Lagos At 50: Group Backs Soyinka’s Appointment

A group operating under the platform of
Coalition of Ibile Professionals on Tuesday
said they are backing the choice of Nobel
Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka as co-
chair of the Lagos at 50 Celebration
committee.
The group in a statement issued by its
general secretary, Alhaji Wasiu Hassan,
said members of Eko Foundation who were
critical of the move were seeking cheap
publicity and attention for relevance.
Hassan stated that Lagos State is made up
of five divisions namely Ikeja, Badagry,
Ikorodu, Lagos Island and Epe, adding that
all the divisions are relevant for the
progress of the state.
He picked holes in the insinuation that
indigenes had been marginalized because
some Eko Foundation members, who are
exclusively from the Lagos Island division
lost out in the search for appointment.
According to him, the Lagos Island division
enjoyed the seat of power in Lagos for the
last eight years as against other divisions.
He added that the coalition will resist any
campaign of calumny against Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode, who he said has been
successfully balancing the state affairs and
appointments to ”the excitement of all
divisions of the state.”
Hassan vowed that members of the
coalition will not fold their arms and allow
the so-called indigenes with foreign names
to usurp stable and peaceful co-existence
in the state.
”How else can one describe the President
of Eko Foundation, Professor Oluwole
Smith, who failed to qualify on the short
list for Lagos State University (LASU) Vice
Chancellorship in the last selection process
or is it Mrs. Teju Philips or Mr. Lawal
Pedro who have non-indigene antecedents,
and cannot therefore claim to be saintly?”
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