By Kayode Fasua
An aboriginal group in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, the Awori Solidarity Forum (ASF) has set a template for all political parties in the coming local government election, insisting that it is time for an Ikeja indigene to produce a council chairman.
Rising from an emergency meeting in Olowu, Ikeja on Saturday, the group in a communique, lamented that for over 40 years, non-indigenes had dominated the political space in Ikeja, with many of them from Ijebu extraction of Ogun State.
In the communique signed by its chairman, Mr Shakibu Areola, and Secretary, Mrs Olapade Fawole, the ASF urged leading political parties such as All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to pick their chairmanship candidates among Ikeja indigenes this time round, to achieve ethnic balancing and fairness.
It said apart from the incumbent chairman, Mojeed Balogun, since Lagos State was created, no indigene had been chairman in Ikeja.
“We are neither ethnic bigots or a sentimental group, but it is just and fair in a democratic environment dominated by different ethnic groups for things to be distributed equitably.
“Everywhere in the world, aborigenes take the front-burner in dictating tunes in governance but the Ikeja case is in the reverse gear, as non-indigenes have constituted themselves to a strong cabal, muzzling the indigenes and preventing them from aspiring to the position of chairman of the local government.
“It is regrettable that, apart from the incumbent chairman in the saddle, for over 40 years now, the Ikeja aborigenes who are the Aworis have been largely denied party ticket to aspire for local government chairman through the shenanigans of non-indigenous cabal, telling lies against the indigenes, ” the group complained.
It, however, added that one of the prominent lies being told against Ikeja indigenes, who are of the Awori stock, is that they are mostly uneducated.
“We wonder who set the foundation for this big lie because we can count without let, many Ikeja indigenes who are brilliant lawyers, doctors, diplomats, professors and other academics, and even successful businessmen and women with sound educational background, and many more.
“Certainly, the cup of these power mongers who do not want Ikeja indigenes to rise is full; and we plead with the political parties to help correct this anomaly,” the ASF demanded.