Onanuga said, contrary to the widespread claims by some non-Yoruba residents, Lagos remains a Yoruba land. Bayo Onanuga, the spokesperson on the campaign council of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has warned Igbo residents in Lagos against “interfering” in the politics of the state.
Onanuga gave this warning in a tweet via his official Twitter account, @aonanuga1956, on Saturday, March 18, 2023.
His comment comes amid heightened political tensions between some Yoruba residents and their Igbo counterparts in Lagos following the outcome of the presidential election in the state where the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, defeated Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This development somewhat learnt some credibility to the claims by some non-Yoruba residents that Lagos ‘is a no man’s land,’ a political trope that has now sparked animosity between people of the South-East extraction and some hardline Yoruba activists.
In the days leading to the Saturday governorship and house of assembly elections in the state, there were several reports of violent threats against anyone who dared to oppose the ‘Yoruba interest’ as sentimentally promoted by some political actors.
The incumbent, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, have also been drawn into the web of ethnic sentiments.
Meanwhile, Onanuga in his reaction warned Igbo residents to desist from actively trying to decide the political fate of Lagos State in future elections.
His tweet read: “Let 2023 be the last time of Igbo interference in Lagos politics. Let there be no repeat in 2027. Lagos is like Anambra, Imo, or any Nigerian state. It is not No Man’s Land, not Federal Capital Territory. It is Yoruba land. Mind your business.”
Pulse reports that the Saturday exercise was marred by reports of violence, voter intimidation and vote suppression in some polling units in across the state.
