Former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Lagos State Government to apologise to the 67 persons of Igbo extraction it allegedly deported from Lagos to Onitsha in Anambra State or face legal action.
While describing the purported deportation as the worst ‘insult to any race’, Kalu frowned at the revelation that the deportees were detained in Ikorodu for about six months before what he termed their ‘illegal deportation.’
In a statement issued to journalists on Monday, the former governor Kalu noted there was right to freedom of movement for every Nigerian as enshrined in Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
Besides, he argued, it was no secret that the Igbo contribute about 55 per cent to the Lagos economy.
“It is appalling to learn that the deported Igbo were even detained in Ikorodu for about six months before their illegal deportation.
“They were taken to Onitsha in four buses, escorted by anti-riot policemen,” Kalu stressed.
“One of them, Osondu Mbuto, a trader from Ohaozara in Ebonyi State, was on his way to his shop on December 18, 2012 when he was arrested by officials ofthe state’s Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI)and detained for no reason until he was deported in his father’s land.
“The reaction of the state government that the Igbo were deported to reunite them with their families was the worst insult to any race.
Quoting a recent statement by Governor Babatunde Fashola’s Special Adviser on Youths and Social Development, Dr. Enitan Dolapo Badru that the deportation was carried out to reunite the destitute and minors among them with their families, Kalu fumed, “What an affront against the collective will of Ndigbo or any other race in Nigeria to live and do business in any part of the country.
“The action of the state government is not only wicked but a clear breach of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended”, he added.
“To worsen the matter, most of those deported are not even indigenes of Anambra State. Is Anambra State now a dumping ground for any act of illegality? Is Lagos State Government above the law of the country? If not, can it operate another set of laws without recourse to constitution amendment? Is it not a travesty of justice that officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) were even used for this illegal act against the Nigerian state? Was the supervising officer, who allowed the deployment of the policemen, not told that they were going to be used for the deportation of Nigerians they were paid by tax payers’ money to protect in their fathers’ land?
“The action is a gross infraction to the rights of the deportees to dwell in any part of Nigeria without discrimination. With this wicked, crude and primitive deportation, I just wonder why a component unit of Nigeria, under the authority and supremacy of a constitution would choose to be lawless in such an unconstitutional conduct. Not even underthe military would such an action have happened.
“Even if a criminal offence was committed, the place to take them to is the court, not for them to be deported. The action of the Lagos State Government is lawless as it is vexatious and I condemn it in strong terms because it threatens the existence of our country. All patriotic Nigerians should say no to this xenophobic action of Lagos State Government because it usurps the powers of the federal government and disregards our constitution.
“I demand a public apology from the governor within seven days to all those illegally deported and a repeat of such anact must be stopped or I will head to court to defend the interest of the Ndigbo in Lagos. Enough is enough.”
Mr Gov pls kindly remember you have done similar thing and you are still doing it with your fellow easterner when you disengage them from your state service, you recently laid embergo on imo state state transport service and moreover fashola has also deported people of disabilities in the southwest and the north. Kano is also doing the same in the north why taken up this type of issue now?
fashola,2 start with,u a demon nd d world will not end wit u.lagos is ur not father estate so dont privatize it.i dont like like ur face cos it gives me bad memories.in ur next life u will suffer 4 oppressing d poor.
Mr mumu u should know the difference b/w chief T.A. Orji, the incubent gov. of Abia state and Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the immediate past gov. of the state.
Ibo people go and develop ur own state too. Dem swear 4 u say make u dey develop anoda man’s land and leave urs destitute ni?????? Goooooo.
Lagos is pure barren land i wonder why Fashola and south-west origine are so arogant’ about Lagos. 1, ZIK relocate capital from calaber to Lagos 2, Igbos developed lagos. 3, entire country is developing by igbo race. Please my igbo brothers we must unite and display our divine wisdom. Thanks.
dear supporter, it is not the same thing and mind you they all are not beggers, Mr. Osondu Mbuto, a trader from Ohaozara in Ebonyi State is he a begger, and all are not from Anambra State, Edos’ and Yorubas’ are even there.
Kalu.Ride on! I like what you are doing for the Igbos.Though you failed woefully as a governor and a politician and refuse to apologise to the Igbos for that.Perhaps you are meant to be an activist not a politiciian.I wish you success in activiisms.May you not fail as an Igbo intrests activist.I wish you well.But politics and governance please don’ dare it anymore.You understand?
Please those making nasty statements here should desist except you want to distablize the mutual coexistence among the multiethnic groups of this nation. I have not from the other party but if this report is true Lagos state govt should be humbled and called to order instead of saying lgbos should go and develop their land why didnt you say this when every hand was on deck to develop Lagos?
Sometime i wonder if GOD will ever make a time to bring my people back (togetherness with one love) we’re only busy developing others people countries, states, villages, Lands,………………. what a shame…… but only one day, i mean one day….. GOD will do it……. so that WORLDS in general will know our values.
Lagos state government that is not the way to handle fellow nigerians like you,remember we all will be accountable of our actions after this life we are living,remember we are all created by one God.
Lagos state government that is not the way to handle fellow nigerians like you,remember we all will be accountable of our actions after this life we are living,remember we are all created by one God and we all have the same life.
Most of you d igbo supported him during election, now you can see dat he’s a fucking bastard
Some people are noting but a pretender. Later they will say their party is the best. As for those critics, i will call them local champion.
IF NDIGBO LEADERS CAN NOT TRASH THIS OUT WITH FASHOLA THEN THEY ARE COWARD.
OUR NATIONAL ASSEMBLE IS THERE TOO LET SEE HOW SERIOUS IS NDIGBO SENATORS.
This pure insult. When you are treated like a slave in your own father’s house
how can i blame tinubu’s puppet. fashola’s action is a long time sentiment that has been shared by our so called yoruba brothers.hatred of easterners runs in the blood of the average yoruba awolowo’20 shilling or pounds policy after the war he expected us to become beggars but we flourish in challenges.if only my brothers will come back to the east especially aba nnewi onitsha enugu am very sure that within 5 years they will come looking for us since they are bunch of civil service -oriented envy filled hypocrites but fashola should know that envy is a wind that blows no one any good be it a governor or a trader as a day of reckoning must come and we must remind the puppet of his action.i hope he has not forgotten 2015
D action of d lagos state govt towards ndigbo is purely ilegal nd treatens d peaceful existence of ONE NIGERIA, nd mutual relationships among Igbo nd Yoruba nd d rest of Nigerians. Ndigbo deserves an unreserved apology frm Lagos state govt. My fellow Ndigbo, if we cannot defend our right wen due, wen are we gona do dat? Kalu failed in his govt or not is nt d issue now. We must be wise enough to support him in dis struggle nd stop criticising him for wat hppd in d past. D TYM IS NOW! Our HUMAN RIGHT is at stake!!! And for dose of u saying Igbos should go nd develop dier land, u’er all bunch of fools nd illiterates who cannot stand for justice nd I bet u’ll neva see d light.
My brother Fashola u went rather too far! This act amounts to unpatriotism, hatred, racism and usurpation. Ejoor oh apologise with proper restitution to avoid the usual mysterious skims of Ibo on Yoruba and you in particular. This is not the job we voted you in to do. I love Ibo.
Let there be peace and love in this country!
How come Soyinka is not saying anything about this appalling behaviour of Fashola? How come he has no voice to call Nigerians to demostrate? How come the civil society organisations have suddenly lost their voice? Many questons than answer, these were the same people who said they will demostrate in PH for Ameachi because he is sharing Rivers money with them. For Soyinka, we know Ameachi is his cult boy, so he can abuse the President, his wife and who ever stand on their way. He claim to be defending democracy, and i wonder how many votes he gave to Ameachi to become the govenor of Rivers. He never see anything wrong when Tinubruku instal his wife as a Senator, his son -in law in the House of Assembly, his daughter as the Iyaloje of the market, yet Soyinka, Falana and the CSO were all here in Nigeria, they didn’t see anything wrong, but in Rivers because Ameachi is the cult boy/man, he has to be defended.
Fashola is an unpatriotic, uncivilized, tribalistic, unethical, an ignorant , an outlawed, and above all by the virtue of being a muslim is a secret pepertrator of the doctrine of the boko haram. What do you expect from the muslim fanatic installed blindly as the south western governor. Fashola better apologize or face being known forever as red flag to the generation of the ndigbo. May the law of the land be made active to this regard.
@Christian I am sure Fashola is enjoying all the insults you heaped on him even without waiting to hear his own side of the story.I can bet he would soon send you an award for your rudeness.
He’s jst a condemned dog. power does not last 4ever. Gowon is still regretting his un4getable acts against d ibos, fashola will soon do d same.
I Jst pray Mr President shuld understand d hand writing on d wall of ds country. D north & West r now buildin walls of differences wt d east. I pray ds country splits. WE R NoT ONE & CAN NEVER BE!!!!
We have a serious problem,we Nigerias are not even seeing it.. When will you people stop tribal war against your fellow citizens because you found yourself one caused political sit or the other.we all have our weaknesses orji uzo has his own but now we have to be prone and call a spade,a spade. Fashola humiliated the 67 fellow citizens not because of any other thing but tribal war. In respect to dignity you made them appear as waste not even your fellow human being.Gov. fashola your act towards fellow nigeria is brutal & inhuman.All you politicians beware God is watching…
The handwriting is clear, i wish everyone could see it. The north, west and the east cannot move alone, there is hatred,distrust and fear. If fashiola has done dis on the igbos one can only imagin what kind of evil his northern counter parts may inflit. I wonder why some men in some high places will want to behave themselfs as gods. There has never been unity in Nigeria and there may never be lets stop decieving ourselfs. Tha almalgamation of 1914 was reali an error disintigration is the answer…….
you pple arecrying foul over what fashola has done and also rainning abuses on hin without even understanding the full content of the issue at hand.to be candid you all conderming fashola are not in the full grasp of the game your orji is playing here.in the first place doyou remeber he said they are not all ibo/igbo that there are some yorubas among them?2 do you realise he did not lay too mush emphasis on that note?and lastly where did he get his information from or dose he now run an N G O?.see my brothers if there is anybody to be blame for the situation comfronting the ibo/igbo race then,it should be the people you call your leaders.right from the great ZIK to the people representing the igbo/ibo poeple from presidency to the various lacal gov’ts.take a critical look at what is happning to that part of our country?who are the people negotiating for them b/4 the war and who are those negotiating till now?what is their status in the society?
Fashola,no doubt needed to be called to oder.Yoruba leaders should not sleep over this.The gov is just too obsessed about his mega city dream.And is not mindful of what his actions could trigger.He should not forget that the poor has the fundalmental right to coexist with the rich.I advise him to learn from the story of lazarus and the rich man.You cannot suffer the poor and enjoy life eternal.The basis of governance is the people.You need to provide shelter and some other basic amenities to meet the demand of the masses other than call them nuisance because they have no accomodation.The excuse of rehabilition will only add sult to injury because these people are not mad and not drug addicts or suffer any mental illness.They need compensation for this cruel embarrasment. And to the ndigbos I apologise on behalf of the yoruba race.It is not in our act to dicriminate.This is not an exclusive act by the governor to ndigbos,yorubas too suffer hell in Lagos.That was why they spent billions and still lose election in Ondo. Ndigbo kwenu… One love one Nigeria
the best thing for us is to divide…igbo go yur way,hausa yur way. yoruba stay alone..peace will surely reign..if these could not be done,let hausa be on their own,yoruba and igbo 2geda
Fashola is the most arrogant governor I have ever seen in my life, he’s the only governor that will take a decision without considering who will get hurt and still tell them to go to hell if you dare challenge him, imagine his comment to Gov. Obi’s reaction, that he should go to court, if he feel offended by his action, instead of him to apologise he’s insulting the igbos to go hell, that’s what his action implies and this are the people that voted him into power at last election. Its a pity that this man has no respect for any citizen, even the Lagos indigens,
we are waiting patiently for the next election, no matter any party the change their name to, AD, ACN, APC, we know them we’ll sort them out in the next election.