President Muhammadu Buhari has won his re-election bid, despite his major opponent, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, sweeping the votes of the eastern corridor of Nigeria.
The fallout is that the battle unfortunately shifted to Lagos State, the ideological base of President Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, and led to physical and verbal skirmishes between the Yoruba indigenes of Lagos State, and their Igbo guests and compatriots.
Lagos State, with its cosmopolitan mix of core Yoruba, their compatriots from other parts of Nigeria, and foreign nationals, became the battleground of the vicarious war between the APC and the PDP.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who eventually won the election as Lagos State Governor, appeared to be the symbol of those who want to keep the Yoruba turf, and Jimi Agbaje, who lost – for the umpteenth time – the mascot of the Igbo who are seeking accommodation in the Lagos political space.
Somebody observed that the “PDP is not necessarily a party for, or of the Igbo, it just appears to be the party that aligns with their interest in Lagos.” Neither candidate cast tribal slurs in his electoral campaign, but engaged the Yoruba and Igbo constituents with equal felicity.
Sanwo-Olu’s victory speech reads: “Those who tried to use ethnicity to bring discord in hopes that such a tactic might bring them victory have been sorely disappointed. The election is over. I ask them to cease and desist from this unwise conduct.”
Banners reading, “Lagos is not No Man’s Land. There are Lagos Aborigines and the custodians of the land. Yoruba owns Lagos (Eko). Create Ya own Lagos in Igboland,” and violent skirmishes against Igbo elements and settlements in Lagos, during or immediately after the presidential election, provoked a threat by Mujahideen Asari Dokubo.
Dokubo, who resides in the more volatile Rivers State, told “the Yoruba (who) burnt our votes in Lagos and continuously killing (sic) our people… (to) know that the attack on our people will be revenged. We will not fold our hands and watch our people killed.”
He asked, “What is our crime?” and then reminded the Yoruba, “You work at Escravos. You work at Forcados. You work at Brass. You work at Bonny. You work at Eket. You work all over our hand.”
A more brazen threat was a fatwa, issued by a man sitting by a backdrop of what looks like a Biafra flag. He assured a certain Adeyinka, “We must kill you before the end of this year. That war (that the) Yoruba want, (they will) see (it). Igbo will fight the (other) 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria.”
He wondered if the Yoruba can defeat the Igbo in a hand-to-hand physical combat, or if they thought the Hausa will protect them. He berated the Igbo who ran away when some hoodlums, presumably Yoruba, snatched ballot boxes in Aguda in the Okota suburb of Lagos.
Then, the Oodua People’s Congress, probably responding in the mode of Mutually Assured Destruction, issued a warning to the Indigenous People of Biafra against attacking any part of Yorubaland.
The OPC President, Rasaq Arogundade, observed: “The Igbo are again exhibiting lack of contentment of divine goodness in their lives… They carry out their business and own property unmolested (in Lagos).”
He pointed out: “As a matter of correction, there is no single Igbo stronghold in Lagos or in any part of Yorubaland. What exist are areas of high concentration of Igbo dwellers who live side by side other immigrants and indigenes.”
He then warns, “That we are accommodating and friendly should not be construed as a weakness or sign of timidity, as the OPC is fully ready to repel any attack on Yoruba territory from any quarters.”
These kinds of exchanges between compatriots should not occur on this side of the 21st Century. Every individual or group involved in this dangerous outrage ought to be ashamed of themselves.
The 2017 Arewa Youths’ ultimatum to the Igbo to vacate Northern Nigeria should have been the last ethnic pronouncement in Nigeria. You even wonder which turf these irresponsible individuals or groups are protecting. Nigerians should be wary of ethnic jingoists who raise tribal standards for selfish purposes.
Somebody, rumoured to be a former Aviation Minister, reportedly complained that, “It has become a recent habit of young Igbo brethren to refer to Lagos as a ‘no man’s land… It is not only unfair, but in extremely bad taste, apart from the fact that it is historically false… Up until 1968, Mushin, Apapa, Ikeja, were part of Western Nigeria…”
This individual went ahead to say: “The English treaty was with Oba (or King) of Eko Ile (Lagos). Lagos traditional families are all 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.”
He then submits, “If we consider it unfair to call Igbo property (in Port Harcourt, Rivers State) as ‘abandoned property,’ after the Civil War, why should they refer to another man’s backyard as ‘no man’s land… If Onitsha or Abakaliki is not ‘no man’s land,’ why should Lagos be?”
The late Northern Nigerian Premier, Ahmadu Bello, reported that the 1952 London Conference of Nigerian nationalists resolved that “the Municipality of Lagos should be the Federal Territory, and should cease to belong to the Western Region.”
As a Federal Capital, Lagos Island remained a federal territory, even after Lagos State, with capital at Ikeja, was created in 1967. Lagos ceased to be federal territory, and joined the rest of Lagos State, when military dictator Ibrahim Babangida formally relocated the Federal Capital to Abuja.
Many Igbo kids born in Lagos feel that they are Lagosians, if not by ethnic affiliation, then at least by cultural orientation. Many of them are culturally affiliated to the Yoruba and even participate in the traditional “eyo” masquerade festival of Lagos.
Following is pathos by an Igboman: “I and my kids were born in Lagos, yet we are deprived of nearly all the privileges associated with a place of birth. Meanwhile, all levies and taxes are dutifully, and sometimes forcefully, extracted by officials of (Lagos) State, when government is called.”
He then suggests that maybe “the issue of restructuring of our polity as a nation is (going to be) the foundation for the future of Nigeria.” There is a need for a conversation to iron out the matter of the Nigerian nation. Otherwise, things will forever remain contentious.
Obviously, Section 42 which provides that “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion, or political opinion, shall not, by reason only that he is such a person, be subjected… to disabilities… or be accorded… any privilege or advantage,” has failed.
Meanwhile, Frederick Nwabufor says, “The Yoruba and the Igbo share a lot more than similar mythic origins… And it has also been argued that both groups are of a singular ancestry.” Now they are regrettably at each other’s throats. Shame!
Now that President Buhari has been re-elected, and Sanwo-Olu has been elected Governor of Lagos State, the self-serving and unnecessary grandstanding should cease. The political office holders, on whose behalf these foolish sorties were taken, should rein in their desperate swordsmen.
And anyone who lost life or limb to the unnecessary tribal war did “sara,” or made a thankless sacrifice.
– Twitter @lekansote1
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