Ndigbo are disenfranchised in Lagos

…Moghalu

Amobi Muoghalu is a chieftain of Igbo Leaders Forum (ILF) in Lagos. In this interview with, Uzo Chikere he speaks on the 2015 elections, the position of Ndigbo and their agitation for fair representation in Lagos State. Excerpts

The people of the South-East appear to be at crossroad over who to support in the forthcoming presidential election, as meetings called on the issue in the past failed to reach a conclusion. What is the position of Ndigbo in Lagos at the moment?

One of the meetings was called by a body called Ndigbo Lagos, but as much as we respect the personalities involved in the body, it is an elitist grouping of Igbo gentlemen. In as much as you don’t take anything away from their achievements and personalities, politics is not about the achievements or personalities. Members of Ndigbo Lagos are elitist, they are not grassroots-based unlike the Igbo Leaders Forum that liaises directly with the people, and whose messages are directed to traders in the market, the man on the street, the Igbo boys and girls who are either employed or unemployed. Ndigbo Lagos is more of elitist and that was why they had a deadlock because they went into issues of who is superior, Ohanaeze Ndigbo or Ndigbo Lagos?

What we have done in convening ILF is to bring together all those who lead the different Igbo groups, so that we can meet at a table where we can articulate and take a common position. And I will say that the Presidency is becoming complacent, they are taking it for granted that Ndigbo will support President Goodluck Jonathan, I don’t agree with that. It has to be negotiated because no one can take my vote for nothing. I know there are good intentions towards the South-East, but there are no plans to concretize them. Why would I support somebody when I don’t have a guarantee of what he is going to do for me? The South-East receives the least federal allocation in Nigeria because we have the least state and the least representatives at the federal level, so why would we join this dance for nothing?

Don’t you think issues like state creation which can address this imbalance will take a long time, since they are constitutional matters?

President Jonathan has spent five years in power, so which time are we talking about? Three years is enough to complete a second bridge across the River Niger. Let us be honest about things for at least once, can President Jonathan turn things around in six months? Yes he can. But in my opinion, it is the will to do so that is lacking.

Can we say that some Igbos in his cabinet are not doing what they are supposed to do to address some of these issues that you have raised?

How do we get into cabinets in Nigeria apart from being appointed and anointed by godfathers? That is not the way to get quality representation. I do not know what the plans of the president are for his second term if he does get it, but I think there has to be a complete paradigm shift from the way we think as Igbo leaders.

When you say Ndigbo should change from the way they think, 2015 provides an opportunity; do you see them getting it right?

If the Igbos will coalesce around the vision of ILF, which is primarily a gathering of all Igbo leaders, maybe, we may get it right. It might not be perfect in this first time out, but it will be a step in the right direction because it will be leading to the permanent state of getting it right. If we don’t try we won’t get there.

What exactly is the demand of Ndigbo from the Jonathan administration?

The first thing we are asking is the issue of our disenfranchisement, there are five states in the South- East; every other zone apart from the North-West has six states. So, the first thing to do is to correct this injustice. Another one is infrastructural development. I was reading one of the national dailies the other day and found out that in the area of Federal Government allocation in the last four years that President Jonathan has been in power, the North-West is leading with N318 billion in infrastructural investment and the South-East is the least with N112 billion. 

Why should it be so? If you look at the population of this country, wherever you go to in Nigeria, the Igbos come second in population after the indigenes, does that not say that collectively, we are the largest tribe. Why should we play second fiddle to the rest of the country? What I know is that if you have the majority population, you dominate things. We are not even talking about dominating, what we are saying is that there should be equitable distribution of resources.

Would you say that Ndigbo have fared better under the present administration in Lagos State and what is their position as we approach 2015?

At present, we have not taken a definite position, but I need not tell you, go round and do a research, you will find out that the Igbo man has been the greatest disenfranchised person in Lagos State at the moment. I’m not disparaging any political party but I’m trying to tell you, take the parameters of the market, we are traders, well known, how many times have Igbo dominated markets been closed down? How often has the state demanded that a babaloja or iyaloja presides over an Igbo market? Who drives the Molue between Orile and Lagos Island?

Who is more entrapped in the snares of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LATSMA) and the state Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI)? The office of the state task force on environmental is close to my office, and I go there almost on daily basis to free Igbo men caught in the snares of KAI. A normal offence involving an Igbo and a Yoruba, the tendency for the latter to go scot free is 98 per cent, the Igbo man’s own is five per cent. You want to apply for a permit to build a house, once your name is Igbo; the tax you pay is different from your Yoruba friend. I have done my research on this.

How can these issues be addressed without confrontation?

First thing we are doing is to make our people to register to vote during the forthcoming elections because what they are using against us which is partially true, is that during elections, we run to the East to vote. Some of us register where our markets are, and you know the way an average trader thinks. He doesn’t want to waste 20 minutes queuing to register, so he looks for a registration centre closest to him and register just to have a voters’ card, and because his home is far from where he registered, he cannot go out to vote on election day. So, what we are doing now is that we have printed forms that will enable our people to transfer their voting points from the market places and villages to their residential areas for them to be able to vote.

We have been sharing the forms to all the traditional institutions and various associations. You get the form, fill it and submit at your local government headquarters and your voting point will be transferred to where you reside. We are doing this, because if we can harness our people whose population here is impressive into a voting bloc, we can then say to them on Election Day that Igbo leaders have agreed on this candidate or that candidate no matter the party.

What actually inspired the formation of ILF and how is Ndigbo keying into the project?

I have been called too often to come bail an Igbo man from issues that shouldn’t have even gotten anywhere. I know that my people are interested in making money primarily and don’t take political matters serious. There is a danger there, not just for the Igbo man but also for all Lagosians. There is this apathy among our people, they think they have nothing in Lagos and so shouldn’t bother for the politics of the state, whereas their businesses and investments are in the state. If they lose faith in the democratic process in the state, the state will become a jungle justice state where one man can determine how every other person lives.

By a most conservative estimate eight years ago by former Governor Bola Tinubu, Ndigbo were 38 per cent of Lagos State. If that was so eight years ago, what do you think is our population now? If there are 100 per cent commissioners in Lagos, we should have 38 per cent of them. What is 38 per cent of 22 commissioners? If you have representatives, I should have 38 per cent of representatives. That is the motivation; equity in the sense that if we contribute an estimated 60 per cent of Gross Domestic Product of Lagos State, we should be part of decision making in the state.

On whether Ndigbo have embraced the movement; we have 17 out of about 23 leading Igbo socio/cultural and socio/political groupings signed up to ILF; it is only a recalcitrant few that are left. You know sometimes we are strong headed and won’t move until we see the real benefit of why we should join a group. To convince my people is hard, but we will reach them. If it comes to kneeling down for them, we will do that. Many are on board and many are still coming.