The Igbo problem in Lagos and how it started

When I fought for Igbo in Lagos, I was sabotaged

Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD

When I arrived at Besthope Hospital, situated in a somewhat obscure Araromi Street off-Alafia Street, Mushin, Lagos, that fateful morning to meet Dr. Frederick Faseun, I was expecting to meet a stern looking man, tough-speaking and authoritative in carriage. On the contrary, I met a man of unusual humility, soft-spoken, friendly, accommodating and, a listener with a critical sense of judgment; yet principled in the matter of Yoruba nationalism, resilient in patriotism and, commandingly populist with authoritarian simplicity.
I did not wait long because it was obvious he was waiting for me. Gently beckoning on me to have a seat, he asked me my purposed of coming. I briefly introduced myself and explained my reason for coming to him. It should be recalled that at that moment the OPC was having battles with the Hausa and Fulani residents in Lagos State at one hand, and the Ijaw (Ijon) on the other. So I utilized the situation of those conflicts to sway his opinion to my advantage.
We discussed at length over the need for the protection of the Igbo residents in Lagos State against constant harassment by his boys, as well as the need for Igbo-Yoruba alliance, since it would not augur well for the Yoruba to be at war with many ethnic groups at the same time. His position was that both Ohaneze Ndigbo and other Igbo groups in Lagos State were working with the Fulani to undermine collective Yoruba interests in Nigeria right from the time of annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election and, for that reason he was not ready to work with any of them.
I then suggested if he would be willing to work with any Igbo organization outside Ohaneze Ndigbo and he asked if I know of any such organization. I said no, but I can form one for the purpose of aligning with OPC for the purpose of Igbo-Yoruba alliance. He immediately accepted the suggestion and promised to support the organization.
That was how Igbo People’s Congress (IPC) came into existence in Lagos State. I went through formal induction into OPC membership to ensure my sincerity and I was assigned to Yeye Odua at that time, a tough woman named Lady B living at Mushin to take care of me. She even provided me her house as my first office.
My conviction at the end of the day is that the average Yoruba man or woman under normal circumstances does not hate the Igbo. If a Yoruba man trusts you, he trusts you. If he doesn’t trust you he will show it before you. There is no double-dealing among the pure Yoruba. The same applies to their women.
We soon went ahead and signed a memorandum of understanding between the OPC and IPC with respect to Igbo-Yoruba cooperation and protection of Igbo interests in Lagos State. I was the sole signatory representing collective Igbo interest and Dr. Faseun the sole signatory representing collective Yoruba interest in that memorandum of understanding.
There was no Southeast Igbo present at that stage until I started to gradually mobilize the few willing ones. That was when Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu presented Comrade Chris Ezeiyiaku from Akaezev town in Ebonyi State as Deputy President. Comrade Charles Maduka from Umuahia, Abia State became Secretary General, while Joe Igbokwe from Nnewi, Anambra State was ex officio member. At that stage, a number of Igbo leaders who later moved to Abuja were in Lagos State. Okwadike Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife was living at Apapa with his office at Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.
The only pan-Igbo organization in Lagos State was Igbo Speaking Community which was holding its meeting occasionally at Apapa Road close to Costain Bus-Stop, and Chief Anonneze’s residence at Ikate, Surulere, by Kilo Bus-Stop. Chief Anomneze was from Orlu in Imo State. Nobody took my organization seriously until OPC invaded Apapa Wharf and killed an Igbo man. There was pandemonium in Lagos State and nobody could confront or approach either the OPC or their leaders.
When the Igbo community met at Chief Anomneze’s house to find a way out of the crisis, nobody could proffer any reasonable solution. It was at that point I suggested that a delegation should be sent to the OPC leader Dr. Frederick Faseun at Century Hotel to plead for his intervention and stop his boys from further attacks on the Igbo at Apapa Wharf. Not only that they did not believe I could arrange such a meeting, but none among the Igbo leaders was willing to go to Century Hotel for the fear of being attacked or killed by OPC.
I then suggested if it would be okay for them to have the meeting held somewhere outside Century Hotel, Okota and, then I would convince Dr. Faseun to come and address them. After much hesitation they accepted but with the proviso that he should not come with OPC members. The meeting was eventually fixed at the Igbo Community Hall along Apapa Road, Close to Costain by 6 pm.
Although Dr. Faseun after approving the meeting rejected the demand that he should not come with members of OPC; but after concerted pressure from me, we agreed to go with only one bus-load of OPC members but who would station at Costain Bus-Stop. They were to be there waiting for any signal in the case of any emergency; even though deep down my heart I knew my Igbo kinsmen had no lever to act otherwise. Dr. Faseun and I, with one of his assistants named Mukaila eventually entered the hall.
It should be recalled that immediately after the approval of the meeting, all the Igbo leaders started boasting how they would reprimand Dr. Faseun over the activities of boys. Ironically when Faseun eventually came and addressed them, promising that there would be no further attacks against the Igbo anywhere in Lagos State, it was the same group of people who earlier boasted of how they would reprimand him that started struggling to collect his telephone number. It was at that point that he informed them to use me as their contact person whenever they had problem with OPC in Lagos State.
However, the first baptism of fire I received from my Southeast Igbo kinsmen came when the same group of Igbo Speaking Community leaders I used my time and resources to bring Dr. Faseun to the same table with them decided to pay a thank-you courtesy visit to Dr. Faseun at his Century Hotel Okota, for the return of peace at Apapa Wharf.
Meanwhile, there was no single appreciation from them for using my time, energy, and car to run the errand for them. These were the same people who were willing to pay any Yoruba man thousands of naira just to connect them to Dr. Faseun over the Apapa Wharf crisis. To them I did not matter. I was no body as far as they were concerned. I had been used to advance Igbo harmony with the Yoruba in Apapa Wharf and the rest were my business as Anioma stranger among the Igbo.
It was with that mindset that they decided to pay a thank-you visit to Dr. Faseun without informing me. As they landed at the Hotel and sat down, Dr. Faseun came down to join them. Looking around without seeing me, he asked them about my whereabouts, but they could not provide any cogent explanation. That was a trusted and sincere Yoruba man for you.
He then told them to excuse him for some few minutes to attend to some people. He then took his phone and called me and said “Tony where are you now?” I said I was in Surulere. He asked if I could make it in thirty minutes and that he was going to give me a surprise, and I said I can.
I then drove straight to Century Hotel, Okota, entered the Hotel, lo and behold, sitting with Dr. Faseun were the cream of Igbo Speaking Community leaders in Lagos State. On sighting me, they were all too embarrassed to look straight at me and began to mumble one excuse or the other. Dr. Faseun immediately directed me to sit beside him and introduced me to them as the leader of Igbo People’s Congress who should be contacted in any matter involving the OPC and Igbo people in Lagos State.
After the meeting, Dr. Faseun specifically warned me to be very careful with those people I call my Igbo brothers because they were not trustworthy. This was a Yoruba man warning me to be cautious of my Igbo kinsmen. How then can any Igbo man tell me to hate a Yoruba man just because we speak the same language? The taste of the pudding is in the eating.
The second baptism of fire was when Dr. Faseun directed me to prepare a proposal for the inclusion of Igbo people in the Lagos State Government Executive Council, a proposal that eventually led to the appointment of Mr. Akabueze as Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Planning by Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
After writing the draft proposal, I gave it to Dr. Faseun to go through. He went through, did some corrections and handed it over to me to effect the necessary corrections and return the final copy to him. After producing the final draft, in my sincere disposition I called my Deputy Mr. Chris Ezeiyiaku from Akaeze town in Ebonyi State and gave him the copy to go through before final submission to Dr. Faseun. Everything about the proposal soon skipped off my mind. I did not think of collecting it back from Mr. Ezeiyiaku and Mr. Ezeiyiaku did not think of returning to me.
What happened was that as soon as Mr. Ezeiyiaku collected the draft proposal, he took it to Mr. Joe Igbokwe and they both used another third party to submit it to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with Joe Igbokwe assuming the position of IPC leader in my palace. Being that the proposal still bore Igbo People’s Congress the Governor had to make further inquiries from the OPC leader, Dr. Frederick Faseun.
After about a month, Dr. Faseun called me and said I should come quickly to his office. When I got there he demanded to have the proposal he gave me for corrections and return back to him. I was mopping like a Sallah ram awaiting slaughter. He told me that he had just returned from Alausa where he spoke with the Governor over my proposal which the Governor accepted as a laudable idea. But that he knew that he did not either submit the paper to the Governor or did I return it to him.
He however told me that he had instructed the Chief of Staff Alhaji Lai Mohammed to kill it. But I pleaded with him to rescind his action since I was not doing it so that I would personally benefit. He looked at me for a while and said, Tony, you are a different person. He said okay, if I insist he would inform Lai Mohammed to go ahead with the proposal. I said yes I insist Baba. Again he warned me to be very careful with the people I call my Igbo brothers.
The third baptism of fire came when I stood firmly to defend Mr. Michael Ololo-Ogwu from Umuahia whose inheritance from his father—a four-storey building at Ikate, Surulere, Lagos, was confiscated by his mother and junior brothers and clandestinely sold to a Yoruba man at the ridiculous price of two million naira. The buyer Mr. Akintomide subsequently invited members of OPC to eject him and his tenants who were mainly Igbo, from the house, until the Police came to their rescue that day.
It should be noted that at the time I left University of Nigeria, Nsukka I had no car and the car I was using then at Lagos—a Daewoo Racer was bought with the support of Dr. Faseun. Yet that did not in any manner obliterate my sense of objectivity in any matter concerning Igbo interest between us. I opposed Dr. Faseun in several occasions over Igbo issues not minding both his powers and how much support I had received from him. In spite of that the man still liked me and would use me as his first port of contact for any serious matter.
At a stage, he was queried by the then National Security Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, General Mohammed Gusau why he was so close with unparalleled trust to that Igbo boy. His response was that Tony was a different person unlike any other Igbo man he had had contact with. He was not with me for the sake of money but to fight injustice. This indeed explains Dr. Faseun’s indelible trust in me till his death while I was already in my present exile.
He believed in me and rarely disagreed with my opinion on certain national issues. Indeed when he informed that he strongly opposed the marriage of his only daughter—a Medical Doctor to an Igbo man against his wife’s support, because he wanted her to be close to home, I reminded him of our objectives in the struggle and that his feelings and actions matter a lot in that struggle and advised him to rescind his position. He agreed, even went further to confess to me that to be fair to the young girl, he never instructed her where to marry and where not to marry.
Back to Michael Ololo-Ogwu matter. One fateful afternoon, Dr. Faseun called me as usual to come to his office quickly for a very serious and urgent matter. When I got to his office at Century Hotel, he at once brandished before me a copy of the original Survey Plan of the property in dispute, which was built in the early 1950s. He immediately instructed me to go and ensure that the young man quits the house immediately to allow the Yoruba buyer take possession; otherwise he would no longer restrain his boys from further action.
I said okay Baba, but let me go there and investigate the matter first and return back to you latest the next day. He said okay and that I should do it quickly. I then left and moved straight to the property which was on a short street that links Folawiyo Bankole Street with the main Ikate Street by the popular Kilo Hotel Bus Stop.
It was directly opposite number 28 Folawiyo Bankole Street, my kinsman’s office—Mr. Bialonwu Okonta; where he published our town’s local newspaper—Ibusa Pathfinder. I later used it as my office. Even though the location was a familiar terrain to me I never took notice of
When I got to the venue and introduced myself as the leader of Igbo People’s Congress (IPC) and that I was sent by the OPC leader Dr. Frederick Faseun to investigate the conflict surrounding the sale of the house, it was like a messiah had arrived. The whole tenants immediately trooped down to listen to me, including the embattled owner of the property Mr. Michael Ololo-Ogwu who unfortunately had hearing challenges.
I assured them that so long as I remained in Lagos State, provided their case was genuine, nobody would quit them from the building. All I needed from them was the truth of the matter and nothing but the truth. The tenants then narrated their ordeal in the hands of the OPC and how they managed to invite the Police to save them and subsequently rescued their landlord from Yaba Psychiatric Hospital where he was held captive and chained to the bed under the pretext that he was a violent mad man.
father was Chief Michael Ololo-Ogwu from Umuahia who was once the owner and Proprietor of Metropolitan College, Isolo, Lagos. The School was later taken over by Lagos State Government and renamed Isolo Secondary School. I understand the same Lagos State Government had returned the school the family not long ago.
According to him his mother Madam Rosalyn Ololo-Ogwu divorced his father and bought a land at Ajangbadi, Lagos; where she built her house and lived with his two younger brothers and a sister; while he lived with his father alone, against his mother’s order to join her. His father’s second wife who was married later after his mother’s divorce, on the other hand chose to live in his father’s second property close to his Secondary School, as bequeathed to her by his father.
On the other hand, his father bequeathed the said building in contest to him as the first son; noting that it was the same house he lived with his father till his death. After listening to both the man and his tenants, and comparing the young man’s name with the name in the survey plan, I was convinced that the sale of the house was a fraud.
This fact from all indications was known to his mother and younger siblings, hence the criminally induced artificial insanity on the man. Under the Lagos State laws, certified evidence of insanity was the only means a rightly inheritor to property could be by-passed. In other words, they needed credible medical evidence to prove that the first son was insane or mentally impaired before they could legally sell the property without his consent.
The young man equally informed me that when one of his younger brothers brought the sum of two hundred thousand naira to him as his share of the sale of the building, he simply told him that he did not understand what he was saying because he never dreamt of selling his property and consequently drove him away with the money. He further stated that his mother had earlier warned him that she would deal with him after his father’s death and that was exactly what she was doing in collusion with his younger brothers.
In fact looking at both the size and location of the building, it was roughly assessed at a cost of forty million naira as at that time in question. Thus for such a property to be sold at the miserable price of two million naira was the height of criminality and injustice to a man whose future had equally been rendered partially pitiable by childlessness and impaired hearing.
Satisfied with my investigations, I returned to Dr. Faseun the following day to report my findings. After jointly analyzing the result of my investigations we agreed to invite all the concerned parties for a fact-finding dialogue and eventual settlement of the problem.
To be continued.
Dr. Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe is the Odogwu (Traditional Generalissimo) of Ibusa, Delta Sate & President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria (ICAC-GEN). He was formerly Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He lives in exile in Manila, Republic of the Philippines.