"Lagos Is a No Man's Land": How Deputy Speaker Called Out Over Indigenisation Law
- House of Representatives deputy speaker Benjami Kalu has been told to withdraw his proposed indigenisation bill in the constitutional amendment process
- The bill, which sought to make anyone who has spent up to 10 years in a state be indigene of that state, was said to be a threat to ancestral sovereignty, which can ignite political and ethnic crisis
- Barrister Oladotun Hassan, the president general of the Yoruba Council Worldwide, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, called for the immediate withdrawal of the bill
Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, has been called out over his proposed constitutional amendment bill seeking to indigenise individuals who have stayed in a state for 10 years or are married to a nation.
Barrister Oladotun Hassan, the president general of the Yoruba Council Worldwide, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, called out the federal lawmaker to immediately withdraw the proposal and urged the House to outrightly reject it.
Though the bill promotes a progressive move for the country's national unity, it poses a major threat to Nigeria's federal structure, peace and inter-ethnic co-existence. Hassan explained how the bill reopened past ideological wounds, citing the "Lagos is a no man's land" belief. He also explained that it threatened ancestral sovereignty and could ignite political and ethnic conflict under the guise of inclusion.
The barrister's statement reads:
"The issue of indigenisation should be cautiously guided against. Let no law attach you to that state, and say, because you have stayed ten years in that state, then you can claim to be an indigene of that state. I beg to disagree. I want to call Benjamin Kalu, who is the deputy speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, to stop that law forthwith; that law will invoke a crisis, a monumental war. That law is alien to natural justice, equity and good conscience. That law will set the country ablaze; that law will never envision the oath of allegiance of our citizenship to Nigeria.
"Because if an Igbo man comes to Lagos, who has always been on the verge of claiming that Lagos is a no man's land, they now passed such a law, and all Igbos who have stayed since 1960, will automatically become indigene of Lagos. To what extent do you want them to compete with our Obas on the same seat, in the same chambers as common traditional leaders? So, Eze Ndigbo of Akoka now will equally be sitting as the Oba of Akoka, or the Oba of Lagos will sit on the same seat that the Ọba of Lagos will want to sit, or Seriki of Lagos will be claiming land, because they want to use something to steal our identity.
"However, there is no principle of reciprocity. The Yoruba man cannot go to Igboland to equally go and acquire land equally. One plot is not easy for a non indigenous person to get in the southeast, and you want the southeast, who are living in other regions, to claim such benefits, it will be unfair, it will be an injustice to natural justice and good conscience."
Source: Legit.ng
