If you live in Lagos, heck, Nigeria, and have at least heard conversations about Lagos and who it belongs to, you would surely have heard the term, ‘No Man’s Land’ and several arguments for and against it. But have you ever wondered who first used that phrase?
Well, that person was Alhaji Lateef Jakande (of blessed memory) and he was ten times the man any governor in Lagos or Nigeria — past or present — would ever hope to be.
On October 1, 1979, Lateef Jakande made his inaugural address to the people of Lagos. Here’s an excerpt:
In 1886, Lagos was again set up as a separate colony in response to a petition by the people of Lagos who resented being governed from the Gold Coast. It was administered by a Governor of the Colony of Lagos under Letters Patent dated 13th January 1886. This was the first time that the territory now known as Lagos State came under one administration. The administration continued under various constitutions until 1954 when Lagos was separated from the rest of the Colony and constituted a Federal Territory, that is to say, a No-Man’s Land.
God moves in a mysterious way, says William Cowper, His wonders to perform. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour.
The creation of Lagos State, like all great events, is not the achievement of one single person. The territory now known as Lagos State is the former Colony Province created by the British Administration for their own administrative convenience. Following the cession of his sovereignty to the British Crown by King Dosunmu in 1861, Eko was administered independently by a Governor of the Settlement of Lagos. Under the Commission of 19th February-1866, the Settlement of Lagos was governed by an Administrator and a Legislative Council responsible to the Governor of the West African Settlements residing in Sierra Leone. This continued until 1874. By Letters Patent dated 24th July 1874, the territory was administered by a Lieutenant Governor subject to the Governor of the Gold Coast Colony.
***
Before I go on, I must mention that in Prof. Tekena Tamuno’s 1970 book, ‘Separatist Agitations in Nigeria since 1914’, there’s a part where ‘no-man’s-land’ was used. However, just like I’ve done at the beginning of this article, it was also in single quotes, and I can’t be sure if it’s a direct reference, especially in the context of his text about how Eastern delegates saw Lagos back then.
Also, Mobolaji Johnson was also quoted to have said “Lagos is NOT a ‘no-man’s-land’”. But I’m not interested in what Lagos is said to NOT be.
That said, can you see how Jakande’s quote and usage of ‘no-man’s-land’ is different from my usage and that of both the Late Mobolaji Johnson and Prof. Tekena Tamuno? It was a direct reference. He was CALLING it.
Also, can you now see that the ‘No-man’s-land’ comment wasn’t from Igbo people trying to ‘lay claim’ to Lagos — whatever that means — because they know where they are from. Heck, most of them go home every December and choose to build houses in their hometowns before considering buying land in Lagos. The statement is from the Late Jakande regarding the status of Lagos as FCT — at least till 1991 when Abuja took over.
However, despite Lagos ceasing to be a political capital, it retains its pride of place as a commercial capital, making it by far, the most diverse city in Nigeria and even Africa.
Unfortunately, as Nigerians, we are poor students of history who don’t read even when the information is readily available. We would rather listen to people spewing untruths to fan the flames of ethnic hatred.
Curiously, these same people will visit the Rwanda Genocide Memorial and wax lyrical about being sobered by what they saw, advising ‘ethnic champions’ to never use ethnicity or religion as a tool against those outside their groups.
As an aside, isn’t it funny that people who shout the most about ‘others’ trying to take Lagos are mostly not indigenes of Lagos?
Anyway, if the public servants we place on pedestals when they are mere employees working to fulfil your mandates will say and do anything to cling to power, must we toe the same line? Are the effects of bad governance felt by just one ethnic group?
For me, the most unfortunate thing about being a Nigerian is our perpetual failure to learn when it comes to governance and nation-building. It’s amazing how we would join people to fight apartheid, racism and xenophobia in other countries and then turn around to inflict the same damage on people who share the same nationality as us.
We learned nothing from the Civil War, and this is on both the people and the government. For one, our government refuses to admit that it was not just a war but a genocide and by that refusal, glosses over a huge problem that may continue to plague us. Rwanda experienced their civil war in the 90s — two decades after ours but they learned. ‘Never again’ is a key phrase when it comes to both the Rwandan genocide and WWII.
But here we are in Nigeria, learning nothing and making the same mistakes from 50 years ago.
One other curious thing is how this ethnic divisionary tactic only seems to rear its head every election cycle. The actors may be different, but the playbook is the same. In 2023, it was MC Oluomo vs Iya Chinedu. In 2019, it was still MC Oluomo. In 2015, it was the Oba of Lagos and his Lagoon vibes.
I’m sure that in 2027, it will be someone else, but the same playbook will be used regardless of who the opposition candidate is. Doesn’t matter if it’s Jimi Agbaje, Musilu Obanikoro or Gbadebo Chinedu, the agenda always creeps in.
Maybe we can’t do better in general because we don’t know better but that shouldn’t be an excuse because the resources to know better are out there; we’re just too lazy to think, not to talk of do. And it’s even more grating when supposedly ‘educated’ Nigerians, including people I may have shared a classroom with at some point in time, are also rolling in this mud of ignorance. The most unfortunate part is that there are no apparent benefits you can see beyond the fact that their political party or candidate won.
Anyway, everyone will be alright, whatever version of ‘alright’ it is.
***
Fun Fact: Jakande won by getting 559,070 votes to become the first Executive Governor of Lagos State in 1979.
In 2019, Babajide Sanwo-Olu won with 739,445 votes and in 2023, he won with 736,000 votes.
For all of Lagos’ population explosion over a space of almost 50 years, little has changed in terms of human behaviour and voting patterns. Four decades later, the elected governors still haven’t been able to get up to one million votes, which amounts to just about 5% of the state’s population.
The moral of this bit? Nothing! I just think it’s quite interesting.
