By Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu
When Oba Akinsemọyin first consulted the immortals of the Lagosian beginning in 1725 in the quest to widen the pace of the Lagosian commerce and enhance the spirit of entrepreneurial largeness, he was told to embrace all alien adventurers upon the soil of Lagos, with accommodating promptness and the warmth of native friendship. He was told by the unfailing oracle to welcome all foreigners with the purity of purpose and the sincerity of the spiritual candor.
And thus the Portuguese came with their damask and gin, with their gunpowder and artillery shells, exchanging for the native riches that spurred the hurry of new merchants and the clamor and flourish of industrial openness which still define the Lagosian identity.
The Akinsemoyin’s exemplar may be the first official certification of the Lagosian embrace of all kinds of alien fortune seekers, investors and even bootless wanderers desperate for refuge.
But the Lagosian accommodating instinct is more of a cultural emblem, a traditional spirit of friendship and openness, long ingrained in our psyche since Ado Keme first mounted the throne in 1630.
The eternal Lagos has always been a mother hen to both the natives and strangers, a protective shepherd to everyone, indifferent to the sway of origins or faith, giving refuge to the rich and the poor, providing the necessary ambit to excel, to enrich, to assert the fullness of one’s possibilities towards progression.
Lagos is the defining locus of liberal pulchritude, swift and almost impulsive in her welcoming immediacy. It is without discriminatory intimations. It is unknown to halting the steering progression of anyone; ultimately vast and sweeping in amiable recourse.
Ironically, it is this very spirit of accommodating latitude, the very emblem of expressive hearing, which is now being used by interlopers to contest the Lagosian space with the natives.
Alas, the natives are now pushed to the defensive barricades, challenged by intrusive agents, who foolishly stir themselves in triumphalist hurrah against the owners of the land.
The heritage of the natives is now threatened, contested, subjected to proprietary claims by insensitive intruders, who have mistaken the cautionary wariness of the tiger for cowardice, who think the quiet reserve of the thoughtful is a sign of weakness. Not true!
They doth lie. Lagos is the heritage of all the scions of Ologunkutere Asalogun and the domain of Yorubaland. It is a place of unique culture and traditional exemplifications.
It is the home of the Akarigbere, the Idejọ, the Abagbọn and the Ọgalade. It is the primal fount of Dosunmu Akamọ, the son of Akitoye, whose light has shone and brightened far beyond that of the father.
Hence this resolve: that the Lagosian space is not a no man’s land. That this traditional liberal entity has a source and origin, rich in the fullness of ancestral practices. That this sacred entity will not condone the foolish triumphalism of usurpers from any nucleus of the Nigerian declaration.
That the natives, the entirety of Yorubaland will defend the sacredness of our God-given possession against the conspiratorial league, raring to usurp the leadership of our Lagos. That the consensus of the Lagosian space is that a full blooded Yoruba person should determine our democratic fortune in the next four years. That we hereby support, encourage, and approve the continuity of Governor Babajide Sanwoolu’s governance of Lagos. That this March 11, all well-meaning Lagosians and non-natives should vote for Governor Sanwoolu Lẹ́ẹ̀kansi.
Moral: what we dare not attempt in someone’s backyard should never be attempted on our own. On this eternal truth we stand.
Sanwó Lẹ́ẹ̀kansi.
•Prince Shodipe-Dosunmu, the Olóríẹkùn of Olowogbowo, Àpésìnọlà Ọ̀kọ́làbà Ẹkùn, is the Director General, DG, of The Patriots Roundtable.
