Bode George, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says recent calls by some faceless groups asking Igbo people to leave Lagos State is “arrant nonsense.”
He disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday.
The retired navy officer, who is a Lagos indigene, spoke on the sideline of an interactive session with the media on the State of the Nation, held at his office in Ikoyi.
“That type of campaign is ‘arrant nonsense’; it is ‘sheer stupidity,
“It is nonsense. I say it is arrant nonsense. Why should we be saying that the Igbo people should leave? We have grown with them here. I had known them. We played local football, local football together.
“I think those who are proposing or talking about it are not Lagos indigenes themselves. In Lagos, we welcome traders. Bring your wares, we look at it, we buy it, you make your money, we give you land to build. That is the culture of Lagos.
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“Those who are proposing this nonsense have no bearing, no family connection to Lagos. I am saying it as a Lagosian. It is arrant stupidity. Why would you tell them to leave? They pay their taxes,” he fumed.
He noted that Nnamdi Azikwe, who is of Igbo extraction, became the political son of his great grand uncle, Sir Herbert Macaulay.
Azikwe, the first President of Nigeria, he said, had joined Macaulay in the nationalism struggles before late Obafemi Awolowo and his group arrived from the United Kingdom.
“Why are you fighting them? Does it make sense? Lagos State was created since 1967. Since that time to now, the Igbo have had their contributions. So, to me, such campaign is idiotic. Very idiotic. They should stop,” George cautioned.
He opined that those spreading such hate were not Lagos indigenes but people who came from neighbouring states and were accommodated in the state.
“They should just shut up. If they have a right to come here, why are they blocking others?
“The Igbo have their own contribution to make. They are buying houses and building houses. They are contributing to the development of economic activities in Lagos. They are most welcome,” he added.
