“Don’t Play With Fire, Stop Street Renaming”, Senator Ojudu Cautions Lagos State

By Gideon Njoku

Senator Babafemi Ojudu, a former Political Adviser to late President Muhammadu Buhari, has warned on the implications of renaming streets in Lagos State.

Ojudu, in a strong appeal to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the matter and put a stop to it said that Lagos State is playing with fire by embarking on Streets’ renaming.

Recall that, in particular, the recently outgone Chairman of Bariga Development Council, in one of his activities before he vacated office, renamed some streets, especially those which bore names of non-Yoruba indigenes to names of those of Yoruba extraction.

The action has been met with outrage in many quarters and the question is: Why?

In answering that question, Senator Ojudu put it firmly on the defeat of then Candidate Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Lagos by the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, during the 2023 Presidential Election.

Ojudu said that defeat of Tinubu by Obi in Lagos is at the root of the ethnic tension which is likely to worsen with the renaming of streets.

The defeat, he pointed out shocked many, and triggered an aggressive divisive campaign that weaponized ethnicity in the Governorship election.

In a post on Thursday via his Linkedin entitled “Lagos is playing with Fire”, he warned against the renaming, in particular, of streets bearing Igbo names or those of other prominent Nigerians.

He said the move “is a calculated political maneuver rooted in resentment, identity

politics, and shortsighted leadership.”

Senator Ojudu noted that

“Lagos was built by many hands—Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Urhobo, Tapa, and more. Its strength lies in its diversity.

“To target any group, especially one so deeply embedded in the city’s economy and social fabric, is not just morally wrong; it is politically suicidal.

“Rather than stoking ethnic division, Lagos leaders should focus on the real threats to the city: youth unemployment, drug addiction, urban decay, traffic congestion, and collapsing infrastructure. These are the issues threatening Lagos’s future —not the names on its street signs.”

A Yoruba Group, on Wednesday, called for the renaming of Ahmadu Bello Way and Ozumba Mbadiwe Road in Victoria  Island, Lagos, dismissing both men as “arch enemies of the Yoruba.”

A number of people have condemned the move. On Wednesday, in Bariga, the Ilaje Community took to the streets to protes the renaming of Ilaje Street to Sunny Ade Street.

Prominent Lawyer, Femi Falana, described the action by Lagos, as “illegal and suggestive of ethnic chauvinism.”