1. The amiable Chief has so laboriously given us a detailed treatise on the history of Lagos and has in conclusion repeated what everyone knows. And that thing is that Lagos belongs to the yorubas. This realization would have been so news-worthy if any person had doubted the ownership of Lagos in the first place. The very impetus of his argument stems from the fact that Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, an ex-governor of Abia state had in the wake of the Governor Fashola’s deportation and dumping of 74 Igbo beggars to the city of Onitsha, in the front of a government office at 3 am, said, amongst other things “That Lagos is a no-man’s land, and that the Igbos should not be treated that way because they helped to develop Lagos.” This phrase amongst others is what the very erudite Chief is set to debunk. And in that attempt, he made some of the most disparaging insinuations about Ndigbo, he described Ndigbo as a people without history, he portrayed Ndigbo as one set of hitch-hikers who after the very accommodating Lagosians had given them refuge after the civil war now wants to take what does not belong to them.And that thing is Lagos!May I remind my highly respected chief, that he is talking about a people who began their lives in Lagos after the war on a miserly twenty pounds from the Nigerian government. And these people by dint of hard-work, God’s grace and mercies bounced back in their own way, to the very present time, where the chief now thinks that they are even attempting to want to own Lagos.
2. Chief Fani-Kayode in his attempt to portray this development as a little scratch of achievement, contradictorily accepted that, “yes, the Igbo’s only claim to any positive inputs in Lagos, is their presence at the Alaba market, the Ladipo market, the computer village, the ownership of market-stalls at Isale Eko and other low-life areas like Ajegunle.” Let me say, that the admittance that Ndigbo did do this much is the first big-blow to his logic. For if they did contribute anything at all, then his whole gamut of argument where he described the statement that Ndigbo helped to develop Lagos as a hogwash cannot hold water. If his main worry is that ex-Governor, Orji Kalu (who is not a spokesperson for Ndigbo) described Lagos as a no-man’s land is the main worry, then that also is not a biggie because every hardworking Igbo man or woman who had ever bought a plot of land in Lagos, knows that he paid for that property and the omonile’s and the area boys are always there to remind him that they are the sons-of-the-soil and he or she (the Igbo person) is just a visitor. No Igbo person had ever disputed that!And that is why the statement by Chief Kalu should not have been held like a communique from Ohaneze Ndigbo. Such statements are more figurative than literal. And having this proper perspective that Chief Kalu was speaking in his own personal capacity as a vocal Igbo person further reduces the audacity of Chief Femi Fani-Kayodes’s logic
(a) That statement did not say that Ndigbo discovered Lagos.
(b) It did not say that Ndigbo built Lagos from the scratch
(c) It did not even say that Ndigbo developed Lagos
What it said, was that, “Ndigbo HELPED in developing Lagos.” What this simply means is not the barrage of connotations that have been so generously ascribed to it by my very loquacious Chief Fani-Kayode. It simply means that Ndigbo has contributed their own input towards the development that Lagos has experienced. And in my very humble opinion, that must be the holding-statement or point of view of every person (whether, Igbo, yoruba, hausa, or even the indigenes of Lagos) who has resided in any part of Lagos, and has maintained a legal existence within that conclave.To now quantify the degree of help is another matter altogether. That again, must be the view of the Yoruba man who lives and works in Enugu, in Owerri, in Onisha or any other part of Nigeria for that matter. Again this knowing that Ndigbo (being very proud people) do not claim what does not belong to them, and did not also claim so in this matter, puts another screw in the wheel of Chief Fani-Kayode’s logic. To further help to douse the concerns of any person about the Igbo man’s love for his hometown in Igboland, it is a common fact that no real Igbo man is allowed to be buried outside his hometown and that is also, why until an Igbo man builds a house in his village, he is not reckoned with by his kinsmen, for they know that Lagos and indeed any other major town in the world is not their own. As a matter of fact, a famous proverb amongst Ndigbo goes like this, “it is only when your wealth gets back to your hometown, that it announces where it came from”
4. If indeed, Nigeria is a true Federation, arguments like these, should not be the talk of the town. and sustaining it only helps to divide an already divided country. For here in America, for instance, awards of different kinds and shades have been given to Nigerians in every walk of life. And such awards are given on the basis of their help or contributions to the development of America. The Americans do not fear that when those Nigerians brag about their contributions towards the development of America, that such statements would mean the same thing as those Nigerians wanting to own America. This application of the premise of Chief Fani-Kayode’s argument to a global perspective further makes us see the humorous aspect of that logic.
5. Chief Fani-Kayode also took us on a long voyage of tribalistic comments attributed to one Onyeama and to the great Zik of Africa and never attributed any to any yoruba leader. He did that to show that the Igbos started tribalism in Nigeria. Let me say, that since Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is a big student of history, he should only attempt a random question amongst any group of historians concerning the legacies of Zik. And he will readily find out that Zik was known for his Pan-nationalism and Pan-Africanism ideologies. So, picking one statement that he made to a group of Igbo men and women to inspire their interest in politics, to portray him as a tribalist, is a great disservice to the memory of the great Zik of Africa. But I can guarantee my chief that if he attempts the same random question concerning a Yoruba leader like Awo, for instance, the indices of Awo’s ideology as a formidable tribalist may not be a low one. And why I think that this premise also dents the logic of Chief Fani-Kayode’s argument is that positions like this, have been adduced in the past by more formidable Yoruba voices who had to pay for it politically. Take for instance, Chief MKO Abiola during his campaigns incurred the wrath of Senator Arthur Nzeribe when he told him that he (MKO) can do without the votes of Ndigbo. We all know how Arthur Nzeribe’s ABN helped to mess up Chief MKO’s presidential bid.For a rat may be smaller than a bag of rice, but if that rat passes out feces into that bag of rice, that bag of rice could become useless.
6. I do not want to belabor his war-arguments and his portrayal of Ndigbo as the spoilers in the Nigerian climate. Because that will inflame old wounds, that will take us to the double-standards of great Yoruba leaders before and after the war and that will not help in healing the Nigerian open-sore.
7. Finally, having seen that the very premise of this whole debate (which is the suspicion that Ndigbo are so captivated by the beauty and greatness of Lagos, and would want to fight and own it) is a faulty one, it is, therefore, easy to see why my highly respected Chief Femi Fani-Kayode should not have dabbled into all these in the first place. But while, it is not my place to offer such counsels, it is my place as an interested citizen, to sieve through a discourse and bring out the issues that matter.And in this very case, the issue that Ndigbo wants to claim Lagos or are claiming Lagos to the point of overstaying their welcome is certainly not standing on a solid foundation of logic. And regardless of this submission, I will still continue to hold my egbon and chief, in the highest esteem. Thank you and God bless
Pastor Iyke Nwambie