A coalition of civil society groups has accused Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi of attempting to play politics with the lives of destitute recently returned to the state by the Lagos State Government.
Condemning Obi at a press conference on Wednesday in Lagos, the coalition said Obi had decided to take on the Lagos State Government even when he knows that the latter met the requirements for relocating the people.
It also alleged that the relocation, which Governor Obi branded ‘deportation,’ is a sign that his administration has failed to care for the people, to the extent he inflated the total number of destitute to earn the sympathy of Nigerians.
We have patiently listened to the discourse, which has shifted remarkably from the sublime to the ridiculous with little consideration for the vulnerable people and/or the fragile unity of the country and the sensitivity of the different ethnic groups in Nigeria,” the coalition, led by Comrade Abiodun Sowunmi, wrote in a statement.
“The trajectory of the contributions is aimed at subverting what seemed to be a reasonable course of action taken by Lagos State Government. Further, a more appalling dimension is the deliberate politicisation of the plight of these vulnerable Nigerians by Governor Peter Obi and notable PDP leaders such as Chief Ebenezer Babatope.”
The Lagos State Government claimed it referred 14 people who identified themselves as indigenes of Anambra State to a meeting point at Onitsha, Anambra State with the full knowledge of the Anambra State Government. But Obi has denied this and petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over the issue.
“On reaching the venue at about 3am, in what now seemed a deliberate ploy to score political mileage ahead of the 2013 Anambra State gubernatorial thereby appealing to many voters of Igbo extraction resident in Lagos state, the Anambra Government officials were nowhere to be found to receive the vulnerable persons.
“The governor of Anambra State reportedly petitioned the President of Nigeria with no contact made with the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola. It should be noted that there was no attempt to at least find out the state of things before declaring the resettlement bid known to his government as ‘deportation’.
“Governor Obi tried to create an impression of mass deportation of Igbo people from Lagos State by exaggerating the number of people involved. He alleged that about 74 people were ‘deported’ with no verifiable evidence presented.”
There was a wide condemnation of Governor Fashola with threats also made by the Anambra State Government. This the civil rights group confirmed, saying some people of Igbo extraction were alarmed, and they panicked over the perceived ‘deportation’ of their kinsmen.
“Opinions were divided loosening the growing amity between the large Igbo community resident in Lagos and the Yoruba indigenes and residents of Lagos.
“The primary responsibility of government is to provide security and wellbeing for its people. This is the reason why both governments at the state and federal levels are instituted. State governments whose citizens have migrated en masse to other states as destitute are themselves indicted by the reality and ought to take measures to rehabilitate them instead of accusing another government of ‘deportation’.
“The point must be made in unambiguous terms that the greatest form of human rights violation a government can commit in our country today is the abdication of its responsibility to provide welfare for its citizens. The respective state governments bear responsibility for making destitute out of their government.
“Everyone who regards the exercise as deportation is latching onto the fundamental human rights principle including the state governors who have refused to provide for their people and as a consequence turned them into destitute with its corresponding nuisance value in other states of the federation.
“No one can accuse Lagos state of human rights violations. Lagos is the only truly genuine metropolitan city in Nigeria today that accommodates everybody from the numerous nationalities in the country. Lagos State remains the only state, apart from the Federal Capital Territory, that is pioneering common citizenship for Nigeria in words and indeed.
“In these times of security challenges, Lagos State owes a responsibility to the peaceful and hard-working people of the state to protect them from vagrants with no identifiable addresses and residency in the state. It is the responsibility of the government of their identified states of origin to rehabilitate them and not to politicise and inflame identity politics to score cheap electoral goals.”
The group said the situation further boosts the call for a sovereign national conference where issues of the country’s unity would be resolved once and for all, adding that relocation of destitute is a standard practice in many civilized countries in the world.
“The decision of the Lagos State Government to transfer the 14 people after rehabilitation to the Anambra State Government for resettlement is logical and necessary. Based on available information, none of the 14 people had any identifiable address or relatives in Lagos State.
“This clearly informed the decision to resettle them in their state of origin in order to be able to receive long-term care and support from the Anambra State Government and their families. Therefore, the Anambra State Government, in our view, behaved irresponsibly by her decision to deny assistance to the 14 vulnerable persons.
“Prior to this 2013 resettlement, the Anambra State Government headed by Governor Peter Obi ‘deported’ Nigerians from Anambra State to Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi State in December 2011. The government of Akwa Ibiom State has recently sent two destitute to Lagos with the cooperation of the Lagos Government,” the coalition said, warning Governor Obi not to reinvent the Rwandan crisis in Nigeria