By Chinweizu
Dear Igbo-must-go Campaigners, Yes, I agree with you that Lagos should be for its Yoruba indigenes. And the Southwest should belong to the indigenes of the region.
So, lets get practical and cooperate and make our shared desire happen, peacefully and as fast as possible.
Please note that Igboland, to which Igbos would return from Lagos and the Southwest, has a part in the South-South and a part in the Southeast.
Kindly get President Tinubu to facilitate the process by doing the following: (1) de-federalize the ports, so the South-South and Southeast regions take control of the ports in their areas. (2) Let one airport in the southeast and one in the South-South be approved for international flights (3) Persuade foreign embassies to open visa-granting consulates in the Southeast and South-South. If President Tinubu can sign executive orders or legislation on these three matters, Igbos will quit Lagos and the Southwest faster than anyone can expect.
Within five years, Igbos (other than as tourists) will, I reckon, become as rare in Lagos as fishes in the desert, and as rare as camels in the sea. Please, let’s work together on this project. We shall still be in One Nigeria. Please stop being faceless, emerge from your anonymity and let’s get to work on this win-win project that will benefit our two great peoples.
Let’s factor in the benefits for other regions and peoples in Nigeria. (1) the entire peoples of the South-South would benefit from the boom in economic activity in these ports and this should help dampen the Biafra agitation and the Niger-Delta militancy. (2) I leave it to economists to work out the benefits for the North-Central and Northeast regions. (3) Of course, the Yoruba indigenes of Lagos and the Southwest would get the Southwest-without-Igbos region they crave. Let’s get down to the task of appealing to President Tinubu to facilitate this project.
Yours in the cause of inter-ethnic peace in Nigeria,