Igbo Vs Yoruba: When You Instigate, Expect Us To Retaliate

BY FARIU ADEBOBAJO

Senator Babafemi Ojudu’s Facebook essay, “Lagos Is Playing with Fire — And Tinubu Must Put It Out,” drapes itself in the robes of patriotism, but behind the flowing fabric lies a deeper, more troubling pattern, one that reeks of selective outrage and ideological backpedaling.

For a man who built almost an entire journalistic career attacking the northern oligarchy, Ojudu’s sudden handwringing over the cultural erasure in Lagos sounds suspiciously like nostalgia for a new kind of domination, this time from the East. One must wonder: does the former firebrand editor of The News, Tempo, and PM News publications that made a name confronting power now desire an Igbo oligarchy to replace the Northern one he so feverishly denounced?

Let us not be gaslighted. Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria and Lagos State (sadly taken to be one and the same by utter idiots) are a part of Yorubaland.

Lagos is a vibrant, diverse, cosmopolitan space, but its identity is not up for negotiation. And while the city has welcomed millions from every corner of the country, that hospitality has increasingly been repaid with creeping political overreach, cultural appropriation and, in some quarters, outright disdain for the host community.

Ojudu rightly condemns the renaming of streets bearing Igbo names, but he forgets to mention what provoked this reaction. He does not address the persistent declaration of Lagos as “no man’s land.” He does not acknowledge the installation of self-proclaimed “Eze Ndigbo” in virtually every Yoruba city, complete with titles, palaces and patronage networks that look increasingly like parallel authority structures. Nor does he reference the appalling online campaign that saw respected Yoruba icons like Wole Soyinka insulted in the most vile terms during the 2023 elections.

Would such antics be tolerated in Enugu? Would the North allow an “Oba of Zaria” to take root in its midst? Of course not. Because the North, for all its flaws, does not indulge in self-erasure. The North does not sell its land and weep afterward. And it certainly does not watch quietly as guests attempt to redraw the cultural map. So why should the Yoruba?

It is precisely because the Yoruba have been so tolerant, so democratic, so welcoming that this tension now exists. Lagos has given space, opportunity, and sanctuary to all, but the Igbos are the only group that consistently pushes beyond the boundary of gratitude into the territory of entitlement.

The issue is not street signs. It is symbolism. It is the assertion, often loud and proud, that Lagos is up for grabs; that the economic muscle of the East entitles it to political influence and cultural dominance. That, Senator Ojudu, is the fire being stoked, not by renaming streets, but by the quiet, persistent provocation of a community that seems unable to live as guests without aspiring to become landlords.

And make no mistake, this is not a call for violence or exclusion. It is a call for clarity. For every community to understand the limits of its reach and the responsibilities of its presence. Multiculturalism without boundaries is not unity, but chaos.

Ojudu speaks of political missteps and warns of alienating the East ahead of 2027. But let us be frank: no president, not even Tinubu, should mortgage the dignity of his people in exchange for votes. Yoruba identity is not a bargaining chip. Lagos is not political collateral.

And to Mr. Ojudu, who once championed the resistance against Northern domination, who helped frame the debate around equity, fairness, and self-determination, we must ask: why the double standard now? You fought against the idea of a North that saw itself as entitled to rule. Are you now ready to genuflect before an Eastern elite that believes it has bought a stake in Lagos simply by acquiring property?

Or is your nationalism only activated when it suits your politics? True national unity will not come through appeasement or cowardice. It will come when every Nigerian understands that respect is reciprocal and that freedom in another man’s land comes with responsibility. The Yoruba have bent over backwards in the name of peace. But peace should not mean silence and hospitality must not become self-abnegation.

This is not a plea. It is a warning, firm, but fair. The Yoruba are watching. And if they ever decide to behave like the North, many will realize too late just how lucky they have been.