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| A Rejoinder: On The Igbos – Of Femi Fani-Kayode’s Ignorance And A Proud Display Of It By Ayokunle Odekunle |
What
really have my fellow Yorubas contributed to Lagos State? What have
they contributed to Lagos State that they have not been able to
contribute to Ibadan, Osogbo, Ekiti and Akure? Apart from being
Academicians and brilliant administrators, I dare say that the Yorubas
have not contributed anything of note ECONOMICALLY to Lagos State.
Through
the course of my stay on this earth, albeit short, and my interaction
with people both good and bad, I have learnt one very important lesson:
IGNORE IGNORANT PEOPLE.
However,
in as much as one might be tempted to ignore the ignorant, it is
imperative to call them to order for some reasons. Firstly, ignorance
could be contagious. Once an ignorant person basks in the euphoria of
his ignorance and is proud of it, others are tempted to emulate him;
thus, ignorance spreads. Again, I know I will be accountable to God on
judgment day and if I fail in my duties to call an ignorant person to
order and stop the spread of ignorance, I will have committed an
infamita (heinous crime in Sicilian language).
I read Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode’s article titled
“Lagos, The Igbos and the Servants of Truth” with
mixed feelings. At the same time I was sad at the way he derided the
Igbos, angry at his proud display of ignorance, irritated by the
arrogant tone which swept through the write-up and then a strong urge to
‘educate’ him a bit.
I felt worse with the feeling that Mr.
Fani-Kayode would have given himself imaginary pats on the back for that
poorly written write-up which is devoid of logic but instead laced with
half-truths and vexatious fallacies.
Before going further, I
should state here that I am Yoruba like Mr. Fani-Kayode and I have no
Igbo roots whatsoever. I however have a strong aversion for distortion
of facts and injustice. To me, his piece is just a subtle continuation
of the injustice, ill treatment and maltreatment the Igbos have been
made to undergo in Nigeria right from Independence till now.
Perusing through his article, I have only been able to decipher one message which is that ;
THE IGBOS DID NOT DEVELOP LAGOS.
Before
I distill my issues for determinations and go into the nitty-gritty of
my argument, I have to inform my dear readers of the background facts
that led to his infamous write-up.
Sometime last week, it was
reported that 76 Igbos were ‘deported’ from Lagos to Onitsha, Anambra
State. The Lagos State Government felt that as destitutes, they should
go back ‘home’ but the 76 ‘deportees’ still claim that they do not
qualified to be called destitutes.
While arguments have gone
back and forth on this subject, I refrained from joining issues with
anybody in as much as I am so disgusted that one can now be
‘intra-deported’. It means Governor Ajimobi of my state can now deport
Hausas back to their states? I find the idea utterly classless.
I
expected Fani-Kayode as a lawyer to state his case as regards the
deportation issue, only for him to start go on about ‘How Igbos did not
develop Lagos’. To me, that is akin to acute ethnocentrism.
These
following issues formed the basis of his write-up and I would attempt
to showcase why his arguments and postulations should be dismissed with a
mere wave of the hand.
- Are The Igbos not the most industrious people in Nigeria?
- What really have the Yoruba contributed to the growth of Lagos State?
- Was Lagos developed by Yoruba money?
- Should The Igbos consider it a ‘favour’ from the Yorubas that they were
allowed to claim back their properties after the civil war?
- Is Lagos a no-man’s land?
ISSUE 1
Are the Igbos the most illustrious and industrious tribe in Nigeria? Without thinking twice or mincing words, I will say YES!
I
believe that only a deliberately mischievous person will question the
illustriousness of the Igbos. The Igbos are so illustrious that they are
capable of turning nothing into something. While they have their vices
(like every tribe), the spread like ants wherever one of them settles
and they bring nothing but economic development to the place.
Perhaps,
no greater example of Igbo illustriousness abounds than the Civil war
story. After the Civil war, Obafemi Awolowo who was a Minister in charge
of the Economy under Gowon formulated a rather wicked, inhuman and
obnoxious policy which was that Igbos, no matter how much they were
worth before the civil war will only be given 20 POUNDS to start life
with.
Still, the Igbos survived and within a short time, with
the paltry 20 pounds aided with some uncommon common sense, the Igbos
shot up back to the top of the Economic ladder and controlled major
sector of the Nation’s economy of which Lagos forms the fulcrum.
ISSUE 2
What
really have my fellow Yorubas contributed to Lagos State? What have
they contributed to Lagos State that they have not been able to
contribute to Ibadan, Osogbo, Ekiti and Akure? Apart from being
Academicians and brilliant administrators, I dare say that the Yorubas
have not contributed anything of note economically to Lagos State.
From
the Big Banks in Victoria Island, to the Computer Village in Ikeja, to
Ladipo Spare Sparts Market, to Alaba International Market, the Igbos
hold the reins of the major economic activity in Lagos State. My Yoruba
brothers are more of ‘subsistence business men’.
ISSUE 3
Was
Lagos developed by the Yoruba money? No! Let us not forget that Lagos
has always been the major city in Nigeria right from when the Europeans
found their way into West Africa. Lagos has always gulped majority of
Nigeria’s budget which has been used to make the State a major one.
Let
us not also forget that Lagos State was built was oil money. As Capital
city of the country, special attention was paid to the aesthetical
growth and infrastructural development of the state.
The Igbos
with their uncountable and numerous investments in the State have also
made the State’s economy particularly buoyant. If I may refresh our
memories, Nigeria’s first Millionaire, Late Sir Louis Ojukwu had
majority of his investments in Lagos (many of which are still in Apapa)
,while the Yorubas were still doing small-scale business.
Till
now, Lagos gets the bulk of Federal allocations and is also home to many
Multi-Nationals, many of whom have Igbos as core investors. Mr
Fani-Kayode’s claim that Lagos was built “through our (Yorubas) hard
work and money” is both spurious and outrightly laughable.
ISSUE 4
In
the 3rd paragraph of his article, he said “Meanwhile the Yoruba of the
old Western Region and Lagos were very gracious to them and not only
allowed them to return after the civil war to claim their properties….” I
find this particular assertion appalling.
What is the gracious
act in allowing me take back what is mine? What was the favour the
Yoruba people did to the Igbos by allowing take back their properties in
Lagos after the civil war? So if the Yoruba people were not going to be
‘gracious’, what would they have done? Seize the properties? Claim
ownership of property that they did not work for?
Again, Mr
Fani-Kayode while trying to appear as overly smart has only succeeded in
putting in Italics a question mark over his claim to be a
‘Nationalist’. Nationalists don’t come up with the above quotation as it
negate everything a Nationalist and non-biased Nigerian should be.
ISSUE 5
Is Lagos a no man’s land? Yes… and No!
I
said No because Historically, Lagos State is a Yoruba state and a
Yoruba State it shall remain. No matter how long visitors stay in Lagos,
they will at the end of the day go back home while the real indigenes
will stay behind.
However, I am saying Yes because due to the
influx of Nigerians from all tribes into Lagos and also due to the
massive investment they have made in Lagos, it will only be fair to say
that Lagos cannot be called a Yoruba State per se. I believe Lagos is
Nigeria’s center where the bulk of money is made and expended on. You
cannot keep calling Lagos a ‘Yoruba’ state when it was built to its
current enviable state through the efforts of ALL Nigerians and also
with the generous input of Oil money; Money made from the improvished
Niger-Delta.
WAY FORWARD.
I make it bold to say that
Mr.Fani-Kayode with his write-up has only cemented the wide notion that
he is an unrepentant ethnocentric and eccentric, who believes his race
to be superior to all others. While a little ‘patriotism’ is not bad,
one should not close his eyes to the truth and cold hard facts.
I
also believe that as a one-time Federal Minister, he should know better
than to insult the sensitivity of a particular ethnic group. In as much
as Mr Fani-Kayode is short of people who see him as role models, it
will still be a gross disservice to the very little who see him as role
models because all they will be gaining from their role model is pure,
crude, unrefined and undiluted ignorance.
On a last note, I
affirm the theme of my write-up which is ; The Igbos do not deserve what
was meted on them in the past, what is being meted on them now by the
Lagos State Government and Mr. Fani-Kayode. I believe Nigeria owes a lot
of its economic development to the Igbos and they should be honoured,
not dishonoured.
From Chinedu who left Abakaliki to sell spare
parts in Lagos, to Nnamdi who has decided to be the majority shareholder
in a multinational which has its headquarters in Lagos and which pays
tax to the Lagos State Government, to Eloka who left Anambra to become a
film Producer in Lagos, to all countless Igbos who are toiling hard to
make it in Lagos, while contributing to making Lagos what it is today,
they deserve our utmost commendation and not condemnation.
Ayokunle Odekunle tweets from @0ddy4real
