The Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State has accused the All Progressives Congress’ State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of serially marginalizing Igbos with his cabinet appointments and State policies.
Information Nigeria understands that following the Governor’s re-election, not one South-Easterner is represented, after examination, verification and scrutinization of the cabinet formation by the Lagos State Government (LASG).
Olubunmi Odesanya, LP’s Publicity Secretary in the State made the accusation in an exclusive interview with Information Nigeria at the weekend.
Recall that LP fielded Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV) as its gubernatorial candidate during the March 18 polls and was Sanwo-Olu’s first runner-up.
However, there are concerns the non-inclusion stems from the fact that a lot of Igbos in the State directed their votes in favour of GRV during the polls.
Odesanya said, “Gbadebo is more a Lagosian than Sanwo-Olu. The latter is from the Ijebu extraction of Ogun State. He has no family background in Lagos State and if he claims otherwise, please tell him to point to you his family house in Lagos State.”
Maintaining that Lagos Governor is misled on where GRV’s vote-count accumulated from, she said, “Sanwo-Olu is obviously playing the ethnic card in Lagos State not only in his appointments but also in his policy actions. He has, consciously, excluded the Igbos from his cabinet thinking that the Igbos voted against him not knowing that Gbadebo’s votes came from all the tribes in Lagos.
“It is also curious that in his quest for vendetta, he deliberately excluded his Special Adviser on Drainage, Joe Igbokwe, who has been loyal to him and their party all these while.”
Speaking on the ongoing crackdown on structures violating the Lagos masterplan, Odesanya posited that the administration of Sanwo-Olu “took his quest for vengeance a step further by destroying the properties of the Igbos even when, in some cases, there were valid building approvals.”
The LP spokesperson said in some other cases, “the government looked the other way when the properties were being built, but the LASG is now destroying those properties now for political reasons.”
According to her, the Sanwo-Olu— led Lagos is nothing compared to the era of former Governors Akinwunmi Ambode and Babatunde Raji Fashola in terms of followership.
“You will recall that during the period that Fashola and Ambode held sway as Governors of Lagos State, the citizens, irrespective of tribe and religion, queued behind them because they could feel the impact of their governments and governance. However, in this Sanwo-Olu era, we only feel the impact of Agberos,” Odesanya added.
