•As LABOUR Party & PDP Candidate Enter Into Alliance
•What City People Found Out
In Lagos right now, there is a big battle going on. It is between the Igbo and the Yoruba population, for the control of the state.
The Igbo are desperately eager to control Lagos. They want to vote out the incumbent governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on March 11th, 2023 and replace him with the candidate of the Labour Party in Lagos, Architect Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour. They are currently mobilising all the Igbo in Lagos to troop out on March 11th to vote in Labour.
Emboldened by the victory of Peter Obi at the Saturday 25th February election, the Labour Party has been pushing the candidacy of its flagbearer in Lagos, Gbadebo Rhode-Vivour. Lately, his supporters have been throwing up his Igbo links to win him, Igbo votes. Suddenly they have come up with his Igbo name Chinedu. Until recently, many didn’t know he has strong Igbo links. Though he has a Yoruba father from Lagos. His mum is Igbo. He is also married to a beautiful Igbo lady.
His supporters think all these will work for him. He is already in talks with his Lagos PDP counterpart, Jandor to form an Alliance.
Recall that he was to be Jandor’s running mate before Jandor went ahead to choose Funke Akindele in what some called a Coup. That was what made him leave the PDP for Labour.
What has emboldened them is the victory Labour Party recorded at the last polls, on February 25th, 2003 across the country, when Labour won Lagos votes to beat APC.
They also won some seats across Lagos. Interestingly, many young people are supporting them.
IS LAGOS A NO MAN’S LAND?
The Igbos are claiming that Lagos is a no man’s land, that everybody came to settle in Lagos. But the Yoruba’s desagree. A former Lagos Governor Brigadeir General, Mobolaji Johnson has responded to that issue and has explained the true situation of things.
Former Lagos Governor, Mobolaji Johnson has explained that contrary to what some have said, Lagos is not a No Man’s Land. Back in September 17th, 1970, he declared that Lagos is not a No Man’s Land.
According to him, the carving out of any part of Lagos as a federal capital would be unreasonable and impracticable. He was answering a Reporter’s question at Kaduna Airport, shortly after his arrival from Lagos for the army’s national weapons contest.
If there was a need for a separate federal capital, the Federal Government could acquire any place and develop it, he stressed.
He explained that Lagos is not a No Man’s Land. The Governor said that Lagos belongs to the Oba of Lagos, his traditional chiefs and their people. You cannot remove that identity”, he added. Gov. Johnson then asked, where do you want to carve out of Lagos State? Is it Lagos Island?”
“During the civilian era, the people of Lagos demanded their own state and this was created together with other states in May 1967, he recalled.”
The governor said that the decree which created states in the country was very specific about the dual role of Lagos, adding that now the people of Lagos cannot be made stateless.
There are those who put the blame for the emboldened nature of the Igbos on President elect Tinubu, because he has been accused of being the one who promoted the Igbos into prominence in Lagos, during his tenure as Governor.
They claim that he empowered the Igbos in Lagos after he became Governor by giving them key positions in government. Some were made Commissioners & S As. And some won Assembly seats in Lagos. One of the 1st set of his 1 Day Lagos Governos is Igbo. Over the years, the Governors who came after him have built on his magnanimity. They have acquired large expanse of land all over Lagos. And they play big in real estate.
There are politicians who have alleged that when all these were happening, they warned Asiwaju Bola Tinubu about this sense of inclusiveness policy and how it may boomerang. City People gathered that what Tinubu sought to achieve then was to be able to carry everyone along in Lagos.
According to an APC Chieftain, as it is now, the Igbos have become emboldened by their giant strides. City People gathered that at their regular weekly Sunday/Sunday town meetings, one of the things they discuss about is how they can use their numeric strength to vote in Labour Party.
This explains why some APC party members have asked the Lagos State government to clip the wings of the Igbo people in Lagos, by curtailing their expansionism.
Those who are angered by all these have advocated for more stringent policies to curtail the Igbos in Lagos.
We can tell you that the origins of the disagreement between the Yoruba & Ibo dates back to the 1940’s Late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote in one of his books that Igbo politics was built on hate for Yoruba people and obsession for their heritage. “By the end of August 1940, I was certain in my own mind that Dr. Azikiwe was not a conscientious member of the Nigerian Youth Movement, and that, for some reasons best known to himself, he was bent on destroying this nationalist organisation”.
“At the same time, it seemed true that his policy was to corrode the self-respect of the Yoruba people as a group; to build up the Ibos as a master race; to magnify his own misrepresent contributions to the nationalist struggle; to dwarf and vaunted the achievements of his contemporaries and to discount and nullify the humble but sterling quota, which older politicians had made to the country’s progress.”
“Other incidents which happened thereafter merely went to strengthen my beliefs.”
WHO OWNS LAGOS?
So, the big question is: Who owns Lagos? We can still tell you. The original indigenes of Lagos are the Aworis. They settled in Lagos in tne 15th century (1500) from Isheri along Ogun river. The Benin conquered parts of it at one point n named it Eko. Lagos was subsequently a hot slave trade point with the advent of European traders and govts to its coastline. The British sent naval ships to guard the coastline to stop Slave trade and itself indulged in trade treaties with the people and eventually took over administering n governing it after it asssisted Oba Akitoye to maintain the throne . When Slave trade ended, the slaves taken to Brazil returned, hence we have Lagos indigenes of Brazilian extraction as well as slaves who returned from Freetown Sierra Leone. Freetown was founded by the British, as a port area to accommodate slaves who would have been shipped out over the seas to European countries by slave traders
The Portuguese, French, Spanish, many European countries came to trade along African water coastline n indulged in Slave trade which the British abolished and took over Lagos eventually from Oba Dosunmu, (Oba Akitoye s son. Kosoko brothers fought for the throne then but the British supported Dosunmu n later took over governing Lagos from him.
Lagos became subdivided into Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Epe Ikeja, Ikorodu and Badagry (the 5 regions of Lagos). Subsequently, Lagos was made a State in May 1967 by the then Military Head of State Yakubu Gowon . 12 other states were later created across the country
Over the years, Lagos was run by both Military Governors as well as civilian gov and currently being governed by Sanwo-Olu a Civilian Gov. Lagos was first inhabited by the Aworis. They predominantly are scattered across the state but majorly around Ojo to Badagry corridor.
Then, Lagos Island indigenes, Awon omo isale eko descendants of the sons of the first indegenous Awori ruler who sent his sons to rule over different parts of Lagos. Then, the Slave returnees from Brazil and free town, Sierra Leone. From then to date , many came into Lagos in search of jobs, traders who took advantage of its proximity to the sea and Port trade with foreigners. There are also indigenes of slum areas like Makoko, located on the Lagoon between Mainland and Island by Unilag, then settlers in slums like Mushin, Shomolu, Agege and Ajegunle. How then does Lagos belong to the Ibos? from its existence in 1500 to date there is no trace of Ibos founding Lagos. Only the Aworis who spread around Lagos and Benin /Edo who conquered parts of it s point and left. Benin people are Yoruba in origin and descendants of one of the sons of Oduduwa. The Aworis had settled in Lagos even before European traders started visiting Africa and before British colonial rule.
Infact, it was one of the Portuguese traders that named it Lagos-land sorrounded by water or Lake. It was referred to as no mans land because many came from other parts of the country and other African nations n europeans to settle there because of its proximity to the sea, making trade easy to foreign lands. Goods were shipped out to be sold from Lagos and it become a business hub. So at what point and how can Ibos lay claim to Lagos?
They also started coming to settle in Lagos and were able to accommodate like many other tribes and foreigners n cos they are enterprising, their bissnesses boomed and they started coming into Lagos more inhabiting parts of Lagos.
Lagos was declared a state in May 1967 from years of Awori, Ilaje, Isale Eko, Slave Yoruba returnees from Brazil and Sierra Leone. Hence, we have some Lagosians with Portuguese and Brazilian names given to their forefathers taken away from lagos shores on boats into Slavery
We have the following names: Williams, Salvador, Marinho, Maxlino, Benson, Macaulay, etc
Apart from the core Awori’s. there are core Lagosian families
This is why we have Yoruba settlers in Togo, Republic of Benin and they have a dialect that is mixed with Yoruba called Egun. They are direct descenfsncts of the grand sons of Oduduwa that spread across Yoruba land and Benin Edo Kingdom n republic of Benin formerly known as Dahomey as well as some parts of Togo.
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