An estimated $4 billion is generated in Alaba market, annually, by Igbo traders Reno Omokiri, a public affairs analyst has said.
Omokiri made this known on Wednesday in response to suggestion that other Nigerians hate people from the south east.
Alaba, a big market in Lagos where assorted wares are sold is dominated by the traders.
The former aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, said on his Twitter handle that the fact that Igbo are allowed to do their business across the country prove wrong assertion that they are hated.
He urged the Igbo to play their politics right in order to win the trust of other Nigerians, adding that “evidence of love for Ndi’Igbo than any signs of hate” abound in other Nigerians.
The full text of Omokiri reads,
“Nigeria loves the Southeast. And that is the reason why people from that geological zone are the most dispersed people in Nigeria. That will not happen if Nigerians hate Igbos. But if you believe you are hated, you will misinterpret every little thing and create misunderstandings that make your belief a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“For instance, if a Federal or State Government says everybody must pay taxes, and it gets to your turn, that victim complex will make you see such a routine practice as hate. That is what happened with Mmesoma. A government agency fulfilling its lawful duty seemed like hatred, because some of our brethren expected hostility.
“How can you say Yorubas hate Igbos, and an Igbo man defeated a Yoruba strongman in Lagos? Alaba Market, in Lagos, generates $4 billion annually for Ndi’Igbo. Where else on Earth do Igbo people see that type of revenue? Not even in Onitsha, or Aba. Focus on the facts and not what Radio Biafra is telling you. Radio Biafra is not a news station. It is a propaganda vehicle.
“When Ojukwu married Bianca, it was a Yoruba Shina Peters he invited to perform at the wedding. Dim Ojukwu knew that Yoruba were not his enemies!
“If Ojukwu, who led Biafra in a war with Nigeria that resulted in 1-2 million deaths, can be pardoned by a Fulani President, Shehu Shagari, how can you say the Fulani hate Ndi’Igbo?
“Was it, not General Babangida, a Northerner, who returned all Ojukwu’s properties seized by a previous government to him?
“Play your cards right, and Nnamdi Kanu will be freed. Renounce violence, like the Irish Republican Army did, and convert IPOB into a political party, the way the IRA became Sinn Féin, and democratically seize control of the Southeast, then turn it into a paradise, and other Nigerians will even vote for IPOB party Senators, Governors, and President. Who no like better thing?
“There is more evidence of love for Ndi’Igbo than any signs of hatred. Yet, you are allowing people who are shooting, beating and molesting you, as they enforce a sit-at-home order, to convince you that other Nigerians, who buy from you, employ you, are employed by you, and rent properties to you, hate you.”
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