In view of the public outburst that has greeted the ‘Indigeneship Bill’ proposed by the Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Honorable Mudashiru Obasa, renowned political analyst, Ayodele Adio has warned that the state will end up becoming a shadow of its glorious self if such a law is passed.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Saturday, Adio argued that a State like Lagos that prides itself on being a mega city cannot and should not infringe on the personal property rights and freedom of individuals who have come from outside to settle there.
According to him, such a law will have an adverse effect on the economy because foreigners and non-indigenes will not hesitate to leave the state when their personal rights are being infringed upon.
He said; “I was quite disappointed by the comments made by the Lagos Assembly Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa. Look, when you begin to dabble into areas of personal liberties and property rights, you begin to swim in territories that could have a lasting impact on the socio-economic well-being of Lagos State. Because the reason, asides from many others, that makes Lagos appear to be rich is that to a very large extent, it protects the liberties and property rights of persons across the world, which is the norm in every prosperous economy across the globe.
But the moment you being to play politics with such rights and liberties, what you are doing in essence, is transforming a state that is supposed to be a mega or smart city into a Yoruba caliphate. This makes absolutely no sense to me because this is what will begin yo happen once Obasa’s Bill goes through. We are talking about the largest economy in West Africa, and the 5th largest in the entire continent. So, I don’t expect that such tokenism should be played with an economy that is worth hundreds of billions of Dollars.”
