1) APC Lagos has shown through actions and deeds that it understands what leadership is all about. It has shown leadership in Lagos and made Lagos a destination for all Nigerians especially for Ndigbo when the Federal Government under PDP has abdicated its responsibility to Nigerians.
2) APC government in Lagos has made the issue of Security the number one agenda and this has made it possible for Igbo businesses to thrive in Lagos. When kidnappers ravaged the South East I know many Igbo Lagosians who travelled to the village to bring their parents to Lagos. Today, Lagos is the safest state of Nigeria where Igbos sleeps with both eyes closed and do their lawful businesses without molestation.
3) APC government in Lagos led by Gov. Fashola fought Ebola to a standstill and effectively stopped the spread to other parts of Nigeria. This led the United Nations to declare Nigeria Ebola free. It could have been worse if not because of this courageous intervention that led the way in curbing this deadly virus in Nigeria.
4) APC government in Lagos has created a conducive atmosphere for Igbo businesses to thrive in Lagos whether is Real estate, Commerce, Transport, Artisans, Okada, Churches, Construction and other professions.
5) More than 500 Igbo are working in Lagos State Ministries and LGAs in various capacities, including the powerful office of Commissioner for Budget and Planning. Time and space will not permit me to mention their names here. In Abia State, a PDP Governor, Theodore Orji sacked Igbo from Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi States.
6) Lagos APC government has fought for justice for Igbo Lagosians like Miss Uzoma Okere who was assaulted by a Naval Rating. Lagos also funded the treatment of a popular Actress, Ngozi Nwosu, OJB Jezreel, Prince Ifeanyi Dike, etc abroad. Lagos APC government not only rehabilitated the family of the late Human Rights Activist, Chima Ubani, it also gave the family a house and offered his children scholarship to all levels of education when the Federal Government and his home PDP State government turned their backs on his family after he died fighting for the masses. APC government in Lagos has fought for countless number of Igbo Lagosians to get justice in Lagos. Again time and space will not permit me to mention their names here.
7) Lagos is the second home for Igbo in Nigeria. Check the number of Igbo in Lagos. Check the volume of investment and check the successes. This can only happen because a stable and trusted APC government has been in place. Contrast this with what obtains at the Federal Level where PDP holds sway.
8) Under APC government, Lagos is the fifth largest economy in Africa, larger than the economies of many African countries. Today, Lagos remains the driver of the Nigerian economy and pulls its weakest links. This is what the Igbo need to thrive and excel and not the consumptive politics the PDP promotes which excels in looting and sharing parts of the loot during election time.
9) APC government in Lagos has remained a pacesetter for other states to copy in Nigeria. Every good idea, every good thing, every evidence of good leadership you see anywhere in the country must have a link and or connection with Lagos. APC government is a thinking government and you do not prefer a 4th eleven for the first eleven.
10) It is better for Ndigbo in Lagos to work with those they know than to plan a deal with total strangers. His Royal Highness, the Oba of Lagos Oba Rilwanu Akiolu has told all Lagosians that they do not want PDP anywhere on their soil. Igbo in Lagos should listen to him as a mark of respect. PDP has devastated Yoruba land since 1999 from Ogun to Oyo, from Ondo to Ekiti and to Osun. PDP has devastated Nigeria in sixteen years and made the country a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Yoruba see PDP as a virus. That is why they formed an alliance with the North to stop PDP.
11) A lot of money is exchanging hands in Lagos but money cannot buy friendship or relationship. Friendship and Relationship are built over years of hard work and commitment. Money can buy you a bed but it cannot buy sleep. Money can buy you a car but it cannot buy you safety. Money can buy you the best shoes in the world but you need to have legs to wear shoes. If Igbo make the mistake of investing in a dying horse by voting PDP at a time other Nigerians are rejecting it for its sixteen wasteful years in power, it will neither affect the electoral choice of Lagosians nor make any positive difference for Igbo. It will rather worsen their woes in Nigeria especially in Lagos where they co-exist and compete favorably with other Nigerians. Igbo be warned!
12) Lagos is home of progressive politics and that explains why it had favoured Ndigbo. Since its creation in 1967, Lagos has been controlled by the progressives. The PDP and its forefathers, the NPN, the NRC have never controlled Lagos, even in the brief period when Lagos fell to the hands of the NRC through protest action in the SDP; it has never had its soul seized by the conservatives as the progressives controlled every other sphere of politics and governance except the governorship. This informed the reason why Ndigbo returned after the Civil War without any of their single properties seized in Lagos. None was deemed as Abandoned Property as was the case in the present day Niger Delta. This is why Ndigbo bounced back so quickly after the civil war. Lagos was the vortex of that stupendous rise and those that fled as a result of the civil war, came back to have their properties, businesses and houses returned to them. Ndigbo will not endanger this tremendous goodwill by aligning with those that seized and looted Igbo properties after the civil war to fight the Yoruba. We note, on the other hand, that conservative politics has never benefitted Ndigbo. The sixteen years of PDP rulership and how it has left Ndigbo with no known benefit is legendary and well known to all Nigerians for us to carry a dead child, which PDP has become and make enemies of our friendly neighbours and compatriots for all the money in the world. This is not for the millions of Ndigbo in Lagos as those now receiving dollars and sharing in the name of Ndigbo for the purpose of patronizing a dying PDP are on their own.
Igbo remember the wise saying; Ebe Onye Bi Ka Ona Awachi!
In Conclusion:
In concluding, we want to debunk the impression being created that Ndigbo are against the present wind of change in Nigeria. We want to correct the impression that Ndigbo are very comfortable with the state of affairs in Nigeria as to oppose the change that is raging all over the country. We want to debunk the sentiment that Ndigbo have been bought to sabotage the change that is raging all over Nigeria today. We want to warn that it is wrong to bandy Igbo alongside the greedy tendencies of some traders of fortune who are doing money business with the name and fate of Ndigbo. Ndigbo are not hatchet people. Ndigbo are not Judases. Ndigbo are not money lovers that could be persuaded to sell their mothers for money. We are all for change and Ndigbo will maintain significant presence in the change movement sweeping all over Nigeria today. We urge Ndigbo in all parts of Lagos, who are living in Lagos because other parts of Nigeria are not offering them what Lagos is offering them, to vote for APC to consolidate their interests and gains in Lagos. Ndigbo in Lagos should vote APC all the way, nationally to align with all Nigerians to bring the much needed change to the putrid state of Nigeria and in Lagos State to consolidate the great developments in Lagos for the past sixteen years, which have tremendously benefitted Ndigbo.
Thank you and God bless.
Chris Nwokobia (Coordinator)
Harris Chuma (Secretary)
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