A socio-political political organisation, Social Rehabilitation Gruppe (SRG), has debunked a raging insinuation that the Igbo community in Lagos is endangered.
In a statement on Saturday, the Convener/National Coordinator of the group, Dr. Marindoti Oludare, described rumours that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would victimise the Igbo population in Lagos for voting against him as “sheer bunkum and attempt to stigmatise a detrabilised President-elect “.
According to him, Tinubu is a firm believer in democratic governance and power of the electorate.
“Tinubu believes in persuasion, not intimidation; that is why he joined progressive forces to battle the military into relinquishing power to civilians, especially in the hectic period of trying to ensure that this current democracy take off.
“Without wanting to mention names, it is on record that Asiwaju Tinubu has helped the political career of many Igbo, Hausa and others of varying ethnic stock; still for the sigular purpose of ensuring unity of Nigerians of ethnic backgrounds,” he clarified.
He also said, “The Igbos have always voted their choice in the last 24 years in Lagos and regardless of what that choice had been, their lives had neither been endangered nor their livelihood entrapped;;instead their businesses have prospered while their number proliferated.
“I want to believe the Igbos can believe their own story in Lagos which is that of unrestrained prosperity. The Igbos belong to Lagos and Lagos belongs to everyone who loves her. Hence they have no cause to fear or be petrified”
Oludare, the SRG boss, added that he was enthused that many Lagosians of Igbo extraction had come out to debunk the claim that the Esterners were endangered species.
He, however, expressed the group’s satisfaction with the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Lagos and other parts of the Southwest, stressing that the conduct of voters and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies, showed that democracy is taking a great leap, in improvement.
“There’s is no conducting an election in any environment while absolving that election from the infrastructural and security realities of that environment. Elections have come and gone, winners have been declared, it’s time for us to move forward in unison.
“While being aggrieved after elections is a part of our political cultures, we applaud the candidates who have sought redress via the legal means. We the people should for the betterment of ourselves and the future of our beloved country, move forward in one accord towards achieving the goal of a prosperous Nigeria that we all dream. I
“I believe the progressive ideas of Asiwaju will usher in prosperity beyond our dreams, security for our lives and a renewed hope for our future. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Oludare applauded.
