Dare Babalola
A prominent All Progressives Congress chieftain, Joe Igbokwe, has slammed some Igbo social media users who claimed Lagos was empty due to Igbo people traveling to their villages in the South East for festivities.
The Anambra-born politician, in a post made via Facebook on Saturday, described the claims as “absurd, petty, senseless, and shameful,” emphasising that Lagos is a thriving business hub, the economic heart of Nigeria, and a city of opportunities.
Igbokwe, who has lived in Lagos for nearly 40 years, expressed disappointment with some Igbo individuals posting pictures of empty roads and markets, attributing it to Igbo people leaving Lagos.
“I have noticed some funny posts on Social Media from January 15, 2025, till date where some people from my Tribe were posting pictures of some roads and markets in Lagos where there are few vehicles and few people. They were telling the world that Lagos is empty because Igbo have travelled out of Lagos to their villages in the South East,” he wrote.
He rubbished the claims, describing it as “multiple ignorance, lack of knowledge, outright brigandage, arrant stupidity and at best a shame”.
Igbokwe pointed out that people from various regions, including South West, South South, and North, also travel during Christmas and festivals.
“Yes Igbo live in Lagos and they are millions of Igbo in Lagos, there are millions of South Westerners from Kwara, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and they travel too during Christmas to their respective States. Go to food markets in Ketu, Badagry corridor, Agege, Ajegunle, Lagos Island, Epe, Alimosho, Apapa, Ikorodu, Oyingbo etc and see the Northerners in actions,” he stated.
He urged Igbo people to abandon their perceived sense of superiority and “noisy race,” emphasising that every tribe has something valuable to offer Nigeria.
“I have begged our people to do away with this ugly selfish sense of superiority, paranoid gradiocity, I better than others body language, noisy race and overrated tribe. This will not help us,” Igbokwe wrote.
Igbokwe cited the success of Southwesterners and Northerners, like Aliko Dangote, as examples of achievements without noise.
“The richest Nigerian, Aliko Dangote and others billionaires from the North do not make noise and so are the Yorubas. We Igbos make thunderous noise in Nigeria. We arrogate to ourselves to what we are not. We are too loud.
“Igbo people should lie low and focus on rebuilding Igboland, which they’ve deliberately destroyed over the years,” Igbokwe advised.
He called for elders to counsel young Igbo individuals to adopt a more constructive approach, shedding their “childish and kindergarten mentality”.
