Tokunbo Afikuyomi

Tokunbo Afikuyomi: Perspectives On “Lagosian” Syndrome

Akinwole Ogunlola, Esq.

It is amazing to watch the ongoing clamor by some Lagos State indigenes for a “son of the soil” candidate as governor in the upcoming election in that state. More amazing however is their mischaracterization of the two-term State Senator, Afikuyomi, whose mother was a Lagos State indigene, and who was born, raised and bread in Lagos as an outsider or non indigene. In some cases, the clamour is subtle but maddening while in other instances, very loud and desperate.

Must your two parents come from Lagos State for you to qualify as Lagosian? For the proponents of “both parents a must” theory, it is pertinent to remind them that they have adopted the outdated reasoning of that African American Democratic Party Congressman from Illinois who felt so threatened by the skills, confidence and acceptability of Barack Obama during one of the primaries that he regrettably asserted that Obama was not “black enough” in apparent reference to Obama’s mixed parents. While the whole world accepts Obama as emerging and unstoppable leader, darling of American democrats and a symbol of integration, nobody remembers the name of that Congressman. The narrow, exclusionists approach of “your two parents or nothing” in the definition of who is a Nigerian or Lagosian, is certainly outdated, unpopular and expressly rejected by our constitution.

According to Chapter III of the Nigerian Constitution, anyone whose ither parents is a Nigerian at birth qualifies as a Nigerian. Specifically, Section 25 (1) (a) states that “every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria ” is a citizen of Nigeria .. In a very simple language, all that is required by virtue of this provision for anyone to be a Nigerian by birth is for one of either parents or grandparents to be Nigerian(s).

For avoidance of doubts, the Nigerian constitution went further in the same sub section and provided that “a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria. It is also instructive to know that subsection (c) of that Section even regarded every person born outside Nigeria with at least a Nigerian parent, a citizen of the country. The most developed democracy of the world, United States even recognizes as citizen, anyone born in the country irrespective of the parent’s immigration status, length of residence, or national origin.

In the absence of anything to the contrary by the Lagos State Constitution(if there is anything as such), one may conclude, and rightly so that a Lagosian would probably be anyone whose both or either parents come from Lagos State. Just as citizenship of a State or a country could be acquired through birth, some others have acquired citizenship through naturalization. In the particular case of Senator Afikuyomi, acquisition of Lagos State citizenship through other means does not even arise in the first place.

Adopting the sound reasoning and guiding principle of the Nigeria constitution as well as established civilized practice of America therefore, to qualify as a Lagosian by birth, all which is required is that you or one of your parents be born in Lagos state. The late madam Afikuyomi (Senator Afikuyomi’s mother) was born in Lagos Island to Lagos state indigenes and remained a Lagosian throughout her life. The Senator was born, raised and educated in Lagos (from St. Jude’s primary school, Ebute Metta to the great University of Lagos , Akoka where this writer first met him in the 1980s as a practical and visionary students’ union leader). In addition, Tokunbo had been elected over and over by the good people of Lagos and successfully represented the state as Senator at the National Assembly for over eight years. With these formidable realities, what could be the motive behind the sudden characterization of the Senator by political opponents as non-Lagosian? Perhaps it is the fear of inevitable political defeat in the hands of the young senator as the candidate had amply demonstrated that he is unstoppable in any free or fair election.

The United States of America represented the best democracy in the world in addition to being a unique land of opportunity where ideas and potentialities are not only allowed but encouraged to flourish. The diversity of talents from different peoples of the world that made up America as well as the opportunity to put these ideas into practice has greatly benefited the country as an open society. Acceptability of a candidate for political appointment or elected office should be guided by the candidate’s personal integrity, quality and message as contained in the issues raised, rather than where his great grand father hailed from. Illinois is today referred to as the land of Abraham Lincoln (16^th American President) despite the fact that he was not born in that State but merely relocated there and realized his political ambitions through the state.

Many people will also remember that the popular New York Senator, Rodman Hillary Clinton (wife of Bill Clinton, the former American President) actually hails from Illinois State and lived most of her adult life in Arkansas (a southern state). Yet, few months to the election, she moved to New York , contested the election and won convincingly. Were there non New Yorkers whose great grandfathers were born in New York ? The story of that superstar immigrant governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California who was neither born nor raised anywhere in the States is also instructive. The lesson from the dynamics of American politics is openness and freedom rooted in oneness of the people indivisible under God.

Most Americans are concerned about which candidate can best represent their interest? What does the candidate stand for? What are the relevant experiences and how much could they trust candidate A as against candidate B in the art of governance? Lagos state is arguably the most developed and democratically sophisticated state in Nigeria . A position achieved, through the collective efforts of different people and concentration of ideas from other parts of the country. The state remains pace setter in Nigeria practically on all fields and the threatened ambitions of selected individuals within the state must not be allowed to reverse the trend or return the state to the stone-age political era where the slogan, “son of the soil” is all that is required for the worst candidate to win elections.

There may be nothing wrong with citizens or indigenes of a state seeking to elect one of their own as chief executive of their state through “son of the soil” or any other slogan but, everything is wrong and there is a clear danger when all they seek to achieve is exclude fellow indigenes through such slogans or some narrow interpretation or definition of who qualifies as a citizen or indigene of the state. Every patriot and certainly all lovers of democracy, equality and social justice must challenge such practice and promptly speak out in opposition.

Senator Afikuyomi’s mother was from Lagos . He was born in Lagos . He completed his education, primary school up to the university in Lagos , lived all his life in Lagos and has represented the state for too long at the National Assembly that the current attempt to characterize him as non Lagosian by threatened political opponents must be seen as misdirected. A more prudent and generally acceptable approach would have been to attack Tokunbo Afikuyomi on his record as Lagos state senator. Tell the people what he did wrong, failed to do, or should have done better as a senator and how such action or inaction on his part have negatively impacted the people or fortunes of the state that he represented.

With due respect to all Lagosians, the issue here is not whether a non Lagosian or non indigene should be made the state governor (to which my answer would be “yes”, if the candidate has acceptable qualities and good programs), but whether a person whose mother is from that state, and who was born and raised in Lagos can rightfully be labeled non Lagosian because of some temporary and selfish political interests. My personal view would be that anyone, who has one of his/her parents from Lagos state or any child born and raised in that state qualifies as a Lagosian.

The politically threatened opponents of Tokunbo seek to raise the bar and redefine very narrowly, who should be regarded a Lagosian. According to this group and contrary to universally accepted norm, it is not enough that one of your parents is a Lagosian and it is certainly immaterial that you were born, raised and died in Lagos . To them, both parents must come from that state before you can be seen as a Lagosian. This very narrow, self-serving perception is embedded in bigotry and fraudulent thinking with the ultimate goal to divest and deprive. To encourage or approve such bigotry is to discourage inter- state marriages among Nigerians and further fractionalize the country thus making national unity more elusive.

The proponents of this “both parents a must” theory are only determined to further divide us. They are nothing more than agents and peddlers of negativity who have brazenly embraced the politics of anything goes. There is no such thing as “two-parents Nigerians”, or “one- parent Nigerians”. We are all Nigerians. In the same vein, if one of your parents is from Lagos state, you are a Lagosian unless you voluntarily chose otherwise.

We also have to realize that voters at the upcoming elections like all past elections in the state, will not be limited only to those whose both parents were born in Lagos but everyone of voting age that lives in the state. Lagos state is far ahead of many other states in Nigeria because it represents, at the very minimum, what American society and democracy stand for; openness, freedom, and equal opportunity for all, which have combined to put the United States miles ahead of its competitors. This may probably explain why many Nigerians in the rural areas pursue the goal to relocate to Lagos state with the same passion that Lagosians and others pursue their dreams of migrating to America .

The relevant focus in political races should be on the qualities of the candidates and their messages, knowledge of relevant national or local issues as they affect the common man or ordinary Lagosian, presented programs, and their credibility as against where their great, great grand fathers had migrated from. While such mundane issue of ancestral decent may be a tolerable qualification for holding public office in certain other states in Nigeria due to their current level of development and political sophistication, Lagos state certainly is beyond that level and can neither afford the fate and price of such reactionary measure nor its attendant consequences. Those are “closed societies” which Lagos is not.

If these politicians cannot successfully challenge Afikuyomi on his record as a public officer, or convince the Lagos electorate as to their better qualities, except to rely on some outdated, unpopular and discriminatory notion of who a Lagosian is, or offer a justifiable reason why that should be the only basis of getting elected, then the whining and ranting must stop.

The state may be ahead of other Nigerian states in many regards but the standard of living in the state and general state of essential infrastructure require urgent improvement. The gubernatorial aspirants in the state should engage in quality debates of how to further improve Lagos state and focus attention on vital issues of pollution control, over population (congestion) remedies, safety and security of life and property for all residents, good and efficient transportation system, provision of stable and reliable electricity, improvement of our hospitals and schools etc as against the unproductive arguments among the contestants and pretenders about whose both great, great and great grand parents were born in the state.

On the final analysis, if with all these personal bio-data, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi is not “Lagosian enough” as these trembling political mischief makers want us to believe, one can certainly continue to wonder who a Lagosian is. Is the allegation that the Senator is not “Lagosian enough” the only ground to successfully challenge him in the upcoming gubernatorial race in Lagos State or that the “son of the soil campaigners” are simply incapable of coming up with better and superior ideas or programs? Whatever the case, the people of Lagos in general would be better served by electing only the best candidate to office. To seek to deprive the state of a good candidate solely on the ground that one of his/her two parents came from another state, as is currently being done, will only force Lagos state to choose one from very bad, inexperienced, and terrible candidates that may be forced on us.

Only the best candidate deserves our vote for the office of Lagos state governor. Senator Afikuyomi may very well be the candidate to beat because without any doubt, he is clearly ahead of the pack in terms of ideas, knowledge, past sacrifice, vision, national name recognition and general support among the electorate. Fortunately too, he is also a Lagosian by any rational and acceptable standard.

Although Senator Obama of the U.S Senate may not be “black enough” and Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi may not be “Lagosian enough”, what these two have in common are; good leadership qualities, commitment to service, love for democracy and the rule of law. More importantly these two senators are winners whenever “credibility or integrity” dictates people’s choice of candidates in any given election. Every Lagosian must realize therefore that the proponents of this “both parents a must” theory are only determined to further divide us. They are nothing more than agents and peddlers of negativity who have brazenly embraced the politics of anything and everything goes. There is no such thing as “two-parents Nigerians”, or “one- parent Nigerians”. We are all Nigerians. In the same vein, if one of your parents is from Lagos state, you are a Lagosian unless you voluntarily chose otherwise.

As we watch the general apathy among voters, lack of quality debates among Lagos state governorship candidates, as well as the increasing wave of political uncertainty and mismanagement in the country, we can only hope that major political actors in the state will put the interest of all Lagosians ahead of personal, sectional and divisive interests so that forever, Lagos can remain great.

CHICAGO , ILLINOIS ,

October 27, 2006