By Ikechukwu Amaechi
On October 1, Nigeria marked its 65th anniversary as an independent country and Nigerian leaders, as usual, used the opportunity to preach the gospel of peace and unity. Nigeria, many insisted, is the handiwork of God.
President Bola Tinubu led the choir in his nationwide broadcast with this rallying cry: “While our system and ties that bind us are sometimes stretched by insidious forces opposed to our values and ways of life, we continue to strive to build a more perfect union where every Nigerian can find better accommodation and find purpose and fulfilment.”
Those that are more religiously inclined insist that since God does not make mistakes, then a united and indissoluble Nigeria must be seen as part of God’s divine purpose. But in reality, these preachments of unity mean nothing. They are mere sound bites meant to wheedle the unwary but which, at the end, as the legendary Shakespeare noted in Macbeth, are “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” They are periodic effusion of platitudes, wearing the toga of an idiot’s tale.
Barely one week before Tinubu’s speech which was supposed to rouse compatriots to action on a utopian Nigerian dream, over 19 properties belonging to Igbo traders were demolished at the Trade Fair Complex by the Lagos State government. It was a tendentious act of malice.
Many of the victims claim they were not given any prior notice. To make matters worse, they were stopped from salvaging their goods before the buildings worth billions of Naira were reduced to rubbles.
While the affected traders are bemoaning their fate and demanding justice, the Lagos State government is doubling down on its belligerence. Its response to Mr. Peter Obi’s comments following his visit to the market on Tuesday, was, literally, go to hell.
Obi, former governor of Anambra State and candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, praised the traders for their restraint, even as he described the demolition exercise as “a test of impunity, justice and compassion.” But having none of that, the state government accused him of indulging in “emotional theatrics.”
Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, in his rebuttal, said the government declared a general amnesty for owners of unapproved buildings across the state in 2023 but the affected traders failed to take advantage of the gesture.
Not only that, he claimed that when state’s physical planning officials visited the complex, the gates were locked against them and they were beaten up. “The police had to rescue them. When the government invited the owners for talks, they bluntly refused to show up,” Omotosho further claimed.
It will be a surprise if this happened. It beggars belief that Igbo traders in Lagos would have the temerity not only to stop Lagos State government officials from carrying out their legitimate duties but also assaulted them and nobody heard about it. If that had happened, those traders would have been declared persona-non-grata and banished from Lagos by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led government.
But a little background to this whole saga will be helpful. The Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, a 350-hectare facility along Lagos-Badagry expressway was constructed in the 1970s to host international trade fair events in the country. But there was also a fundamental shift in 2002 when President Olusegun Obasanjo gave Federal Government’s nod for jewelry, auto spare parts and other consumer goods traders from Balogun Market on Lagos Island to relocate to the complex.
Today, the complex hosts various business associations dealing in textiles, clothing, household goods, auto spare parts and machineries, jewelry, luxury goods, fashion accessories, etc., thus making it a thriving commercial hub. Till date, the complex is a federal property established by law and managed under the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board Act.
The beleaguered traders insist that the demolished buildings had valid approvals from the Trade Fair Management Board, which, in their understanding, is the statutory authority empowered by law to oversee the complex on behalf of the Federal Government.
Addressing journalists on Monday, chairman of the stakeholders’ forum, Chief Eric Ilechukwu, said: “The respective lease agreements we signed clearly indicate that the Board is the approving and supervising authority for constructions within the complex. At no time were we served contravention notices.”
Bearing unequivocal testimony to Ilechukwu’s claim, Executive Director of the Board, Vera Safiya Ndanusa, who confirmed that the complex was under the control of the Federal Government through the Board, regretted that they were not carried along before the demolitions.
But Omotosho said the Board, though a creation of the Federal Government, lacked powers to grant building approvals and regulate physical development within the complex. All such powers, he said, has been invested in the state government “under the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act (1992).”
“We must decide whether we want a society governed by law or one run by emotions, driven by political interests,” he declared presumptuously.
Good!
We all desire law and order. But did the traders know about this? If the Federal Government appointed board chairperson is insisting that the complex is a federal property, wouldn’t it have been fair that the state government carried them along? Doesn’t common sense suggest that if they were, they would have, in turn, guided the traders aright, assuming they erred? Does it not amount to gross impunity for the Lagos State government to trespass into a property that belongs to the Federal Government to wreak such havoc even if the Constitution vests the state with exclusive authority to regulate and approve building projects within its borders?
Suffice it to say that, to borrow a cliché, “The law was made for man, not man for the law.” Simply put, legal systems and regulations should serve and benefit people, not the other way round because laws are meant to protect human well-being and promote justice. And that was exactly the point Obi made on Tuesday when he urged “governments at all levels to act with compassion, fairness, and a deep sense of justice, especially at this difficult time.”
While no one will sanction lawlessness or acts of impunity, the law at all times must wear human face. As Obi rightly noted, and he should know because he is an entrepreneur, most of the traders whose livelihoods have been whimsically destroyed, invested heavily – often through loans – in the hope of securing their livelihoods and contributing to the wider economy.
It is therefore callous, to say the least, to destroy such businesses simply because you can and you feel the victims can do nothing. It is even more so when the targeted businesses are legitimate investments as it is the case in this matter and the destruction is recklessly done without due process.
The question that the Lagos State government needs to answer is this: If these properties were owned by non-Igbos, would they have been so reckless and malicious? The answer is No. So, this is not about law and order. It is political vendetta which has spiked since after the 2023 elections when Peter Obi, an Igbo, defeated Bola Tinubu, in his own turf.
So, this is one demolition too many. The state government may well continue to hide behind its whitlow finger but the truth remains that these demolitions are done in bad faith. Unfortunately, many of these traders who have become collateral damages in the battle of the political titans didn’t even vote during the last elections. Some of them don’t even have voter cards. All they ask for is the right to earn a legitimate living in their own country.
The deliberate ruination of businesses without any justification, which is what the Trade Fair Complex demolitions is all about, is an act of bad faith.
While the victims are the immediate losers, at the long run, Nigeria bears the brunt of state policies borne out of extreme nepotism and ethnic hatred, because as Obi rightly noted: “A society that seeks to make progress must protect enterprise, encourage productivity, and defend the dignity of its citizens.”
So, while Tinubu, expectedly, pontificated about national unity in his October 1, broadcast, in truth, it was just for political correctness. The ethnic profiling, intimidation and baiting against Ndigbo in Lagos, which is sadly reflected in the very pugnacious disposition of the state government towards Igbo businesses and economic interests as evidenced in the Trade Fair Complex demolitions, is intensifying and will not abate even after the 2027 elections.
But, while Ndigbo are the victims, the joke is on Nigeria because this extreme callousness arising from simple political differences that ought to be settled at the ballot is critically injurious to the very project of building a united nation.
Above all, it raises the very poignant question: What exactly does Lagos State want from Ndigbo?
*Amaechi is the publisher of TheNiche (ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com)
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