Segun James
As the statement by the Oba of Benin over the ownership of Lagos continues to reverberate, De Renaissance Group, comprising the ‘true indigenes of Lagos State’, has said the true owners of the state must be allowed to take over the political space in the spirit of equity and fairness.
In a statement titled: ‘The Rebirth Start Now’, and signed by the Protem Chairman, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (rtd); Protem Secretary, Yomi Tokosi, and Coordinator, Prince Adelani Adeniji-Adele, they promised to redefine Lagos State as what it used to be.
According to them, “An indigene with the love of the people, our values and our passion for greater heights must emerge as the next governor of Lagos State. An indigene in this regard is one from any of our five divisions of Lagos State.
“With the exception of the Raji Babatunde Fashola administration, the Lagos State indigenes have been deliberately schemed out of participatory governance in the state. The source of the legitimacy of our claim is that there is no state in the Nigerian space that has a non-indigene as its executive and legislative authorities except in Lagos State.”
They explained that the uproar over the recent statement of the Oba of Benin was a distraction that was unneeded at this crucial time.
The group said: “God had pleased our Lagos State to be prosperous, and for our dear state to attain this enviable position in the comity of states in the country and beyond.” “We further acknowledge the diligence of our forefathers who had struggled throughout centuries and by dint of hard-work to lay the foundation for the development and peace of our dear state and patrimony.
“De Renaissance Group as the name suggests is poised to ensure that that progressiveness in governance was not lost on the altar of sheer madness and crass opportunism which hurt the indigenes.
“The recent uproar over the recent statement of the Oba of Benin is a distraction that is unneeded at this crucial time. It is in our view designed to further denigrate our dear state as no man’s land. We know by now, as we knew before that it was not only fellow Nigerians from the Southeast that see us in that light. The controversy over the debate of the ownership of Lagos is a non-starter because we have lived together for over five hundred years and have recognized each other as Omo Eko Pataki. Our brothers from the Southwest are advised to take note and should therefore desist from seeing us their ‘spoils of war’.
“If settled towns like Oyo Titun (Oyo Atiba), Egbaland, Igboho or even Ibadan could see themselves as one by their identity as being ‘sons and daughters of the soil’, why should we be deprived of our joy as an empire, a state and as a people that our forefathers traversed to greater heights about 500 years ago?
“In our last publication, we traced the trajectory of our various communities (IBILE) from towns to city states right into being a colony and its eventual codification into Lagos State in 1967. We believe that this should be enough for people who wish us well to acknowledge our ethnogenesis (the formation and development of an ethnic group that we have uniquely called Ibile Eko) and also recognise that Lagos State is our land, not an appendage of any assumed suzerainty from any quarter which may include Ife, Oyo or Bini.
“In an earlier publication, we have stated our mission in clear and unambiguous terms, and that is to stop the continued slide of our people into insignificance and obscurity on our soil. We chose as our main objective to ensure that an indigene with the love of the people, our values and our passion for greater heights must emerge as the next governor of Lagos State. An indigene in this regard is one from any of our five divisions of Lagos State.”
t added: “We believe that when an indigene is in place, all these sad and irrelevant stories about who owns or does not own Lagos will be laid to rest to better things to improve our lives. We know our histories and our paths to know that together we stand, disunited we fall. We do not need outsiders from Bini or Ife or any other places to knock our heads against one and other.”
