By Ochereome Nnanna
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, is on a war footing. He has just been unanimously re-elected for the third time as Speaker. As an inner chamber member of the Bola Tinubu political family, his declared legislative agenda can rightly be read as Tinubu’s new agenda for Lagos after losing the presidential election in the state.
Tinubu’s Lagos is different from what we see in other states. For instance, the governor (whoever he is) does not have freedom of vision. He can only take initiatives within the script already written for him. And so, one would expect Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to seek Tinubu’s support before asking Muhammadu Buhari to send in the Army to quell the Lekki Toll Gate protests on October 20, 2020.
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of
Assembly is one of the checks planted to keep the Governor strictly within his
defined track. Any deviation could get him impeached. For Obasa to earn the
privilege of emerging as Speaker for three consecutive times, he is definitely
a Tinubu favourite. When he talks, it pays to listen if you live in Lagos.
Unlike the Governor who is bound by residual executive etiquette to at least
pretend inclusiveness, Obasa has no such encumbrance.
So, he has come out to say it as it is. He has
made it clear that the ethnic profiling that Tinubu’s political group used to
save itself from being booted out of power in the just-concluded general
elections will now become official policy which he will zealously drive as the
head of the legislature. Listen to him after he was recently sworn in:
“Lagos is a Yoruba land
as against the assertions of some people that it is a no man’s land. Therefore,
part of our legislative agenda is to ensure the translation of laws passed by
this House to the Yoruba language.”
So far, so good, except for the clear mischief
of inferring that “some people” say Lagos is a “no man’s land”. This phrase has
become an evil handle to justify ethnic profiling. Who is arguing with Obasa
over the ethnic patrimony of Lagos? And who is disputing the intention to
translate the law into the natural language of the locality, so long as the
constitutionally-required English version is available? The main rankling part
of his speech was where he said:
“There would be laws and resolutions in the
areas of economy and commerce, property and titles, and we will reverse all
that are reversible to protect the interest of the indigenes.”
This is a declaration of intention to
implement the noises that political thugs made during the elections as they
asked non-indigene (especially Ndi Igbo) residents of Lagos to abandon their
legitimately and hard-earned property and “leave” Lagos.
We have heard Obasa’s declaration. We are
waiting to see how he and his cohorts will proceed. While we wait, let them be
reminded that all Nigerians (and even non-Nigerians) anywhere in Nigeria have
the constitutional right to settle and live as law abiding citizens in any part
of Nigeria, own property, associate with any group, vote and be voted for, be
protected by the law enforcement agencies and given justice by the law courts.
Unless Mudashiru Obasa and his cohorts have
identified some properties which some non-indigenes acquired by land-grabbing
in violation of the ownership rights of the indigenes, we are waiting to see
how legitimately-acquired property of non-indigenes will be “reversed” and
given to “indigenes” without violating the Constitution.
Perhaps, Mudashiru Obasa and his group believe
that they violated the voting rights of a carefully-profiled ethnic group and
got away with it. Now they want to seize people’s hard-earned sweat. It is one
thing for you to stop me from voting at an election. But it is quite another
thing to deprive me of my business and property. If you do this, you are taking
away my citizenship rights as a Nigerian. You are driving me to the wall. You
are taking away my humanity. You are daring me to do my worst. You want to
throw me out of my house and expect to sleep soundly in yours. There is a limit
you can push your luck at my expense.
Mudashiru Obasa needs to grow up before he
accepts to sit in the high office of Speaker of a State House of Assembly,
particularly that of a state like Lagos. Lagos has a history unlike any other
state in Nigeria. It was our Federal Capital for 77 years. Oil and gas
resources from my Abia State were sunk in developing this city-state. My part
of Nigeria was neglected while our commonwealth was invested in the
infrastructure of our former federal capital. These created the opportunities
which all of us came to exploit.
If for any reason Mudashiru Obasa and his
fellow travellers decide to revoke property belonging to non-indigenes in any
part of Lagos, the rationale for that action must be fully and satisfactorily
explained to the property owners. The property must fully be valuated and the
owners satisfactorily compensated.
This thing called peace is a precious
commodity. To buy and maintain it, there are prices to pay. There are rules to
adhere to, and it requires an intelligent, matured, experienced and wise
leadership to harness peace and use it to create progress which will benefit
all. If you think because you have power you can rob Peter to pay Paul, good
luck!
Most of the so-called indigenes that Mudashiru
Obasa and his clique are purportedly fighting for willingly sold their property
to willing buyers. After enjoying the money, they are now complaining.
Mudashiru Obasa wants to ensure that they have their cake back after eating it.
Where are my groundnuts
and popcorn?
*Nnanna is a commentator on public issues
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