Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The demolition of property and assets owned by Igbos in Lagos has continued to attract condemnations and anger with groups and individuals faulting the rationale behind it.

In its reaction to the sad development in Lagos, the Association of Igbo Town Unions (ASITU) expressed disappointment at the federal government’s indifference and  “ominous silence” on the plight of Igbo property owners in Lagos.

The leadership of ASITU made the association’s stance known at a press conference in Umuahia over the “inhuman and unending demolition” of properties belonging to Igbos in Lagos State.

They described the demolition policy as discriminatory, callous, and done without due process, adding that federal government has no reason to stay aloof given that the action of Lagos State government was a threat to national unity.

President of ASITU, Chief Emeka Diwe, who addressed journalists, noted that the systematic demolitions had commenced in February with the destruction of trading plazas owned by Igbos at Ebute Ero Market.

He stated that the targeted demolitions shifted to the Trade Fair Complex in September “with much intensity as agents of the Lagos State government continued the destruction of Igbo livelihoods and economic survival.”

“Our people in Lagos are in agony. They are suffering; they are crying,” Diwe said, adding that the economic wound inflicted on Ndigbo “is so painful and we want the world to hear our cry, we want the world to feel our pain.”

He said that the reasons adduced by the Lagos State government for wreaking havoc in Igbo property and assets ring hollow as the way and manner the demolitions were done smacked of being politically motivated.

“We do not dispute the government’s right to ensure orderly urban development. What we dispute, and what we categorically reject, is the selective, discriminatory, and often extrajudicial manner in which these demolitions have been carried out.”

He argued that “many of the demolished properties had valid approvals issued by the very same Lagos State government that later turned around and destroyed them.

“Owners who followed due process, who paid their fees, who waited for stamps and signatures (of approvals), now stand amid ruins, asking one simple question: ‘why?’

According to him, in situations where notices were given to the property owners, “they were often too brief for meaningful legal responses. Where documentation was presented, it was dismissed or ignored. Where owners attempted to regularise perceived deficiencies they were met with bulldozers instead of bureaucrats.”

The ASITU leader stated the destruction of Igbo-owned property in Lagos undermines the quest for nation building, national unity, peace and cohesion.

He pointed out that it was this kind of targeted mistreatment of Igbos that stokes feelings of alienation and rejection hence the issue of Biafra self-determination.

“It is necessary to speak plainly about something that weighs down every Igbo: our people love Nigeria. Let no one doubt this. Let no one twist our cries for justice into calls for secession.

“We have built Nigeria. In every corner of this nation, from Sokoto to Calabar, from Maiduguri to Badagry, you will find Ig o men and women who have invested not just their money, but their very lives into the Nigerian dream”.

Diwe lamented that Ndigbo continue to suffer discrimination and rejection in Nigeria despite the fact that no other ethnic group in Nigeria has so thoroughly embraced the idea of a unified Nigerian state through their actions, their investments, and their presence everywhere.

“We are the glue that binds this nation together,” he said, adding that “while others see Nigeria as a collection of regions, they see it as one country, one economy, one shared destiny.

“That is why we spread across every state, building, investing, employing, and integrating. We marry your daughters and give you our sons. We speak your language and respect your customs. We celebrate Nigeria’s di easily because we live it very single day.”

The ASITU  President warned that while the Lagos State government is gleefully and intentionally destroying Igbo investments, it is at the same time mounting assault on the very principles of nation building and cohesion that its founding fathers envisioned.”

He queried, “How do we build one Nigeria when citizens are afraid to invest outside their ethnic homelands? How do we preach unity when investments in one state becomes a liability rather than an asset? How do we achieve economic development when productive enterprise is destroyed without due process?”

Diwe said that the demolitions in Lagos have sent “a chilling message to every entrepreneur in Nigeria (that) your legal documents mean nothing; your approvals can be revoked arbitrarily; your investments are not secure; your ethnicity may determine your fate.”

While calling on President Bola Tinubu to prevail on the Lagos State government to halt the demolitions and pay compensations as applicable, ASITU profusely thanked Yorubas that have stood against injustice.

“Many Yoruba people are appalled by these demolitions. Many Yoruba professionals, lawyers, journalists, activists have spoken out against the injustice. We acknowledge and appreciate this.

“Our quarrel is not with the Yoruba people. Our quarrel is with unjust government policy, with discriminatory enforcement, with violation of constitutional rights,” the Town Union leaders said.

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