By ABANIKANDA OLUMORO (UK)
“Would he be surprised to tell us if he is hearing these complaints for the first time from other than De Renaissance Patriots? Would he agree to tell how easy it will be for an indigenous Lagosian to contest or get appointments in Oyo State where they even discriminate among themselves?”
The Daily Trust report credited to Seye Oladejo, the Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, which attempted to counter the position of De Renaissance Patriots Foundation that only indigenes in government can ensure good governance in Lagos State, has left me flabbergasted.
Before I proceed, let me enlighten him and his co-travellers that many of us, who have followed the events since Lagos State indigenes renewed their struggle for the retrieval of their constitutionally granted and guaranteed Federating unit otherwise called a state, cannot be distracted no matter how sweetmouthed or prolific writing such propagandist can sound.
This is about the third time now that I am writing from over here in solidarity with De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, which is a socio-cultural organisation established to lead a better state for Lagos indigenes, but this third article has been paved way for by the attempted distraction the one Nigerian from one of five states of South West, who has been so helped to the top echelon of Lagos State power corridor by the tolerance and hospitality of the indigenous people, so some of us who have followed keenly the development will be disinterested. It is impossible, at least, not he or any of his ilk will make us do that. We remain focused and committed to providing Diaspora and local support for these unjustly cheated, marginalised and wickedly deprived Lagos indigenes.
Like I said, I read the response of the Lagos State APC spokesman, which he made in a media chat with a Daily Trust correspondent over De Renaissance Patriots’ recent visit to the Chairman of their Board of Trustees (BOT) and I am dismayed by his lack of grasp of the actual feelings of the indigenous Lagosians but I think he knows that he is hiding behind one finger.
Oluseye Oladejo, a former Comissioner and Special Adviser to Governor in Lagos State, is an indigene of Oyo State having been born in Ibadan the state capital on the 2nd of February, 1966. He attended St. Peters Anglican Primary School, Aremo, Ibadan before going further to attend Arch Bishop Aggey Memorial Secondary School, Ilasamaja, Lagos for his secondary education. His tertiary education was at the University of Ife, now, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State where he bagged a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies.
I know Seye very well. He is like a brother but I will not let his comments go unanswered. He knows he is lying. I checked his bio to reconfirm. He is an ibadan man that got lucky in Lagos and now regards himself as Lagosian. Maybe he does not understand who an indigenous Lagosian is, otherwise, he would have advised himself of the real position of things by checking the various appointments and elections in Lagos State since 1999 when his cloned party took over Lagos State. The truth that he knows will stare at him in the face.
I will remind him to check how many of them have since left Lagos State to contest in their various states. They are all over the map especially in the South West of Nigeria.
Would he be surprised to tell us if he is hearing these complaints for the first time from other than De Renaissance Patriots?
Would he agree to tell how easy it will be for an indigenous Lagosian to contest or get appointments in Oyo State where they even discriminate among themselves?
If as a party they believe there is no difference between those who came to do business and others in Lagos, how come they identified those to be flogged and be chased away from polling units, with pankere and Oro occultism during the 2023 elections? His response is a calculated falsehood.
Seye should know – like others of his ilk – that he has enjoyed so much from the Lagos indigenes’ hospitality that had given him such breaks in their state, something that was rarely extended to indigenous Lagosians elsewhere in the South West and Nigeria as a whole.
*Olumoro, a regular opinion article writer from the Diaspora, is a follower of latest conversation on Lagos indigenes’ cries against marginalisation and deprivationin in own land.
