*Ijebus that part-own Lagos State are Ikorodu, Epe, not those located in Ogun – Fact-Check
By KEMI KASUMU
The Lagos indigeneship got to yet remarkable point on Wednesday, as a Lagos lawyer, Malcolm Omoirhobo, sent in his intervention.
He said any Yoruba from any of the other five South West states, who come to hustle in Lagos should not claim or struggle the state ownership with the constitutional owners.
This, he said, is because people from such Yoruba states namely; Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti states are like other Nigerians, who come to hustle in the state.
Barrister Omoirhobo advised those Yoruba South West, whose villages are located in their respective states of origin, to go back there and lay a claim.
In the submission of the lawyer, who is an Igbo from South East of Nigeria, there is no place he claims that Igbo own or want to take over Lagos, thus leaving Yoruba holding on to such claims against Igbo as picking stories from unverified social media accounts of fake posters.
“If you are a Yoruba from Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti States and you leave your goddamned village to hustle in Lagos you cannot claim ownership of Lagos with the Aworis b/c you are like other Nigerians who came to hustle in Lagos.Go back to your village to claim your inheritance,” Barrister Malcolm Omoirhobo said in a post via his Twitter handle on Wednesday.
The DEFENDER reports that some indigenes of South West state of Ogun, in a bid to justify their claim to Lagos ownership, say General Yakubu Gowon Administration’s Decree 51 that merged two Ijebus divisions of Epe and Ibeju-Lekki with Lagos colony meant that Lagos is owned by Ijebus like the Aworis.
Fact-checking his claims, we gathered that Ijebus part-owning Lagos should be qualified. Ijebus that are part of Lagos indigenes are those from Ikorodu and Epe as well as the Ibeju-Lekki but not Ijebu towns and villages that are, geographically, located by law in Ogun State.
To this end, we learnt that state creation record is enough for all doubting Thomases to know that there is no controversy about who own Lagos, who Lagosians and boundaries of Lagos are.
