Lagos not interested in regional government — we can stand alone, says pressure group

De Renaissance Patriots Foundation says the indigenes of Lagos state are not interested in being part of the western region if Nigeria returns to a regional system of government.

The group, whose members are indigenes of Lagos, said the state prefers a standalone status and not a merger with other south-west states.

On Saturday, the group released a statement to react to the viral draft bill proposing a return to regional government.

The document, titled ‘A bill for an act to substitute the annexure to Decree 24 of 1999 with a new governance model for the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, went viral on social media during the week.

The bill is said to have been drafted by one Akin Fapohunda, who is not a member of the national assembly.

The national assembly had distanced itself from the draft bill.

The draft bill has elicited conversations about the possibilities of the 36 states forming regions.

Reacting to the development, the De Renaissance Patriots Foundation said although the leadership of the national assembly has denied the viral draft bill, it is not convinced.

The group said the draft bill is an attempt to “subsume” the aspirations of the people of Lagos into a larger group.

“In recent times, our various indigenous groups had always maintained that we as indigenes of Lagos had always been having a raw deal from our neighbours in the South West, who see nothing good in us as they are only for project to marginalize us and see our state as ‘spoils of war’,” the statement reads.

“We recall that in our history of over 100 years, Lagos indigenes in their various forms, towns and villages have never made progress and development as part of any region not to talk of the western region. The brief balkanization of our state to be part of the Western Region was an aberration.

“Nothing should be assumed especially from the contents of this proposed bill, especially if it has the inclusion of Lagos state as part of any region. We demand a referendum to actually reflect the wishes of the people.

“We, the indigenes of Lagos State, do not wish to be part of the regional state as being proposed in the bill returning Nigeria into regional government.

“Our leaders and traditional rulers opposed it in 1953 and we gained respite in 1967. We, offspring of our heroes’ past, will not accept it.

“We enjoin our representatives in the national assembly to consult with the elders statesmen and stakeholders before taking any action on the bill.

“This is beyond the ruling party and state government affairs. Lagos state cannot be brought into nothingness through the south-west region proposal by this bill surreptitiously.”