…As he calls for peaceful co-existence between Igbo, Yorubas in Lagos State
Lawmaker representing Oshodi/Isolo Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable (Sir) Jude Chukwuemeka Idimogu has cautioned the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded 2023 election, Datti Baba-Ahmed over his inflammatory outbursts.
Idimogu took the position while speaking to the media at his home at Ejigbo, Lagos State on Saturday, April 1, 2023.
The lawmaker condemned the call by Datti that the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) should not be sworn in, and tagged such utterance as irresponsible, and a move geared towards bringing down the hard earned democracy in the country.
His advice to labour party Presidential candidates and his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart who have gone to the court to challenge the outcome of the election, “But they are in court already now, the only advice, since they are in court, whatever decision the court takes, they should accept it, at the end of the day, if it is appeal court, they can even appeal to the supreme court, it is the final abitter, so we can’t say much, they are there already unless on their own they want to withdraw their petitions, that is the best thing, fro me the vice presidential candidate of labour party, Ahmed Dattilet him be careful…
“He should be careful with his utterances. At his level and with his education, he should choose his language. He does not own Nigeria. Nigeria won’t end because he lost election. Must you win?
“The democratic process should be followed. They have gone to court. They should follow the process to its logical end. That’s the beauty of democracy”
“Atiku has contested elections severally, and does not utter such divisive words. Datti-Ahmed is not even a presidential candidate. He’s a mere spare tyre”, the lawmaker stated.
Idimogu also opined that it is not impossible for a non-indigene, or a person of Igbo extraction, to become governor of the state one day.
“It must be an understanding and you must get the support of the owners of the land”, he stated.
Idimogu further stated that it is not in doubt that non indigenes in Lagos have the number, but the owners of the land must be respected, and “if they work with the Yorubas and the ruling party, it’s not possible”.
He stated that the average Igbo man is peaceful and law abiding, while the Yorubas are very accommodating, hence the need to work together to achieve set objectives.
“It’s only natural for investors in the state, many of whom are non-indigenes, and Igbos, to have an interest in politics and whoever is elected to initiate and run policies which will affect their businesses and investments. Hence the Igbos are taking interest in whom gets into public offices.
“Going forward, there should be inclusiveness. The APC (All Progressives Congress) should learn to pull others close and carry them along. “Igbos in lagos have more investments here in lagos than in their home states, hence they are interested in who occupies political offices”.
On the just concluded general elections, Hon Idimogu said if not for the pockets of violence, it was a good election, and that the will of the people triumphed. “There were issues in a few places, but the percentage, less that 10%, is not enough to discredit the entire process”, he argued.
“The election was good but not good enough. It could have been better. There were reports of violence in some places. But at the end of the day the people’s voice was herd and the majority had their say”.
“The election was a lesson for us, especially my party. Times are changing. The youths want to be part of governance. The perception about the old politicians is not accurate.
“The coming of LP is an eye opener for the old political parties, and elected public office holders to sit up or they might be kicked out”, he said.
On violence meted out to Igbos especially in Ejigbo and Okota, he advised his party, APC to learn to ensure inclusiveness in governance even as he called for peace. “It is a general thing that happened, it is not Lagos only, even in other states, but it is not good enough like I earlier said, democracy should be government that allows people to participate in an election, but because of fear of the unknown, the true Lagosians, because when they saw what happened during the presidential election they felt, if we keep quiet another party will likely take over the state, but I am happy that we won, though there was a lot of crises which for me was not good enough. Crisis will always be there in an election, but when you look at it, you compare the percentage where this crisis occur and the general performance. But to minimize these things, let’s talk about inclusiveness, our party should learn inclusiveness, not just the Igbos, even the Arewas, where they dominate, give them their person, where the Igbos dominate, give them, South-South, give them, the bottom line is at the end of the day, what matters is, my party won, but when you don’t give them and at the same time you want them to come and vote for you, no, you cannot beat a child and say he should not cry, it is difficult.
Speaking on the threat by Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Eze Fred Ajaero, to bring the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to come and defend Ndigbo in Lagos over constant harassment, said “It is just senseless, when there is a situation, right now the polity is hot, the recent governorship election that happened on the 18th of last month have not settled, which was almost like a cold war between the Igbos and the Yorubas, and you are now adding fuel into fire by saying you will call IPOB, so are you saying if there are issues in Lagos State, so we don’t have police in Lagos or even Amotekun in Yoruba land, and you are talking about IPOB, on what basis? Is Lagos State Imo State, Ebonyi or Anambra? How can somebody who is reasonable talk like that? Well my Yoruba brothers and sisters, we are not part of it, please we are not part of it at all, let him go and face the music, we don’t know what he is saying, as far as we are concerned in Lagos here, we want to live in peace with our Yoruba brothers and sisters, and do our businesses. A typical Igbo man minds his business, but whoever that is careless in saying whatever he likes should go and face the music, please absolve Igbos from this, but let that man go and face the music, what has IPOB got to do with Lagos State? So for me it is a very careless statement.
On his advice to Ndigbo in Lagos State, Idimogu said “There has always been peace between the Igbos and Yorubas if not for the last election, that tribal sentiment crept in, a typical Igbo man is peaceful, sincerely, he faces his business and my Yoruba in-laws are good people, very accommodating, give it to them, but they are also having that benefit, after all the development that we have in Lagos State, is it in our villages? If they say Jude come and leave, am I going to carry my house to my village? It remains in Lagos here, so it is a matter of, they say, when the right hand washes the left hand and the left washes the right everything will be clean, that for me is a symbiotic relationship.”
