For approving the deportation of some people of Igbo origin, the Enugu State Roots Initiative (ESRI0, a Pan-Igbo pressure group has demanded an unreserved apology from Governor Babatunde Fashola and payment of N500 billion compensation to the affected people.
Positing that the action of Lagos state government negates Sections 21 (1), 22 (1) and 15 (3) of the country’s constitution, the group also demanded that the state government should provide the deportees with befitting housing.
In a statement signed by its National President, Joni Icheka and Secretary, Uche Nwegbo, the group called on other Igbo elders’ groups like Ohanaeze Ndigbo, South East Governors Forum, South East caucus in the National Assembly and Igbo professionals to rise up in condemnation of the deportation.
The statement reads in part, “The Enugu Roots Initiative (ESRI), having watched with studied silence and dismay, the abracadabra and public reactions to the development is compelled to state that Section 41 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution states that: “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom”.
“Similarly, Section 42 (1) states that: “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:-
(a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religious or political opinions are not made subject; or
(b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religious or political opinions.
“Also, the same Constitution in Section 15 (3) stated clearly that: “For the purpose of promoting national integration, it shall be the duty of the state to: ‘(a) provide adequate facilities for and encourage free mobility of people, goods and services throughout the federation; (b) secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the federation.
“The ‘state’ referred to in this section of the constitution is the entire country, Nigeria which includes Lagos and Anambra states. There is no exception to these constitutional injunctions. ESRI therefore, demands an immediate payment of the sum of N500 billion compensation to these ill-treated Nigerians, whom Lagos state government said were Ndi Anambra.
“Apart from paying them the compensation, the state government should also immediately provide them with befitting housing accommodation and publicly apologize for denigrating their personal liberty and smearing the sanctity of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The offence they may have committed was that they were presumed to be Igbo people, and so, should not be seen begging for arms or engage in any considered “menial activity” in Lagos State.
“But, the questions should be asked: “Does it mean that all Lagos State indigenes resident in every part of the country, especially in Lagos State, are fully and officially employed? Do we have persons of the category referred to as destitute Anambra indigenes from other parts of the country that could still be found on the streets of Lagos State even now”, they queried?
On the property of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia state that was sealed up allegedly because he spoke against the deportation, ESRI stated further, “the deportation is even more provocative when one puts into perspective that notable Igbo personalities, like the former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu, who spoke against this despicable deportation in his weekly Leadership Column in the Sun Newspaper, was equally visited with this selective amnesia. His constitutional and rightful liberty to his property was curtailed for several hours by the goons of the Lagos State Government.
“Otherwise, why should the state government surreptitiously rekindle what happened in the 50s and 60s when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was denied leadership of the Western House of Assembly simply because he was born by parents from the same axis like the people the Lagos State Government ‘deported’?
“It was this same self-righteousness and hatred for Ndi-Igbo that led to the forceful removal of the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Eni Njoku in 1965 through acts of “fire-by-force” orchestrated by the defunct Western Regional Government”.
The group therefore, threatened to take appropriate legal action should Lagos State Government fails to apologize and pay compensation within one month, insisting that “the only offence these people committed, according to the Lagos State Government, was that they were “poor”: no more, no less”.
