The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has taken a swipe at those faulting the decision of the Lagos State government to move some homeless, indigent citizens to their home states for rehabilitation.
According to the party, no sane government would be blackmailed into allowing homeless Nigerians continue to inflict security and environmental problems on its state just to please those that readily play lousy and retrogressive politics with issues for their selfish and ulterior motives.
In a release signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, the party said it is particularly irked by the decision of some professional chance takers and political opportunists to take advantage of the recent movement of some indigent, homeless and social miscreants to Onitsha for the purpose of re-connecting with their families when they have no tangible business in Lagos.
The party said there should be an end to opportunistic politics and cheap ethnic and tribal politics as are being played out over the issue. The party said that transporting indigent, homeless miscreants to their home states is not a new idea and not limited to Igbos.
“We expect that the opposition in Lagos and its array of frustrated politicians in Lagos will certainly seek to play politics with the decision of the Lagos State government to move some people that have no tangible business staying in Lagos to their home states. We expected that the professional ethnic agitators who have wasted public offices in Igboland, pillaging resources that would have served the interests of the people are now cashing further from the plights of their vicious approach to governance on this issue.
“We however want to state that it is a shame to the opposition that it is seeking cheap political capital from the plight of the hapless victims of its free loading approach to governance and has drawn the support of ethnic irredentists whose failure on governance left the Igbo people so poor that they have become homeless refugees in Lagos and other parts of the country. It is a huge irony that the PDP, which has purloined the country in fourteen years of vicious corrupt governance, is the one now seeking to make political capital from the plight of its victims and says so much of the dominant politics of deception, corruption and greed which had hallmarked the unfortunate PDP governance of the country since 1999.
“To put the records straight, the Lagos State government, with its commitment to the interests of Lagosians and in its effort to build a functional modern mega city, had long embarked on the decision to pick up the many derelicts, the homeless, beggars and social miscreants that inhabit all parts of Lagos.”
Clean them up, find means of livelihood for those that are employable and send those it cannot manage to their respective states. We are all aware that this scheme has seen the practical reduction in the number of the beggars, street urchins and social miscreants that used to constitute real danger to life in Lagos and has seen such people moved back to various states, mainly in the North.
“We should note also that other states in the South, including South West states have received such people and the Lagos State Government has been careful to ensure that the number of people involved in such periodic movements are minimal and are only people who do not have where to stay in Lagos, who don’t have any real engagement in Lagos and who constitute nuisance to other Lagosians. We also put the nation on notice that before the latest movement of some people to Onitsha, we notified the Anambra State government, which neither responded nor took action on our complaint. We also want the public to note that the Lagos State government was involved in similar deal with the Akwa Ibom State government when some indigent Lagosians were moved back from Akwa Ibom State to Lagos. We want Nigerians to note that such movements are common with nearly all states in Nigeria and is becoming an issue just because selfish politicians and ethnic reapers who were prominent in the despoliation of the country see it as new and worth cashing in on.
“We want to throw a frontal challenge to the PDP and the ethnic chance takers now making undue issue over the present case to let Nigerians know any one of those sent back to their states who has a home, job or business in Lagos. We want them to go further to tell us any of those deported with any fixed address or legitimate means of livelihood. We are peeved that selfish politicians and their ethnic soulmates who have relentlessly pursued the pauperization of Nigerians even in their home states are the ones seeking cheap political ends from the plight of their victims and this is condemnable.
“Lagos ACN wants to let Nigerians know that Igbos constitute over 45 per cent of the population of Lagos and they dominate key sectors of the Lagos economy. Is there any case where any of the millions of Igbo with one legitimate business or the other in Lagos is involved in the recent movement? Igbos find Lagos a safe haven for their legitimate productive activities and the present government has sustained good and cordial efforts to ensure this prevails. We want to state that Lagos hosts the largest population of Igbo in any single state outside Igboland, how is it that the movement of about 60 Igbo miscreants to their home state has now become an issue political and ethnic reapers want to cash in to destroy this priceless relationship?
“We want to warn Ndigbo and Lagosians to beware of the leaven of the PDP and their ethnic collaborators who have spared nothing to deepen poverty and want in Nigeria and always turn round to cash in on the fate of the victims of these deadly politics. We want to assure Ndigbo in Lagos that nothing will be done to hurt and injure their interests and equally let those whose stay in Lagos constitutes threat to others that the Lagos State government will do everything within its rights to protect the lives, interests and well being of the over 20 million Lagosians who are law abiding and find legitimate reasons to stay in Lagos,” the party said.
U AR JUST KIDING US
It’s a pity that things like these are going on in this Country. I want you all to know that we shall all give account of our stewardship one day.
With all due respect sir, if there is nothing criminal about this move, why paint it with criminality? How can u dump an indigene of Ebonyi state in Onitsha by 3am and claim u are trying to unite him with his family?? U also claim u want them rehabilitated in their homelands. When has d Federal and/or Anambra state government(s) built a rehab home under d Upper-Iweka bridge???
Did I hear a line like, “Igbo people have become so poor?” For ur info dumb ass, Igbos are not any close to poor. Its is yoruba and hausa people that are beggars in lagos. And all your talk above are not any reason for such senseless act. Ndi ara
I’m seriously ashamed of Joe Igbokwe, see what politics has turned him into, turning against his own people. How can he say they were uniting them with their families? Are all their families living at head bridge Onitsha? What sort of wickedness is that? Hard to believe Fashola did this despite the support he gets from igbos. Now this is a lesson to the igbos, from words and actions we have known what APC has in stock for the Igbo man, hatred! APC will do us no good, we’ll be better of sticking with PDP, because we have no stake in APC, we are not in their agenda. Any Igbo man you see campaigning for APC, is doing that for his personal gain, not for the collective interest of the Igbo race.
We due appreciate of all weldone jobs lagos govt have been doing.i pray God to continue guide and inspired u with ways of creating of incomes for both the lagosians and non instead of deport.
Dis is absolutely rubish. Where on earth can u find a reach man without a poor man? Can everyone own landed property in lagos?
Are u now telling us dat igbo people hav always been involved in eveey criminal activity dat takes place in lagos? All d jobless gud 4nothing boys (allaye) who pick pockets nd rob every now nd den are all igbos???
If we still practice ONE NIGERIA, why not arrest any who breaks d law instead sending d poor men to Igboland. This is one of d reasons Igbo people wanted to be on dier own as a nation if u’ve forgotten. Now, we’re waiting to hear d voice of d accused PDP. Peter Obi we’re waiting 4u, Ohaneze Ndigbo do smthing
Its a pity dat aboniable acts are done and covered under Politics, frm experience the lagos govt has long hatred for the omoigbos. The igbos do business under an extreme hars conditions. Markets are closed, domolished and relocated, owners of these shops are meanly Igbos. The yorubas that trades on tables and hooking are not disturbed “awa lawa nbe”
Its no news to me that such happened bcos the Igbos are relatively Capitalist who do not care about the conditions as long as he grabs the money.
pls i want to ask lagos state, how many area boys disturbing motorist at oshodi had been deported to ondo ,osun ,ekiti , oyo or is it dat their lagosians ?
well, this kind of deportation is not new in nigeria.But why first detain them for about 7months,feeding them once a day wt badly prepared beans&garri.And again,mr joe igbokwe may well be ignorant of who the igbo is,if cd ever use d term “poor” to describe igbo in this Nigeria.No statistics has ever reported such.Igbos by nature are republicans,every1 takes his destiny in his own hand.Capitalism is also part of their inheritance.Thats why competition is usually rife in a typical ibo society.Unlike other tribes,igbos dont prostrate before fellow igbo,igbo dont beg for anything(money)
This is just a way to tell igbos in lagos that they are not wanted, that business is moving well in lagos are igbos, even under hard measures. How many times has lagos state demolished oladikpo market? Just frustrate igbos, look that idiota calling igbos miscreant, all those motor park agboros at ojota, obalnde, oshodi, that came from youraber land what do u call them.
Am ashamed for d igbo its a colossal shame and a big slap to d Ndigbo and d entire ibo race. And if d igbo can not do anything to retaliate and serve as a harsh getback (warning) against such future occurrences, den the Igbos have been named cowards and defeated 4eva.
Can u imagine an Igboman, d so called Igbokwe calling his own people (fellow igbomen) miscreants. He is supporting maltreatment of his own people and hanging it on politics. What a shame. Dis is a pity. A strip of d igbo pride. In any state b4 u will see one igboman roaming abt d street without a job , or not doing one bizness u would hv seen other tribes like ten. So why igbo in particular? The igbos a hustlers and der is notin wrong with dat.
The igbos should rise up to d occasion and clean off dis rugged slap put on dier face by Fashola and indeed d Lagos state Govt.
Don’t mind fashola! Over sabi go kill am! A C N has failed again!
People do not understand how God operates. There is a popular Hymns that says “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. Every government all over the world that is worth its salt always fights and is on the side of the poor. APC under Fashiola starts by being overtly wicked to the poor. This is a sign of what they want to do and so have failed even before they started. The APC is already a monumental failure. This is a sign that PDP will continue to rule under Jonathan after 2015 QED.
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When would Nigeria be one?. When shall we have a man we regard as a Nigerian not just Ibo or Hausa. When a man is poor or rich not as a Yoruba or an Effik man but a Nigerian, my brother. If I get transferred to Lagos from Kogi because I am poor man born to parents of Lagos state origin you only tell me that I am not same people with the Kogi state people. Lagos used to be far freer than this and was not subject to this narrow ethnic stance. Unlike other states- particularly those in Northern Nigeria and most of Ibo land, you could belong , participate and be all can be in Lagos. ( I remember a friend who was employed in Radio Kano for years on contract all because he was from Kaduna ( a non-indigene ).
To be a Lagosian you only need to be born or even just live in Lagos State. But not so anymore!. Not since Fashola. There are now indigenes. And non- indigenes. That classification suites the sharing of “dividends” of governance (not democracy please). Selfish policies benefit some selfish people- to the detriment of the rest of us.
Lagos State belongs as much to the ethnic Igbo as to the Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani, Efik, Idoma, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Edo, and so on who live in it, pay tax, identify with it, and settle in it. That compact was made the moment Nigeria became a single nation, and a successor power to the old principalities who were subdued and who ceded their sovereignty for the new commonwealth of Nigeria.
It was pragmatic. The Igbo had the skill and the industry, and Lagos was the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria and its major port. The Igbo have lived in Lagos since the 15th century when the Aro and other Igbo first settled in good number in a place we now call “Oyingbo” in the era of Benin and the Portuguese trade.
The arrival of Azikiwe to Lagos in 1937 from Accra after his studies in the United States, stimulated the political and cultural environment of Lagos as no other has before or after him. Zik literally resurrected the wizard of Kirsten hall from political death. Zik represented Lagos in the western house. The NCNC was the power in Lagos, and not the Action Group. The Igbo were prominent in the governance of Lagos in the Lagos City Hall.
The institutional development of Lagos – the railways, the ports and ship yards; the education and research facilities; the Banking and Commodities Exchange, the development of towns like Yaba, Surulere, Ebutta-Metta, Festac Town, Victoria Island, and now increasing the Ajah-Lekki axis, and of course, the ghettoes along the Orile-Badagry axis, have profound Igbo imprimatur.
The circulation of the image of Lagos is to date best reflected in the cosmopolitan Igbo imagination of one of the greatest African writers of the 20th century,
Cyprian Ekwensi, a thorough Lagosian if there was any. Igbo have built industries in Lagos and have been drivers of commerce and exchange.
Interestingly, I was born at plot number 8, Okoya Street, Idumagbo- Lagos, while the Ojukwu families were residing at number one to three on the same street. I grew up to know the father of Odumegwu Ojukwu. Chimbizie and Azuka grew up with us on the same street. Even the Chibeze small parking space at the end of Okoya Street is called Ojukwu.
I later attended St. Patrick Primary School, Idumagbo, where I had very amiable classmates of Igbo origin in the persons of Azubike Ezenwa and Damian, Ihekuna, both now professors and doctors of today. They were brilliant, resourceful and friendly.
When we were playing bamboo and Tene Felele at Orikoriko at Onola playing ground, the Igbo participated actively. In the area of sports, school football and athletes, Igbo were dominant at Kings College, St. Gregory school, St. Finbars, Akoka, Igbobi College and Ahmadiyya College, Agege. Such boys, Njokwu, George Amu, Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Patrick Noquapor, Peter Anieke and Sammy Opone were dominant on the field of football, while Asiodu, Empire Kanu were prominent on the field of athletics.
Anytime we went to watch football match at Onikan stadium, my darling team, Stationery Stores and our adversary team I hated most was the E. C. N, where the centre forward, Paul Hamilton, the National Team, Fabian the captain who bit the dust. Our greatest captain was Duru, Oduah Onyenrekwa, Onyeador Onyeali and Opel, the greatest outside right Nigeria ever had, Cyril Azuluka. So, during my early life at primary school, the Igbo were always there and delightful to watch, both in athletes and on the football field.
When I listened to radio at that time, both the commentary and drama series, the Igbo were there for you. The likes of Chris Ndaguba, Ernest Okwonkwo, Ralph Okpara ‘Alawo Sekiseki the traveler’. The episode will end with – The script was written by Ralph Okpara and edited by Yemi Lijadu.
Anytime I visited where I was born today in Idumagbo at Lagos Island, the entire place is covered by Igbo traders in their thousands. They were never troublesome but decent and accommodating. They have virtually taken over all properties of the indigenes. They succeeded in developing all our properties, married to most of our children even from the royal families. There is no single house you will visit without an Igbo man selling wares there.
So, who is saying something else? Only the strangers in our midst will not notice participation of economic development in our state by the Igbos. Most houses and shops in Lagos Island have been purchased, developed and occupied by the Igbos. The value of their investments in Lagos Island alone is in trillions of naira.
Instead of deporting the Igbos, whose contributions to the development of Lagos state are immensurable, you must keep on praising and encouraging them to keep on developing Lagos State.