”It has become a recent habit by a number of our young Igbo brethren to refer to Lagos as a ‘no-man’s land. The great Zik, Mbadiwe, Mbonu Ojike, Ajuluchukwu, Opara etc would never have made such statements as they knew better. It is not only unfair but in extremely bad taste apart from the fact that it is historically false. How can you call a land that has had over 400 years of traditional rulership and cultural definition as a no man’s land? It shows contempt for the indigenes, ingratitude of hospitality and a betrayal of ones host. The late Herbert Macauley( a Yoruba Lagosian) on his dying bed endorsed Zik as successor leader of the NCNC because of his nationalism, intellectual sagacity and it was endorsed by a group of Yoruba elders and not by any Igbo population who in any case were infinitesimal at the time. Chinua Achebe records in his book, and we can roughly confirm that there were not more than a few thousand Igbos in Lagos before the civil war. So after having been received, accommodated by their host, the Yorubas, since the 1940s, a generation that is ignorant of history and careless of historical relationship refer to Lagos as no mans land, this attitude is the cause of the perennial Jos crisis amongst others. When the military stopped the teaching of history in schools in the 1980s, we knew that by allowing them, we courted confusion, but it was deliberate. Up till1968 , Mushin, Apapa, Ikeja, were all part of the Western Region. The English treaty was with the Oba of Eko Ile,(Lagos). Lagos traditional families all are Yoruba and the founder of Eko was Ogunfunminire who migrated from Ife before the 16th century. Lagos traditional Obaship was confirmed on behalf of the Oduduwa dynasty. If we consider it unfair to call Igbo property ‘abandoned property’ after the civil war, why should they refer to another mans backyard as no man’s land. Lagos had been the commercial nerve centre of West Africa before Nigeria was created and this was attributable to the welcoming attitude of coastal Yorubas, which was first betrayed by the Portuguese who introduced slave trade, the Kiriji war and the 100-year Yoruba civil war of 1769-1869 also saw a huge population from the other Yoruba Hinterland moving to Lagos to procure salt, guns, seek out their freed slave brethren etc and these led to the growth of Lagos. Since independence and after the civil war, other Nigerians have made Lagos a home for themselves , but none have been so unkind as to call Lagos a no man’s land. Igbos who say this and claim credit for the development of Lagos should remember that the first Industrial Estate in Nigeria was built by Awolowo in Ikeja as Premier of the West and the Western house on Broad street has significant historical importance. I would urge my Igbo brethren not to make true the words of Sardauna when he described the Igbos as having a tendency to come in as visitors and seek to claim ownership to the exclusion of indigenes. If Onitsha or Abakaliki is not no man’s land, why should Lagos be. Imagine how our Niger Delta brethren will feel if we refer to their space on God’s earth as no man’s Land?” Fagbemi-Byron has hit the nail on the head and I whole
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 18:01:12 +0000
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