(Part 1/2)
“Let 2023 be the last time of Igbo interference in Lagos politics. Let there be no repeat in 2027. Lagos is like Anambra, Imo, any Nigerian state. It is not No Man’s Land, not Federal Capital Territory. It is Yoruba land. Mind your business!” — Bayo Onanuga: Senator Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu’s Special Assistant on Information and Strategy
Take a moment to consider this chart comparing eight megacities around the world (population and GDP per capita are given in brackets):
Cairo (22,183,201; $4,295)
•Lagos (15,945,912; $2,184)
•Dhaka (23,209,616; $2,688)
•Jakarta (11,248,839; $4,788)
•Bangkok (11,070,000; $6,909)
•Mumbai (21,296,201; $2,389)
•Kuala Lumpur (8,621,274; $11,972)
•Singapore City (6,081,000; $82,808)
Desperation is its Own Motive
The highlight of the 2023 general election season came three weeks after the presidential election when Mr. Onanuga lashed out at Ndigbo in Lagos to shut up and face their businesses.
Senator Tinubu, APC’s standard-bearer, had lost Lagos on February 25 when he was otherwise occupied with the more you look, the less you see oversight of the ballot nationwide.
After that shellacking in the first of two ballots, INEC postponed the gubernatorial election by one week under the guise of resetting digital configurations that failed woefully in the first exercise. Most commenters thought those failures were most likely self-sabotage. It was a curious oversight that the Appeal Court never ordered INEC to explain their system failure and negligence in process and documentation.
Anyway, APC was the greatest beneficiary of that postponement. It allowed APC to do their thing. Among other things, MC Olumo‐‐‐head of Lagos NURTW, APC strongman, and social acquaintance of Georgia State governor, Brian Kemp‐‐‐was on record as telling LP and PDP voters to stay away from the gubernatorial ballot if they were not going to vote for APC.
Voters who disobeyed this friendly advice were brutalized and chased away from the pulling units: APC bounced back and Lagos State Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu was reelected.
In The Heat of The Moment
“Shut up and dribble!” — Fox News host Laura Ingraham responding to Lebron James, who described his own American experience wearing a black skin
When Onanuga ordered Ndigbo to forfeit their political franchise in Lagos, did he factor-in the entirety of the historical, geographical, socio-cultural, and national productivity implications? I hope he will write a book in the future to explain his motives.
What astounded me was that he was indirectly proposing to pull Lagos out of macroeconomic competition with her own peers. Dhaka, Singapore City, Cairo, and the rest of the megalopolises, aforementioned, are densely populated port cities with many other similarities to Lagos.
The consequential difference is that they have political leaders and smart managers who recognize that people are units of production who add economic value to the GDP. Those leaders have demonstrated a commitment to accountability, transparency, and vision otherwise called governance best practices.
Mansa Musa’s Swagger Went Viral
Let me put the importance of Lagos in a historical perspective:
In 1324, Mansa Musa left his capital in Niani near the headstream of the Niger in today’s Guinea. He then made the overland journey through Cairo to Mecca for his pilgrimage as a devout Muslim in what historians called a Golden Caravan. His very extravagant trip revealed to the civilized world of Arabia and Europe the existence of wealthy peoples who live in sub-Saharan Africa in a land paved with gold.
It was in search of this place that the Portuguese explorers navigated their way to the port of Ughoton on the Benin-Ethiope River, which drains into the Gulf of Guinea. It was here, in 1472, that they made their trade contact with Benin Kingdom
In 1550, in furtherance of international trade, Oba Orhogbua established a trade station and a military fort in a wetland about 200 nautical miles due west of Benin City
They called it Eko.
https://vickynwugo.medium.com/lagos-means-business-lets-keep-her-open-for-business-a7ce502bf957
