2023 HEATS UP: IGBOS IN LAGOS POLITICS ON THE PATH TO MENDING FENCES

It is just one year into the tenure of new governments elected across the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But as far as Igbos in Lagos are concerned, the race towards 2023 has started. For them, politics is gathering momentum and shaping up.

They have had enough of the insults and abuses which always tag them as tyrants and betrayers in a city that has brought them huge wealth and fortune. Even though they are great in trade and commerce, their impact in the politics of Nigeria’s economic nerve centre is so infinitesimal.

Since inception of the 4th republic in 1999, the party that led Lagos was Alliance for Democracy (AD) which later transformed to Action Congress (AC), then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now present-day All Progressives Congress (APC) but all through these, Igbos in Lagos who are estimated to be about six million have not been in the good books of the party. When others go right, they tend to go the opposite direction. This has often pitched them against government officials, traditional rulers, indigenes, and other ethnic groups in the city-state.

While successive governments have tried to stretch the olive branch to them with appointments of men of Igbo extraction like Ben Akabueze, Joe Igbokwe, Sam Egube among others to key positions and the election of their son, Jude Emeka Idimogu as a member of the Lagos House of Assembly, the Igbo people do not seem to count it as anything. How many persons of other ethnic grouping have been able to make such inroads in the South-east?

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu (m); His Deputy, Dr. Femi Hamzat with Ndigbo Lagos’ Eze and Leaders.

The toga of being in adversarial position to the governing party in Lagos is frustrating for the key stakeholders of the ethnic group. They are ready to change the narrative. They are leaving no stone unturned in order to achieve their aim. Though there are several community associations and cultural groups among Igbos in Lagos, two stands out as prime. These are the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which is a socio-cultural organization comprising all estimated six million Igbos in Lagos and the Council of Eze Ndigbo, also known as Ndi Eze, comprising all traditional chiefs of Igbos in the 57 LGs/LCDAs in Lagos. Both groups have the responsibility to bring Igbos on the same page as it relates to their wellbeing in Lagos.

Though small, the governing party, All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos can still boast Igbos within their fold. This people are coordinated by someone who occupies the position of apex leader of Igbos in APC. For 21 years, the position has been occupied by Joe Igbokwe, the Special Adviser (Drainage and Water Resources) to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-olu and longtime ally of All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Today, his position is being contested by Igbo key stakeholders as panacea to the bad name that the tribe has carried over the years in Lagos. He has been roundly accused of sheer arrogance, reckless insubordination, inappropriate representation, careless negligence, and wanton corruption. In fact, the key stakeholders have replaced him with current lawmaker of Igbo extraction in the Lagos House of Assembly, Jude Emeka Idimogu representing Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II. He has since stepped into the office having been elected as the new apex leader of Igbos in APC on 14th May, confirmed on 17th May, presented to the party chairman of APC in Lagos, Tunde Balogun and other leaders of the party. Recently, he was also celebrated by fellow members in the Lagos House of Assembly.

However, what are the circumstances that led to this abrupt change? Are all Igbos agreeable to this new decision? Won’t this choice cause rife among Igbos in Lagos? The team of Trek Africa Newspaper went on an investigative and fact-checking mission to put all the issues in proper perspective.

Ndigbo Group

How could the election that brought Jude Idimogu be conducted in the Ohanaeze Ndigbo secretariat on 14th May when the organization prides itself as apolitical? Chief Solomon Aguene Ogbonna, the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos shared: ‘Let me put things in perspective.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo is a socio-cultural organization. We don’t appoint anybody to the position of any political party. We have members who can be elected into positions in their various parties. We don’t have anything to do with politics of APC, PDP or any party.’

‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo is socio-cultural and is the group of all Igbos. I am the President in Lagos, so I am the leader of all Igbos in Lagos, whether you are in APC, PDP or APGA, the wealthiest, the most educated, the most exposed, as long as you are Igbo and you are based in Lagos, you are under my leadership. If you are the apex leader in APC or the first person in APC, if you are Igbo, you are under my leadership. I am the person that will advise the Igbos on the way to go. If you are a Governor of a southeastern state and you visited Lagos, you are under the leadership of the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Solomon Ogbonna. I work with Igbos in APC, PDP, APGA to guide them in the best way to go in Lagos and it cannot be in opposition to our landlord.’

Chief Aguene furthered: ‘What I do is to guide my people in the best interest of themselves which I did in 2019 when I told them that we must support the ruling party for we cannot be in opposition to our hosts. And I can say that for the first time in history of Igbos, we have gotten a lot of benefits from the Lagos State Government. You can see that during the COVID-19 lockdown, palliatives were sent to us Lagos State Government through the amiable Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu who sees the Igbos as his friends and the Igbos also see him as friend. And I give kudos to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who made it possible to choose a man who has the fear of God.’

On whether Ohanaeze had a hand in the election of Hon. Jude Idimogu, the President of the organization remarked: ‘The endorsement was done by members of Ndi Eze in Lagos who attended their meeting here. There is a hall exclusively for them in this secretariat. The Ezes endorsed him and I got the information here in my office that he has been endorsed as apex leader of Igbos in APC. I have nothing to contribute to that because I am not a politician. Neither is Ohanaeze a political party. Whoever is apex leader, Idimogu or Igbokwe is the affairs of their political career.’

‘I am still waiting for the two of them to tell me because I am still hearing it in the media. None of them have approached me as their leader. I will not intervene for the moment but they should know that as it is, they are not doing any good for themselves or the Igbos because they are one. Both of them are Okoros. We have not endorsed anyone because it is not our work.’

He then advised government on what to do if they have anything for Igbos, ‘my advice to government is if they have anything for people of Igbo extraction, we have a secretariat at 19 James Robertson Street, Surulere, Lagos. In Ohanaeze, whatever we get is shared to all Igbos irrespective of party. For example, during COVID-19 lockdown, the Lagos government gave us three truckload of item and we shared to members of Ohanaeze. If they want to give to their party members, they know how to give it to them. We don’t approach any party. It is the party that will chase Ohanaeze. They should stop divide and rule by saying what they gave to Igbos in their party belong to Ndigbo.

If you suppose to give us rice and you give us sand, I will reject it because we don’t eat sand. That’s my role for all Igbos.’

On the part of the Council of Eze Ndigbo in Lagos state, the group that facilitated the endorsement of Hon. Jude Idimogu as against Hon. Joe Igbokwe, the Trek Africa Newspaper team set out to understand the motive behind their decision. In a separate interview with the man who has been the arrowhead for Igbos and was confirmed as leader of Igbos by the late Oba Oyekan, more facts were revealed. The Chairman of the Council of Eze Ndigbo in Lagos state and Eze Igbo 1, Eze Uchechukwu Christian Nwachukwu hosted the team at the Council’s Office, the Igbo Community Centre situated at 17/19 Nwachukwu drive, Okota, Lagos which was commissioned by Sen. Oluremi Tinubu in 2005 when she was then First Lady of Lagos state.

Eze Christian Nwachukwu recalled how politics for Igbos in Lagos in the 4th republic started: ‘There was an issue between OPC and Hausas then but Asiwaju called all groups together and addressed us to become united for him so that he can be elected. I had a contemporary who was the Eze in Ifako-Ijaye who later went with the PDP but I have stood all the way from Alliance for Democracy (AD) to Action Congress (AC) to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to All Progressives Congress (APC). On the day of his commissioning, Bola Tinubu invited me and my colleague in Ifako-Ijaye to bring 10 persons each, Joe Igbokwe was not there at this instance.

Later, he gave slots for travel to Jerusalem to one of the persons I took to Alausa, Chris Ekwilo who without recourse to the community used one for himself, gave another to my colleague in Ifako-Ijaye and sold the rest.’

‘Luckily during the tenure of Babatunde Raji Fashola, Asiwaju gave us Pastor Ben Akabueze as Commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget and Engr. Joe Igbokwe as General Manager of Lagos State Infrastructure and Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) but for them to come together for community sake, Joe will not allow it.

Ben Akabueze made me chief canvasser for Ndigbos and that was when we had bumper harvest of Igbo votes in Ojoo. Being a Pastor, Ben did not want to have any issue with Joe Igbokwe so he kept managing us but every election cycle, indigenes will accuse of not supporting the party. At a stage, I told Asiwaju, it will be better to stop giving us anything because the person we have there is Mr. Know it all. He is a bad market. He has grouped sycophants around himself on serious issues such as trust, strength and accountability. If Joe, Chris, Anya and Ndi eze in Ikeja does not stop, we will open their dossier and it is about superior argument.’

Continuing on the misconduct of the former Publicity Secretary of APC Lagos, the traditional chief added: ‘When President Buhari came to Teslim Balogun stadium before 2019 election, he was given some money for transportation for Ndi Eze, N10,000 per person has not been paid till today. When Vice President Osinbajo came to Ikeja to see all Igbo stakeholders where we had a good deliberation, we asked him again if Osinbajo gave anything to us, he said nothing. I could not believe it, I said that is not possible so I contacted Abuja and I was told N1million was given to us. How can a leader be lying? I challenged him then he told me the church took N500,000 and the rest is with him. Till date, we didn’t see anything. How can traditional rulers be happy, this was what broke the camel’s back’.

On the next line of action they had taken, he shared: ‘we called him that there is need to restructure. We have Ndigbos who have soft spot for APC but they are being shortchanged. Now, he is challenging the community, Ben Akabueze and everybody. We know he is rich but we want to change our narrative. We don’t want an arrogant man serving the public, this is not personal business. We are not fighting him on his current role as Special Adviser because I recalled that I moved the motion to make him Commissioner in the Sanwo-olu administration though he finally got Special Adviser but he should leave the apex leader for us. Jude Igbokwe is arrogant. For 21 years, Joe Igbokwe have been the leader and been appointed as General Manager, Publicity Secretary and Special Adviser at different times, it is enough you are not the only Igbo in Lagos. Anyone who is arrogant should not be leading people.

We have tolerated him enough but no further. He can do that in his company but not for this community.’

Their decision was thus implemented, ‘I have told the Ndi Eze in all 57 LGs/LCDAs that they know their people and it is time to change Acme’s idea that we don’t like them. We want someone who will pursue the goal of voters because he has seen them and been through their election. I and the colleague in Ifako-Ijaye have mended fence. On 14th of May, all 57 of us have elected Jude Emeka Idimogu, an elected representative, a chartered accountant, married to an illustrious Yoruba daughter of Kuku family of Ijebu-ode. We have equally presented him to the party chairman of APC Lagos and we have informed many leaders too. If not for the pandemic, you would have seen a large protest to Acme road against Joe Igbokwe because Igbo people are angry with him. We want to let the party know that if they want to win Igbo support in elections, Jude Idimogu is the way. We want our people to integrate with the indigenes so they attend meetings from ward level all the way up so that the complaints of not getting the support of Igbos will stop. We want to stop the party from giving us bad name from 2003 to 2015.’

Hon Jude Emeka Idimogu (m); Eze Uchechukwu Christain Nwachukwu (3rd right) and other Leaders of Eze Ndigbo when Idimogu was endorsed and declared the “New Apex Leader in APC Lagos” recently.

About the huge role that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has played over the years for the Igbo community, Eze Nwachukwu extolled: ‘Asiwaju is a father of Ndigbo. I will tell you he loves Ndigbo. During Fashola tenure that Ben Akabueze was appointed as Commissioner, I didn’t know Ben Akabueze before then, and he looked very foreign. He told us ‘see that man over there, go and greet him, he is Igbo and I have given him the role of Commissioner.’ That is how we know that Ben Akabueze is a Pastor from Anambra who has worked in the bank for many years and he knows Asiwaju very well. So can you take such a man for granted? Our office in Okota was commissioned by his wife in 2005. He has a very good mind. He is the only man that can gather Nigerians together for posterity. The man knows what he is doing. He has followership, communication and believes in human development. You can’t toy with such a man. We are with him but we are saying Joe Igbokwe is bad market for Asiwaju’

Eze Ndigbo 1, thereafter, voiced his opinion on the idea of Igbo presidency in 2023, ‘We do not want to talk Igbo presidency now. We want a man that has seen it all and can change the situation for ordinary Nigerians to be happy’.

On Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the organization for all Igbos, he said: ‘Ohanaeze is a well-organized institution. They have a register, accountant, and clerk. They audited the items given by Lagos State Government and the poorest of the poor they gave it to. That is what we want for Igbos in APC too. Anything that is given let it reach every Igbo.’

Thus, the Trek Africa Newspaper team engaged the Igbo men who are in the eye of the storm, Hon. Jude Idimogu and Hon. Joe Igbokwe. While the Lagos lawmaker representing the people of Oshodi-Isolo constituency II, Hon. Jude Idimogu granted an interview at his residence in Oshodi-Isolo, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-olu on Drainage and Water Resources, Hon. Joe Igbokwe was unavailable to grant us an interview but shared his thoughts over a brief telephone call.

Hon. Joe Igbokwe, Special Adviser on Drainage and Water Resources to the Governor of Lagos State.

In the interview, Hon. Jude Idimogu was assertive. ‘It is absolutely true, pictures don’t lie. The first was on 14th May at Ohanaeze secretariat when the Ndi Eze of the 20 LGAs in Lagos said that ‘Jude, you are our illustrious son, you have been in politics for a while, you have won elections back to back, you are married to a good Yoruba lady, we see you as someone who has greater stakes having contested and won elections.

Time has come for you to be the voice as apex leader of Igbos in APC’. The truth is they have been telling me since 2015 even Anya Ndigbo also came. They said ‘because you are an elected person you supposed to be our eye in Lagos’. But I told them, they should allow me relax and understand why I am even in government. That’s how it started. When I was re-elected they came again but I told them to let me support the person that is there. Joe Igbokwe has been in the party before me, let me take my time and work with him. That was my philosophy.’

‘But along the line my people observed that they are not feeling the impact of the government, that there is lack of performance of Igbos in electing governments in Lagos, and that Igbos are going in opposition. This made me think that I am not just Igbo in APC, I contested and won party primary in APC, no other party gave their primary ticket to an Igbo, it is Jude that APC gave it to. So it becomes a blessing, privilege and challenge to me. So I feel bad when my Igbo brothers did not vote for my party. I feel that Igbos in Lagos have greater stakes because their brother is there, other parties did not give us. So why should you support another party that didn’t support your kinsman against one that did?’

‘My wife Osodieme Roseline Enitan Idimogu is Yoruba from Ijebu-ode, Ogun state from the Kuku family. That is to tell you that I am not tribalistic and I have stakes in Lagos and Yorubaland because I am their in-law, so whatever happens to them touches me. And I normally call myself the adopted son of the land because I protect their interest. But then, I am Igbo flesh and blood and my Igbo people know that I don’t shy away from it. I do my duty because I am representing Lagos state which includes other tribes apart from Igbo and Yoruba. It is my responsibility to serve all of them in Oshodi-Isolo constituency II.’

‘When the hand of fellowship was again stretched to me and they said this time around you will not deny it, I took it on Wednesday 14th May at Ohanaeze secretariat in Surulere and confirmed on Saturday 17th May in Okota. I am not happy at the attitude of my Igbo brothers towards our party APC which is not their fault. The leadership of Joe Igbokwe and co. caused it. And let me put it on record that there was no day that Igbos gathered and chose Joe Igbokwe as apex leader of Igbos in APC. We just respected him because he has been our leader and has been there before us. In the last election, two buses were given to us but even to call us together to take a decision on how it will be shared, before we know it he has given it to those he wants.

Things are not done that way. It is courtesy for you to carry us along. We can always allow you have your way but not to treat us as if we are nobody.’

‘Recently, I called him to show that I don’t play politics of bitterness. He is my Igbo brother. However, how can someone who says he doesn’t want to have anything to do with Igbos want to be their leader? Someone who believes Igbos are like leprosy, he doesn’t want to come near them, how can he lead them, it is not possible. Igbos doesn’t hate APC but their leaders don’t reach out to them.

Our leaders have not marketed APC to them, and the people that come out to vote are the low-class people so if they don’t see you, how will they vote you. When you can’t even take them as humans like you, he has made Igbos to be biased towards APC based on his attitude. An average Igbo man will be PDP because of the state they come from where PDP is dominating but we can’t continue that way. That’s why community leaders say ‘Jude, carry the torch for us, go and liaise for us in the government’ and I gladly accepted it. I have taken this mantle and I have decided to change the narrative.’

On his action plan to galvanize the entire Igbo community in Lagos for the support of All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Idimogu remarked: ‘In politics you market. You are the market. Your party is the market. Your customers are outside, they are the people. My job now is that APC is like a product, you market well and not 2 – 3 months to elections, you start in time. Starting now, I will be going to the 20 LGAs to meet with the key Igbo stakeholders there. We will interact ‘What has PDP done for you? What is the special thing they have done for you?’ It is just the name they still carry, that’s the party of my parents, that’s our party from town. APC is the party to join. We need to impress it on their mind. We will appeal to the consciousness of the people. I will have to interact with them.

Many don’t even know me; they just hear there is an Igbo in the House. It is from the interactions that we will know their grievance against APC. That is where I am starting from.’

He added: ‘A typical Igbo man is proud. They will say ‘rather than beg, I will run after bus and sell pure water.’ So you must treat them with respect. I have worked in a bank before where I was a marketer and it is not easy to get customers. That is why you see bank marketers tire out but we have to do this. We have to take the campaign to their shops, their meetings etc. They will insult you, you will take the insults and you will dialogue with them.’

Chairman, APC Lagos State, Alhaji Tunde Balogun (middle in white dress); Chairman, Council of Eze Ndigbo Lagos State, Eze Uchechukwu Christain Nwachukwu (2nd right in red dress); Honourable Member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Jude Emeka Idimogu (3rd left) and others during the courtesy visit to the State Chairman of APC at the Party Secretariat, Acme, Ikeja, Lagos.

On the idea of Igbo presidency in 2023, the Lagos lawmaker said: ‘Igbos are not too keen about politics and ‘power is not served a la carte’ like my leader will say. Igbos are not politically conscious, we are only interested in our business. For you to become President in Nigeria, you must form alliance that cut across. You will also have the hunger or zeal for it. We can’t hear anything from Igbos like we are hearing from other parts.’

‘If you blow the whistle for Igbo presidency, for example, I can tell you that you will see 100 persons come out. It is because of this mindset of the popular Igbo saying that ‘Igbos don’t have leaders’ but we can change the narrative. Instead of us to select maximum 5 persons and put them through primaries but no, that is not the case. Igbos have leaders and we must have leaders. It is not an impossible task but there must be a change of mindset’, he concluded.

On his part, Hon. Joe Igbokwe was reticent but after much persuasion, the man who obviously didn’t want to join issues with his Igbo brothers said in the hurriedly conducted phone call, ‘No comment. I don’t want to dignify him (Jude Idimogu) by my response. I can’t respond to him, when we get to the party. No comment. I am a Nigerian, if my kinsmen say I am not Igbo; then they are Hausas. I do not want to dignify them.’

In the end, it is expected that the Igbo community in Lagos will emerge stronger and forge a credible front to participate in politics at various levels in the state that t has gladly welcomed them. They should not only thrive in business and commerce, they should also be seen to have embarked on course correction in terms of politics and governance. It is also hoped that the jostle but for the role of the Igbo apex leader in APC will not degenerate into crisis for the governing party.