Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun state, has appealed to Lagos residents of Igbo extraction not to make the state’s gubernatorial election “an ethnic issue”.
Osoba spoke in an interview with TVC on Monday.
Since Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), defeated Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos during the presidential election, the heat of ethnic nationalism has increased between some of the state’s Yoruba and Igbo residents.
Social media has been awash with ethnic slurs as residents count down to the governorship election billed for March 11.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos and APC candidate, and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), are two individuals in the crosshair of the ethnic sentiments.
Speaking on the situation, Osoba warned Lagos residents that making the election about ethnicity could be “destructive”.
He described Lagos as the “most liberal state in this country” and appealed to “our Igbo brothers and sisters in Lagos” to sustain the relationship.
“I appeal to my Igbo brothers and sisters, don’t let us make this an ethnic issue. Anywhere in the world where ethnicity has become an issue, it becomes destructive,” the former governor said.
“I will plead that the youth, our religious people, and our Igbo brothers and sisters in Lagos should think of the past. Nnamdi Azikwe, the father figure of Igbo land… all his political life was in Lagos.
“The first Igbo lawyer, Sir Louis Mbanefo, went to Methodist Boys High School and King’s College; he had his education in Lagos.
“We have been working together. Let us sustain the relationship. Lagos is the most liberal state in this country. Lagos has given so much to all of us, let us pay back by showing gratitude to a governor who I believe has done his best.”
