₦airaland Forum

Twistaray:


I'm 100% certain he wrote this too?

Shouldn't we consider this as well?




According To History



August 5, 2013 – Femi Fani Kayode Blasts The Igbos: Yoruba People Developed Lagos According To Historical Facts
”The claim that the igbo helped to develop Lagos is hogwash. The major institutions of the south-west were developed by the diligence, hard-work, industry and sweat of the yoruba people. This is a historical fact”- Femi Fani-Kayode
I posted these words on my facebook wall as a fall out from the hot debate that was generated after the relocation from Lagos to Anambra of 19 igbo destitutes by the Lagos State Government and Governor Fashola. Immediately after the posting all hell broke loose on my wall and all sorts of exciteable and emotion-laden comments and assertions were made on the thread. I welcome each and every one of those comments including those that accused me of being a tribalist and a yoruba nationalist.
That is the spirit of debate and we cannot all possibly agree on everything. Needless to say I stand by every word that I wrote in the post and those that do not share my view are free to hold their own opinion. My assertion is based on history and knowledge and not emotion. The facts are clear and the records speak for themselves. I will go no further than that because it is about time that Nigerians from the younger generation learnt to do their own research and to study their own history. I will not allow the mob mentality or the wild emotions of others to becloud my thinking or to intimidate me into distorting the truth.
The igbo had little to do with the extraordinary development of Lagos between 1880 right up until today. That is a fact. Other than Ajegunle, Computer Town, Alaba and buying up numerous market stalls in Isale Eko where is their input? Meanwhile the yoruba of the old Western Region and Lagos were very gracious to them and not only allowed them to return after the civil war to claim their properties and jobs but also welcomed them with open arms and allowed them to flourish in our land. This is something that they have never done for our people in the east. Such gestures of love and fraternity were never reciprocated. Now some of them have the effrontery to call Lagos which is our land and the land of our forefathers (I am half Lagosian) ”no-man’s land” and others have the nerve to assert that up to 50 per cent of the development in Lagos came as a consequence of the input of the igbo. This is utter rubbish.
Those that do not know any better ought to go and learn rather than vent their hostilities and ignorance against me here or on my facebook wall. I am not a tribalist but a great believer in Nigeria and more importantly I am a historian and a student of history. I will not distort the facts of history just to keep some people happy. The history of the yoruba and of Lagos particularly is very well known to me and the fact that Lagosians and the yoruba people generally are so generous and accommodating in their ways and to non-indegenes that settle in their territory should not be mistaken for ignorance, stupidity or weakness. We know our history, we know who we are, we know who and what developed our land and made it into what it is and we urge those that yearn to be like us to go and emulate our efforts and attitude to non-indigenees and hard work in their own states of origin.
I have nothing against my fellow Nigerians from other parts of the country and I have proved over and over again that I love Nigeria and that I am a Nigerian before anything else. However if, in the twisted imagination of some, speaking the truth about the history and development of Lagos and the Western Region makes me a tribalist, then tribalist I am. Servants of truth do not fear such labels and are often hated and misunderstood. If I was worried about what others thought of me I would have stopped writing long ago.
Meanwhile permit me to recommend to all and sundry to read and learn from the following words of an insightful Nigerian by the name of Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron. He has had the courage to analyse the matter in a very honest, clear and forthright manner and he has spoken the truth. Let us hope that those that have no knowledge of that truth are humble enough to learn from it. He wrote-
”It has become a recent habit by a number of our young Igbo brethren to refer to Lagos as a ‘no-man’s land. The great Zik, Mbadiwe, Mbonu Ojike, Ajuluchukwu, Opara etc would never have made such statements as they knew better. It is not only unfair but in extremely bad taste apart from the fact that it is historically false. How can you call a land that has had over 400 years of traditional rulership and cultural definition as a no man’s land.? It shows contempt for the indigenes, ingratitude of hospitality and a betrayal of ones host.
The late Herbert Macauley( a Yoruba Lagosian) on his dying bed endorsed Zik as successor leader of the NCNC because of his nationalism, intellectual sagacity and it was endorsed by a group of Yoruba elders and not by any Igbo population who is anycase were infinitesimal as at the time, for Chinua Achebe records in his book, and we can roughly confirm that there were not more than a few thousand Igbos in Lagos before the civil war. So after having been received, accommodated by their host Yorubas since the 1940s a generation that is ignorant of history and careless of historical relationship refer to Lagos as no mans land, this attitude is the cause of the perennial Jos crisis amongst others.
When the military stopped the teaching of history in schools in the 1980s, we knew that by allowing them we courted confusion, but it was deliberate. Up till 1968 , Mushin, Apapa, Ikeja, were all part of the Western Region. The English treaty was with the Oba of Eko Ile,(Lagos). Lagos traditional families all are Yoruba and the founder of Eko was Ogunfunminire who migrated from Ife before the 16th century. Lagos traditional Obaship was confirmed on behalf of the Oduduwa dynasty. If we consider it unfair to call Igbo property ‘abandoned property’ after the civil war, why should they refer to another mans backyard as no man’s land.
Lagos had been the commercial nerve center of West Africa before Nigeria was created and this was attributable to the welcoming attitude of coastal Yorubas, which was first betrayed by the Portugese who introduced slave trade, the Kiriji war and the 100 year Yoruba civil war of 1769-1869 also saw a huge population from the other Yoruba Hinterland moving to Lagos to procure salt, guns,seek out their freed slave brethren etc and these led to the growth of Lagos. Since independence and after the civil war, other Nigerians have made Lagos a home for themselves , but none have been so unkind as to call Lagos a no mans land.
Igbos who say this and claim credit for the development of Lagos should remember that the first Industrial Estate in Nigeria was built by Awolowo in Ikeja as Premier of the West and the Western house on Broad street has significant historical importance. I would urge my Igbo brethren not to make true the words of Sardauna when he described the Igbos as having a tendency to come in as visitors and seek to claim ownership to the exclusion of indigents, if Onitcha or Abakaliki is not no mans land why should Lagos be. Imagine how our Niger Delta brethren will feel if we refer to their space on God’s earth as no mans Land?”
Fagbemi-Byron has hit the nail on the head and I wholeheartedly commend him for his courage. Frankly I could not have put it better myself. How I wish that more of those that are in the younger generation today would indulge in the type of research and scholarship that this man has obviously done. He, and those that value truth and knowledge like him, are the true Nigerians and thankfully I believe that there are many like him in every tribe and nationality in this great country. May God grant them the courage to speak out and cure the ignorant of their ignorance.
God bless Nigeria.
Femi Fani Kayode

God dey ooo hmmm

BuddahMonk:
Why are there so many beggars in Ibadan

BuddahMonk:
Why are there so many beggars in Ibadan

gesundheit:
And everyone in the east are millionaires including the once singing praise songs for alms at various motorparks.

teufelein:
ab.oki, what're you insinuating...?

gesundheit:
And everyone in the east are millionaires including the once singing praise songs for alms at various motorparks.

gesundheit:
And everyone in the east are millionaires including the once singing praise songs for alms at various motorparks.

BuddahMonk:
Everybody in East is not a millionaire but out of 10 ibadan residents 5 are beggars, 2 taxi drivers, 2 Agberos.

If you cast a stone in a street in Nigeria you might like hit a pastor, cast stone in ibadan street and you will like hit a beggar

tevinsolt:
And you know this how? the famous bride price tradition practiced by the Igbos I would argue is the complete opposite of what you have written up here. We know you love your tribe, and it is a good thing to be proud of your culture but it's downright petty to make shitt up about about other's culture.

BuddahMonk:
Beggar in Ibadan are half of the the city population, there are more beggars in Ibadan than more trees.
Even landlords beg corp members for money to buy shuga driink garri.

Up sootingggggggggggggg

gesundheit:
Your assertions are overtly exaggerated. Even if we have not traveled to the eastern Nigeria before. but news, statistic and everything coming out from the region makes it not different in poverty and misery as witnessed across all zones of the country.

GenIgrigi:
**grins** Keep deceiving yourself, mr Salam/ eggheader. Suddenly you never been to the east. You are in soup. **Lmao!**

Ikengawo:
there's nothing wrong with bride price. It's a gift to a village for 'taking' their daughter and making her a part of yours. After during and before that a woman is free to be whoever she wants to be. Even the great Wole Soyinka has gone into sexist tirades and he represents the highest of educational achievement in the SW ('im not even looking at the north were the greatest progressive will have 5 wives all 15 years old). He was not above declaring the first lady was a 'shepototomus', which is funny because he has never insulted the looks of any of his male 'enemies'.

GenIgrigi:
**grins** Keep deceiving yourself, mr Salam/ eggheader. Suddenly you never been to the east. You are in soup. **Lmao!**

after1:
[s][/s]

B.astard, you refused to grow up. You keep behaving like a lunatic goat, threatening people everywhere. Ediot

gesundheit:
Go get a job brother.. I don't know Mr Salam or whatever and moreover why are you following my handle. you are in soup how? on a forum where I don't care to know you.

GenIgrigi:
**grins** Supermonkey, i heard you are still co-habiting for free and selling hungry puppies for a living. lmao!

disumusa:
ibos are clown and funny set of people,they will never understand that empowering women than men in a tribe, is a plitical calculation to weaken their men.

GenIgrigi:
.

**grins** Yes i am now following Salam the bald bastard. Your file is filled and overflowing. Don't abandon this handle and take off like a typical yorubaman. Keep posting. I love it.

GenIgrigi:
**grins** Look at this clown from desert north. In Igboland it is believed that educating a woman means educating the whole community. Intelligent Igbos knew that no educated woman will have an id.io.tic illiterate as a child, even if her husband is not educated. That was our strategy for currently toppling other groups in education. Unlike you northern yerimas that ph.uck your little girls in the an.us while they are still in pampers. **lols**

after1:
[s][/s]

Stop pouring smelling spit everywhere b.astard. You are here to make your usual noise and will run away when you masters are around to deal with you. Ediotic monkey

GenIgrigi:
**grins** Hey monkey, Go eat your rotten amala elsewhere. I don't want none of it.

after1:
[s][/s]

Bring your smelling mother here and lemme bath her. She is stinking and need help, i feel like smashing your f.lat head with hammer.

GenIgrigi:
.

**grins** Yes i am now following Salam the bald bastard. Your file is filled and overflowing. Don't abandon this handle and take off like a typical yorubaman. Keep posting. I love it.

GenIgrigi:
**grins** I heard you eat bread with your yoruba mother's vaginal discharge. How does it taste? Is it better than Bama? **lmao!

gesundheit:
Dude, your brand of igbo must be very potent. whatever rock your boat mates. God will help you locate your Mr Salam. abandoning handle? bro you are so funny. get off my back mad man and go look for your gay partner Mr salami is a teacher or whatever.

after1:
Stop responding to that cursed animal. He is one shameless dude here and no one take him serious, he has been disgraced here many times, he is only calling name of one of those that disgraced him and his family here. Ignore him Plz.

gesundheit:
[s]Dude, your brand of igbo must be very potent. whatever rock your boat mates. God will help you locate your Mr Salam. abandoning handle? bro you are so funny. get off my back mad man and go look for your gay partner Mr salami is a teacher or whatever[/s].

after1:
[s][/s]

[s]Boring. Bring that stinking village w.hore of your mother here, we need to beat the hell out of her. She need to tell us why she decide to be a free pu.nny giver to the whole community. Bring her here before i drag her to the market square where she will be stoned to death by your uncles[/s]

GenIgrigi:
**grins** I like you when you get emotional and angry. Stick your middle finger up you sister's a.nu.s, and you thick thumb into her purnny, sniff your fingers, it will make you feel berra. You are yoruba, inc.est is your culture.

GenIgrigi:
**grins** A leapard never changes it's spot. Monkey salam, you will be dealt with. I.assue you.