, 1966.
Conclusion
Yoruba should not cheat Igbo and Igbo should not cheat Yoruba. Enough of this politics of lies, hate and bigotry every 4 years.
Reciprocity is the way out. |
