The pan-Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has demanded what it called manifest consequences for those behind the recent campaign #IgboMustGo in Lagos to guard against similar disposition towards Igbo residents in the state in the future.
The demand by the organisation was contained in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune, on Sunday by its national publicity secretary, Dr Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia.
While commending the state government, particularly the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for renouncing the campaign, the group said the untoward trend could continue if those behind it are not brought to book.
The statement read: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo commends the press release by the government of Lagos State. It is indeed very reassuring.
“However, it is certain that such reckless, provocative, divisive, instigative and inflammatory dispositions towards the Igbo in Lagos State, will remain unabated, except of course, there are manifest consequences for such vexatious, unscrupulous loose–cannons and hate-mongers.”
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo applauded former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the apex Yoruba organization, Afenifere among other major stakeholders from the South West, for condemning the latest anti-Igbo sentiment.
Part of the statement read: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo notes with grave concern the orchestrated ethnic profiling, hate speech, incendiary and inflammatory rhetoric and outright demolition of Igbo properties and liquidation of their sources of income in Lagos State since a few years now.
“The most recent recrudescence is that the “Lagosians and every South-West stakeholder should prepare for the massive protest of #IgboMustGo on the 20th – 30th of August, 2024.
“An X handle named ‘LagosPedia’ had recently demanded for the forced relocation of Igbo people from Lagos and other South West states within one month”. The hashtag #Igbomustgo also called on all “the Yoruba living in the South East to return to the South West.”
“The points raised above is but a tip of the iceberg of what the Igbo encounter in Lagos on a daily basis.
“The governor of Lagos State Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has condemned the Igbo Must Go mis-adventurers.
“A press release by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Mr Gbenga Akosile, stated that the governor of Lagos State and indeed, Lagos State Government wish to distance themselves from the reckless, divisive and dangerous rhetoric, adding that “Lagos remains home to every Nigerian citizen regardless of their ethnic nationality.”
Sanwo-Olu views the post as “not only reckless and divisive but an attempt to sow a seed of discord between the Yoruba in the South-west and other tribes, especially those who have made Lagos their permanent place of abode.
“We commend the Afenifere for living up to expectations. The Afenifere, through their National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, called on ‹all Nigerians living legitimately in any part of Yorubaland to entertain no fear about their safety or be afraid of being forced out of the area.”
“The Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, MFR was highly elated by the intervention made by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He recalled the Obasanjo dispositions to equity and fairness in all matters affecting Nigeria is very legendary. It was Obasanjo who insisted that the presidency of Nigeria should move to the North after his tenure, as a southerner. It was again, Chief Obasanjo who insisted that Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from the South South of Nigeria should become the President of Nigeria. When it mattered most, it was Obasanjo who lent full weight that the presidency of Nigeria should go to the South East of Nigeria in 2023. It was Obasanjo who handed over power to Alh. Shehu Shagari with Dr Alex Ekwueme, an Igbo as a Vice President, nine years after the Nigerian civil war. It was Obasanjo who condemned the persistent aversion to the Igbo, which he described as Igbophobia. It was Obasanjo who posited that unless “Nigeria throws its doors open to merit, competence and full inclusion of the Igbo in national affairs, the country will continue to flounder and grope in the dark”. The Obasanjo presidency was very blind to ethnicity. “The Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government under Obasanjo were presided by qualified eminent technocrats with track records of accomplishments. “All the federal boards were brought to the table and maximum prudence and equity were applied in the distribution to the six geo-political zones of the country. The above qualities and more stand Chief Olusegun Obasanjo out as the conscience of the nation.”
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