by Abo Oyeade
A Yoruba socio-cultural group, Yoruba Action for Change (YAC), has condemned moves by a group of individuals to establish an “Obi of Lagos” palace in the state, describing it as an affront to the Yoruba people and their traditional institutions.
The group’s convener, Comrade Raji Rasheed Oyewumi, in a statement made available to TheWest on Thursday, said the planned project amounted to “overbearing ambitions” by some non-indigenous inhabitants of Lagos and should not be allowed to stand.
“Our condemnation stems from the recent effrontery of a particular interest group that has gathered so much fortunes and prosperity in our land and now resorts to fund raising of N1.5billion to develop a Palace as the Obi of Lagos,” the statement read.
The Lagos State Police Command had on Wednesday arrested 65-year-old Chibuike Azubike and three others over an alleged plot to install him as “Obi of Lagos” and unveil a prototype of a proposed N1.5bn “Palace of Obi of Lagos State” on September 13 at Apple Hall, Amuwo Odofin.
Oyewumi warned that such a project, if allowed, would “place itself in the class of our indigenous rulers which is an affront on our traditional institutions and sensibility as indigenous people of Yoruba race.”
He called on Yoruba traditional rulers to “clamp down on such incursions as we have no any other place to bequeath to our children except Oodua land.”
The controversy over the “Obi of Lagos” has stirred ethnic debates online, with many young people trading words over the appropriateness of the planned installation.
Police say Azubike, who hails from Obodoukwu Ancient Kingdom in Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, and his associates are being held at the command headquarters in Ikeja as investigations continue.
