Group Thumbs-up Lagos Speaker Over Move To Enact Laws For The Protection Of Indigenes
Kemisola Oye
AGBEKOYA Society, a parental body of Agbekoya Farmers Association of Nigeria, has commended the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Mudashiru Obasa for proposing to make laws that will protect the property rights of indigenes.
Obasa had in his acceptance speech following his re-election as the Speaker, noted that Lagos is Yoruba Land, and that its lawmakers will enact laws to protect the indigenes even if it means reversing existing laws.
Reacting to the development, Agbekoya Society in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Otunba Dr Adegbenro Ogunlana, noted that there is no place on earth where self-preservation is regarded as bigotry.
He explained that self-preservation is the first law of nature; even primitive animals practice self-preservation, not to talk of human beings, and by extension, the great Yoruba people.
The group, while restating the importance of Inter-ethnic harmony, explained that the core Northern states made state laws to enshrine Sharia Law into their constitution in order to protect and reflect the will of the indigenous people in those places. As such, according to the group, Nigerians should not mistake the Speaker’s proposal for disunity.
Agbekoya further said that ethnic profiling and its consequences will threaten the existence of inter-ethnic harmony because it is a game of deafness, the deliberate deafness of one to the concerns and anxieties of the other.
“In the last elections, non-Yoruba citizens were physically prevented from voting in some parts of Lagos. The subtext is that they gave tacit approval to voter suppression in the state. Which is unfortunate.”
In order to avert a similar situation, the group urged other states Assembly Speakers in the South-West region to emulate Obasa and makes law to protect the interest of the indigenes not to be abused by the winged monster who rides on the wave crest of base sentiments, fuelled by hate speeches given free rein by the powers that be.
Eighteen-Eleven Media
