By Ochereome Nnanna

THE atmosphere in Lagos bespeaks of a buildup to something ominous as we approach the Governorship and State Assembly elections this Saturday. There may also be tensions in places like Rivers, Delta, Oyo, Benue, Kogi, Kano and Kaduna. What we have in those places is political tension. The Lagos case is far more dangerous. Apart from political tension there is also ethnic tension.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has pronounced the All Progressives Congress, APC, flag bearer, Ahmed Tinubu, as President-elect and bestowed him his Certificate of Return. But he lost in Lagos, a place he has always held onto mainly through violence and intimidation, especially in recent years when he no longer enjoyed the genuine support of the majority of city-state’s residents.

Tinubu lost in spite of the violence perpetrated by MC Oluomo’s hoods, the Agberos, and the Jagaban Army. But the President-elect issued a statement sounding unperturbed because the biggest prize, the Presidency given to him on a platter, was already cooling off in his agbada pocket. The loss took the Tinubu political machine back to the drawing board.

To win the governorship election and return Babajide Sanwo-Olu to a second term is a task that must be done. The ethnic nature of the tension building up in Lagos has nothing to do with Yoruba versus Igbo. But some evil narratives are circulating with a view to getting the Yoruba to see it as a showdown between Igbo and Yoruba. We are told that the Igbo (who are falsely linked by the troublemakers to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, for effect) have “taken over” Lagos lands from the “indigenes”, while refusing to sell land to Yoruba in the South- East. 

They fail to answer these questions: were those lands or properties seized or bought through legitimate transactions? Where is the evidence that Igbo never sell land to non-Igbo in Igboland? Can a river swallow a person who has never set foot in it? Why is this issue coming up at this point when the Tinubu political group is fighting perhaps its last battle for the continued domination of Lagos? Come to that, were the Igbo residents solely responsible for Tinubu’s loss?

The truth is that the Yoruba ethnic group who are the patrimonial landlords of Lagos, are not at war with Ndi Igbo. Indeed, there is a subsisting geopolitical partnership between the Igbo and Yoruba socio-cultural leaders of thought: Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and Yoruba Afenifere. This was why Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the Afenifere leader, campaigned for the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

That gesture was a reciprocation of Igbo magnanimity to Yoruba when Olusegun Obasanjo twice contested for president. Ndi Igbo massively voted for Obasanjo even when his kinsmen, including Afenifere, rejected him. Yoruba benefited from the rotational bonanza of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with the Igbo in full support. Ndi Igbo did the same for the North and Ijaw. Is it a crime for an Igbo to run for president in Nigeria? Why should the funny sentiments of people who sold their family properties be now whipped up at this time? We know that if their manipulators get what they want, these same losers will be abandoned again till next election.

Tinubu lost Lagos and might lose again on Saturday because many of his people are tired of his party’s dictatorship. The Igbo Lagos residents have no electoral power to depose Tinubu and the APC without the active propulsion of the disenchanted indigenes. Tinubu and his group are playing the ostrich with this reality.

We hope the election ends peacefully. Let us embrace whoever wins. All the contestants are ethnic Yoruba, anyway. So, why the venomous angst against peaceful and law-abiding Igbo? The Army, Police and security agencies must protect the vulnerable and allow voters to choose their leaders. That is all we ask for.

Abia: Alex Oti’s time is here

ABIA State has been under the jackboots of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the past 24 years. No party has a right to stay in power for that long in a multiparty democracy. Parties get rotten when they stay in power for too long. This is why healthy competition and frequent changes of government among the parties are best for any polity. The rot in Lagos is even worse in Abia. While Lagos is making some progress despite deep-seated corruption and dictatorship, Abia has been sinking because every governor comes to “do his own” based on the corrupt Abia “charter of equity”. A small state with only two major towns remains one of the most backward in the federation.

In 2015, I was among three people, including the late Prince Otisi Ndukwo Kalu (Abbott) and Nwaka Ogbonnaya Inem, a prominent Abiriba politician, who persuaded Otti to leave his lucrative position as CEO and Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank PLC to contest for governor to put Abia State on the right path. After some reluctance, Otti zestfully took up the challenge. He joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, after his bid for the PDP ticket was upstaged. He won the election, but his victory was hijacked in broad daylight and on live television by PDP leaders in cahoots with the INEC collation officers. After the sleazy Election Tribunal rigmarole, Abia fell into the hands of Okezie Ikpeazu.

After 24 years, the all-powerful PDP is expiring not just in Abia State but also the South-East and South-South. My good friend, Senator T. A. Orji and Governor Ikpeazu lost their bids for the Senate. With the Obidient wave behind his already formidable platform, Alex Otti’s time is hopefully here. This is the change we need.