2011: Igbo will assert electoral strength in Lagos-Uche
By DURO ADESEKO
Saturday, February 26, 2011
•Uche
Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Chief John Uche is the chairman of the Coalition of Lagos State Opposition Political Parties (COLLASOP) now warming up to give the incumbent Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola a good fight for the Lagos House in 2011.
Chief Uche is confident that the 26 parties would win the governorship election. He spoke of the numerical strength of non- indigenes in Lagos during elections and emphasised that the Igbo constitute more than 52 per cent of the electorate.

During the last census, he said, former Governor Bola Tinubu realised that the Igbo constitute well over 60 per cent of the population but officially reduced it to 43 and gave the Yoruba 47 per cent.

According to Uche, Lagos is a no man’s land and only the Lagoon can claim to be a Lagosian. To him, every tribe in Lagos came from somewhere.
He posited that the days when the Igbo in Lagos can be exploited are over. According to him, the Igbo contributed immensely to the economy of Lagos and would be ready to assert its electoral strength at the general election next year.

He confidently stated that the Igbo in Lagos are merely waiting for INEC to blow the whistle at the beginning of the registration exercise and anybody who cares to monitor the exercise would realise that the Igbo and other non-indigenes are determined to take over Lagos.

Chief Uche however said a memorandum of understanding with other parties in the coalition stated that a Yoruba would be governorship candidate while a non- indigene would be his deputy.
He also spoke on the much talked about performance of Fashola.
Excerpts:

We leant that 26 political parties came together with the intention of taking over Lagos from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). What informed your decision to come together?
We believe Lagos is a cosmopolitan state. We also believe nobody can lay claim to Lagos. Some people may think nobody can challenge them. They think because we are smaller parties and we don’t have resources and they are at the helm of affairs. We now have to form a coalition and muster our resources to take over power in Lagos State in 2011. We are confident of doing so.

The point is that 26 political parties are involved under your chairmanship and people don’t believe that the parties put together have grassroots support.
I don’t know if ACN has grassroots support either because all the political parties started at the same time. When I brought APGA to Lagos, they did not believe that APGA could spring a surprise. I know what I did to make it in Lagos. At the end of the day, I disproved the impression that I am an underdog. Today, I want to assure you that we are on ground. The only thing that can stop us in Lagos is if one-man one vote does not count. If one-man one vote will count, I can assure you, on May 29th 2011,the governor of the coalition would be sworn in Lagos.

Many believe Governor Babatunde Fashola has done a lot of things people can see and many believe you are all jokers because you don’t have the financial muscle and you don’t have the structure in all local governments and wards?
Well, I don’t know what you mean when you say Fashola has done a lot. We have not seen that. Recently, somebody argued with me that he has performed very well in Lagos and how do you think you can defeat him? I said there is not a single thing Fashola has done in Lagos State. I will like to know what he has done.
I believe if Fashola has done well, there will be no need for us to challenge him. We are progressives. I also believe that if any of the progressive’s is doing well, it is our duty to support him so that he can do more. But Fashola has done nothing. What has he done? All the photo tricks you see in Lagos are World Bank assisted projects. LAWMA is World Bank assisted project. LAMATA is World Bank assisted project. Agricultural Project Scheme is World Bank assisted project. Water is World Bank assisted project. Then what is he doing with the statutory allocation from the federation account? What has he done with Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which runs into N53.6 billion every month? Though he declares only N30 billion.

Go to the streets of Lagos and you will see that all the local councils chairmen did nothing. The roads are bad. When there is little rain, Lagos is paralysed. So, tell me what has he done? Some said he constructed Cele /Itire bridge and I said it is a World Bank assisted project. All the contractors are the people they invited and they are the people siphoning the economy of the state.
In our World Press conference, we raised a lot of issues that they should respond to. To my greatest surprise, the ACN Publicity Secretary who we all know is a political jobber could not even say one or two things against what we raised in our Press Conference. We believe that he is an errand boy. I cannot trade words with an errand boy. Fashola has done nothing in Lagos.

Politically, people believe ACN has the structure to win election any day in Lagos. They meet regularly and plan while the 26 parties in the coalition cannot win a councillorship election.
I think election is around the corner. We would know who-is who-when the time comes. This is no longer a time they will sit at the Government House and write results. In 2008, during the council elections, we were persuaded to participate and we won in many local governments. But they wrote results and schemed all of us out. But we have no laws to contest the result in the tribunal because the Lagos Electoral Commission did not give us copies of the laws governing the election. But this is a Federal election. We would know-who is-who at this election. We are on ground and we are putting the structure on the 57 councils and not on 20. We shall match them one on one and Naira for Naira. We shall match them rice for rice and propaganda for propaganda. We are prepared.

It is believed that some corporate organizations are funding you.
If corporate organisations are prepared to bank-roll us, we won’t say no. But I can tell you that the 26 political parties are buoyant enough to finance us.

Does that mean the allegation is not true? Or you are not expecting assistance from corporate organisations?
Our room is open to donations from anywhere. Even if you can donate we shall appreciate it and record your name as one of the people that assisted the party. It is allowed. But, I am telling you that we are not banking on any business community. The 26 political parties are prepared. We are not jokers as some are saying. It is at their own peril to think we are jokers. We are prepared to take over the government of Lagos State.

Is it true that the Igbo community in Lagos is in support of the move by the 26 political parties? It is believed that the Igbo constitute 30 or 40 per cent of the Lagos electorate.
Let me tell you that the Igbo in Lagos State constitute 52 per cent and not 30 or 40 per cent. In the last voter exercise, Igbo in Lagos constitute 60 per cent of the total voters register in Lagos State. What I want to tell you is that in 12 out of the 20 local governments, Igbo are 60 per cent. But each time there is election the cabal in Lagos would come to the Igbos and use them as campaigners and voters and after election, they dump them and wait for another election. We have already had our meetings, we have concluded to slug it out this time. Whoever is associating with them is pretending. We have concluded that we must be part of governance of Lagos State. We contribute 80 per cent to the economy of Lagos.

If Nigeria can congratulate Obama on winning election as president of US, what stops us from doing the same in Lagos? There are some people answer Smith, Ransome- Kuti, Cole, Jonhson, Williams and they’re tolerated and they held political power in Lagos. So tell me, what stops Ibrahim, Musa, Okonkwo, Okorie, Uche from contesting in Lagos? Most of the people that ruled Lagos apart from Mobolaji Johnson and Micheal Otedola, the rest are non-indigenes. So, if somebody from Osun State can be governor in Lagos and somebody from Ekiti can be governor, it means somebody from Kano, Imo, Anambra can also be governor. Lagos is a cosmopolitan state. It is a no man’s land. The only indigene in Lagos is the Lagoon. All others migrated from different places to settle in Lagos. Therefore, we are all Lagosian and we shall leave Lagos better than we met it.

The argument that Lagos is a no mans land dates back to a very long time. But there are traditional rulers all over the place. They consider it an insult to say that Lagos is no man’s land.
Those people should check their race to know where they come from. The Benin people who first came to Lagos never laid claim to Lagos. The first Oba of Lagos, Oba Kosoko is from somewhere. Why is it that …I don’t want to talk about Obas so, I don’t insult some people.
But let me tell you, before 1817, Igbo have come to Lagos to settle, inter marry, socialise and intermingle with people they met. They contributed immensely to the development of Lagos State. Their contributions have run into several billions of Naira. Lagos was just a swamp. We sound filled and built houses. If anybody can go to Oweri, Onitsha and Enugu and contribute economically, he would be made governor without contesting election.
Everybody has the right according to the constitution of Nigeria to contest election anywhere you find yourself if you have stayed over 10 years. I came to Lagos with nothing. Today, I have children, I built my house, and I have cars and other things. So, I am a Lagosian. I only travel home once in a year and I come back to settle in Lagos. Why must you call me non- indigene? Are you the ocean? Only the Lagoon can claim to be omo onile. All others are settlers.

You said Igbo constitute 60 per cent of voters. But those called the indigenes said you are not up to 20 per cent.
If you talk of the Aworis, it spills to Ogun and Oyo States. They are not only in Lagos. They come from somewhere. But I am telling you that the last census count, when the Federal Government was conducting the count, Bola Tinubu, His Excellency was also doing his own. He was able to do accurate count and found that Igbo is 52 per cent. But for the fact that he cannot say so, he reduced it and said we are 43 and Yoruba 47. Even if we are 43 per cent, we can seize Lagos if we like. We only need 5 per cent of the Yoruba. We are the beautiful bride and the numerical strength of Ndigbo determines who becomes the governor of Lagos.

Are you implying that an Igbo would likely be presented as governorship candidate on the platform of the 26 parties in the 2011 election?
Anybody can be governorship candidate. We are not discriminating. As I am talking to you, we have seven governorship aspirants from different tribes of Nigeria. But we believe that a Yoruba man must be the governor. Then, we have ceded the position of deputy to non-indigene. There must be a credible candidate who may be Hausa, Igbo or any other tribe in Nigeria. They will all go through primaries and whoever emerges would become our candidate.

Would that not result in fighting?
We know ourselves. We have a memorandum of understanding and we are gentlemen. We have come a long way in political movement.

How do you hope to get the message across to all Igbo in Lagos?
We have concluded and mobilisation has almost been concluded. We are only waiting for the day to come. When the voters registration starts, you will be a witness to what I have been saying. You as a journalist can go to INEC to check those who registered. We are prepared. It is not only Igbo but also other non-indigenes. What is happening in Lagos is affecting everybody.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2011/feb/26/politics-26-02-2011-005.htm

Hmm, I think Chief John Uche has been spending too much time on Nairaland politics section. But what do I know. .

I wish him well.