The leader of the AREWA Youths Forum, Yerima Shettima has lambasted those arguing that Lagos does not belong to any particular tribe, insisting that Lagos belongs to the Yorubas.
In an exclusive chat with AFRIPOST, Shettima, while expressing worries over the ongoing tension in Lagos said while he does not support violence of any form, he will also not support people claiming ownership of a place that does not belong to them.
I don’t advocate violence, I won’t support claiming others land – Shettima
He said: “In as much as I’m not an advocate of violence and I have never and will not support an attack on any ethnic nationality in Nigeria, I don’t also support anybody going to somebody’s land and saying that land belongs to him or her.”
Someone owns somewhere
Arguing that there is no part of the country that is owned by everybody, Shettima said:
“Somebody owns somewhere; somebody belongs somewhere. You cannot imagine going to the north; core-north where I come from and begin to lay claims of ownership or say the place belongs to nobody.
“You can’t come from another place and begin to say it’s your land and you expect me to keep quiet. It’s true that you may have been born there, but originally you are not from there. Even when they continually say you are part of that place, you must know you have limitations.”
Arguing further, he said going to Lagos to claim ownership is similar to going to the core-north where he hails from to say it’s no man’s land. According to him, such is an insult to the sensibility of the Yoruba people whom he said are the true owners of Lagos.
“You cannot abuse the sensibility of Yoruba people in the southwest and tell them they are nobody. Never, I won’t take that in my own place and I assume that the southeast won’t take that as well. And you cannot go to Yoruba land and do that and get away, not because I support an attack on any ethnic group, not even Igbo, but you can’t also go to somebody’s place and abuse their sensibility and tell them they are nobody. No, it’s not done anywhere.”
The Arewa youth leader, however, condemned in clear terms any form of violent attacks in the name of ownership of a place, insisting that while he won’t support someone claiming ownership of another’s land, he won’t also support violence in whatever form.
