Political commentator and columnist, Ochereome Nnanna, has traced the ongoing demolitions of properties in Lagos State to what he described as a long-standing political evolution that began with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s emergence as Lagos governor in 1999.
Nnanna, in his latest column, argued that the current wave of demolitions, particularly those affecting businesses owned by Igbo traders, cannot be separated from Lagos’s deeply rooted political history and Tinubu’s rise to power.
According to him, the political trajectory of Lagos changed drastically after Tinubu secured the governorship ticket of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) in December 1998. He said the decision by the late Chief Ayo Adebanjo and other Afenifere leaders to favour Tinubu, due to his involvement in the NADECO struggle, inadvertently marked a turning point in Lagos politics.
“Tinubu is no Awoist, forget that he wears the Awo-popularised round-rimmed glasses,” Nnanna wrote. “In truth, Tinubu is a thoroughbred practitioner of the late Major General Shehu Yar’Adua’s Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, mafia politics.”
He explained that Tinubu gradually took control of Lagos politics by sidelining his Afenifere mentors and consolidating his power base, which eventually expanded across the South-West.
The veteran journalist noted that the current demolitions, especially around Igbo-dominated markets such as Alaba International, Trade Fair, and ASPAMDA, appear to reflect a long-standing tension between the political establishment in Lagos and non-Yoruba residents, particularly the Igbo community.
Nnanna recalled that during Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2003 and the 2007 campaign for his successor, Babatunde Fashola, Tinubu had appealed to the Igbo leadership in Lagos for political support, allegedly reminding them that Lagos “had been generous” in giving them space to prosper.
He quoted Tinubu as saying that Lagos had “allowed them to control all the big markets” in the state, warning that rejecting “Lagos people’s political aspirations” would amount to working against their own interests.
Nnanna observed that the political gulf widened further during subsequent elections, especially in 2015 and 2019, when most Igbo voters in Lagos supported the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates Goodluck Jonathan and Atiku Abubakar while Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) backed Muhammadu Buhari.
“The fear that the large Igbo population in Lagos could torpedo Tinubu’s political kingdom had come true,” Nnanna stated, referencing Labour Party’s Peter Obi’s victory over Tinubu in Lagos during the 2023 presidential election.
He suggested that this development “frightened Tinubu and his loyalists,” adding that the recent demolitions could be part of a larger plan to “reshape the political and economic control” of Lagos.
However, Nnanna clarified that the demolitions were not limited to Igbo-owned properties alone. He cited the case of Oworonshoki, a predominantly Yoruba area, and mentioned a reported list of over 170 estates marked for demolition in the Lekki-Ajah corridor.
“There is this list of 176 estates reportedly marked for demolition. Most of them are in the Lekki-Aja axis. Officials never bother to explain their actions anymore. A bigger agenda of resharing Lagos could be unfolding,” he wrote.
He concluded by cautioning that the Lagos many residents once knew might be fading away, urging the Igbo community to reconsider their economic priorities.
“The Lagos we all knew could be behind us. For Ndi Igbo, home is best,” he said.
