YORUBAS ARE ACCOMMODATING, YORUBAS ARE TOLERANT… -THE NOISE IS NOW DEAFENING

By Nnanna Otu (Lagos Bureau Chief)

On the 11^th of July 2022, the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC carried a headline News item captioned: “British woman politician of Nigeria extraction, Kemi Badenoch, has declared her intention to succeed Boris Johnson as the next Conservative leader and British Prime Minister”. Giving further insight, the BBC stated “Ms Badenoch was the former Equalities Minister and while confirming her candidacy, said she is in the race to seek a limited government and to “tell the truth”. Somehow, as fate would have it, she could not snatch and run off (apologies to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu) with the coveted trophy of No.10 Downning Street, London. She was beaten to it by the short-lived UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who went on to appointed the British-Nigerian Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch as a member of her cabinet.

Ms Kemi Badenoch is a Nigerian of Yoruba extraction whose parents and perhaps grand and great-grand parents have lived in London for several decades. She has contributed and continues to contribute her quarter to the development of Great Britain and she is considered a British citizen by all standards. She picks whatever is due to her as a citizen and none of her British compatriots ever raised an eye brow over her meteoric rise in the British top political echelon. No one sings the irritating lullaby in her ears daily; reminding her of how accommodating, liberal and tolerant Britons are for allowing a black girl like her blossom in their country and attain her full life potentials. The system is not interested in where she comes from or her parental pedigree, what is important is the quality of what she has in the hollow chambers between her ears and what she has done and what she is currently doing for the country.

Whereas Ms Kemi Badenoch has cut a niche for herself as a hardworking, respected and responsible British citizen of Nigerian descent, her compatriot, Adeyinka Grandson, a Yoruba supremacist, (also known as Adeyinka Shoyemi), a UK-based Nigerian, of Yoruba descent as well, but better known for his social media attacks and instigation of genocide on the people of Igbo ethnic group; as expected, he quickly made his way into the Gallows -his obvious natural habitat. The synopsis of all the noise Adeyinka Grandson made was that Igbos sprouted out from one obscure settlement for hermits and descended on Lagos taking over all available jobs, markets, estate businesses and cargo clearance businesses from the Yorubas in their land. His rhetoric before he was clamped and dumped in jail seemed to suggest that as soon as Igbos arrived in Lagos, a Bill specifying these businesses as areas Yorubas should not venture into was passed and signed into law. From the safety of his home in London, he was mobilizing youths of Yoruba extraction to forcefully take over Markets and Businesses owned by Igbos. His message was straight and direct: “chase them out of Yoruba land and take over what rightly belongs to you”.

Unfortunately, this imbecilic, narrow minded and pedestrian message of Adeyinka Grandson, a message that is grossly lacking in depth, etched on unimaginative thinking, is presently resonating with politicians of the Emi lokan persuasion. All we hear is that Igbos are taking undue advantage of the liberal, tolerant and accommodating nature of Yorubas and now want to take over Lagos. You take any of the proponents of this weird line of thought to task and ask him how exactly is the likely manner of the much touted Igbo-take-over of Lagos? The answer you get falls flat on its face. They point to the Markets –Ladipo Auto Spare Parts, Coputer Village at Ikeja, ASPAMDA, Trade Fair Market, Aluminum Market at Dopemu, Alaba International Market, Clearing and Forwarding Business etc. all controlled by Igbos. You then wonder aloud, is there a law, a statute, a decree that forbids other Nigerians of none Igbo extraction from going into such businesses? They’ll simply walk out on you at that point.

I was a staff of the Corporate Banking Department of a Commercial Bank in Lagos in 1994 when the idea of an exclusive Market for sale of Computers and Computer Accessories began to make the around in business circles in Lagos. We encouraged our Branch at Allen Avenue Ikeja, Lagos to key into the fledgling Computer Business. It did not take long before they passed on a list of 59 Corporate customers who had shown interest in the Computer Business, but they needed funding. We processed their requests on case by case basis and in the end, we extended across board credit facility in the sum of N2 million to 41 of applicants. Of this number, 33 of them were Yorubas. One year down the road, the 33 Yoruba customers all closed shops and went under. None of them, not even one of them cleaned out on the facility. The other 8 Igbo traders we funded are still there to date. At the Computer village today, roles are clearly delineated along ethnic lines. The Igbos handle the Business end (Importing and Sales), the Yorubas do the repair and other technical jobs while the Hausas move loads from one point to another for customers. These roles come into play naturally; the average Yoruba man hardly draws a line between his Capital and expendable profit if the need for an Owambe arises.

Truth of the matter is that Igbos identified with the Labour Party in the last Presidential Elections and somehow, even after the brazen intimidations and manipulations by both APC thugs and the INEC, Labour Party had a great outing in the election in Lagos State. So, to them, if you add the electoral victory of an Igbo backed Party to their already deeply established numero uno position in the Business sector, then the Igbos are just a few steps away from taking over Lagos. Therefore, the only way to avert this seeming disaster is to intimidate and cause physical and material losses on Igbos and their properties in Lagos. The recent arson and total raze down of the Spare Part Market at Ajegule last week Thursday readily comes to mind.

Igbos came to Lagos, saw opportunities in various areas of Business endeavour and cashed in on those businesses from very humble beginning and nurtured such businesses to a profit making venture. The owners of the land had always been there, they never saw such businesses and even when they are introduced to the business, they still cannot handle. They prefer rent seeking opportunities, where you go out today, slug it out, come back with huge raw cash, spend all the cash possibly same day because you are sure you will make something in the region of the amount you came back with tomorrow. So, you find able bodied Yoruba youths in the Oluomo Agbero industry and others roaming around the streets as Omoniles looking for fresh project sites. So the talk about Yorubas being accommodating and tolerant is outright hogwash, borne out of crass jealousy and envy that has eventually led to the present heightened level of hatred and intolerance against the Igbos.