The Lead Visioner of Lagos4Lagos Movement and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos state, Olajide Adediran (Jandor) has said the state is hospitable to all non-yorubas, saying that the government had no plans to punish the South Easterners in the state.
Jandor made this assertions on Tuesday while addressing Igbo leaders in his office at Ikeja.
He urged them to change the perception that the Yorubas in Lagos hate them, saying “I want to let you know that the people and government of Lagos State don’t hate you. Forget what happened at the opposing camp because we were looking for something then. Let me first remind you of how hospitable we have been in this state. What you cannot get in many other states, we freely give you here.
“We sell our lands to you which shows how hospitable we are. Lagos is the first state that accommodated non-indigenes in the state cabinet. We are all living witnesses to it. You might have issues with the then Governor, now President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it doesn’t change the fact that he is a nice man. Other states have started copying him. Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has Yorubas in his cabinet just like Imo State. It started from here”.
The former PDP governorship candidate urged the Igbos not to allow opportunists to exploit the situation for selfish purposes, saying that if Yorubas did not like them they would not sell lands to them.
Jandor added “If we have issues because a few of you have gone to the wrong side of the law and the government takes actions, people should not think it is about Igbos. The demolition going on in Lagos is not targeted at Igbos. The office of Ola of Lagos was demolished because he built under power lines, yet he is a Yoruba man. We may have people in government that are overbearing, but law is law. If Yorubas in other states go on the wrong side of the law it would not stop the government from taking actions. We should use whatever is happening at this moment to our own advantage. It was not the entire Trade Fair that were demolished, only few structures that have gone on the wrong side of the law that were demolished.
“We want to appeal that we should know that the government and the people of Lagos State don’t hate you. It is only here that we have made someone that is not from Lagos a local government chairman. Don’t see us as enemies, if we hate you we will not admit your children in our primary and secondary schools or allow you to work as teachers or civil servants in our state”.
In his remarks, the President General of the Ndigbo in Lagos, Chief Sunday Udeh, who said that he has been with the progressives from the days of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the APC, said that the body of Igbo speaking community in Lagos State is not partisan.
Udeh said “Igbos are ready to work and they are working. I want to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning under him as Lagos State governor was an Igbo man. Igbos and Yorubas have been working together. In Igbo speaking communities during the time of the late Lateef Jakande and Sir Michael Otedola as Governors, we worked together. Igbos and Yorubas work together and there is nothing that should stop that. Your message will go round because we have our leaders here.
“We however, believe that it got worse after the 2023 General Elections. We used to have an Igboman in the state house of assembly, we had a special adviser to the Governor and an Igbo commissioner, but after the 2023 general elections, we don’t have anyone. We want you to help us pass our message to them”.
