Lagos Is Part Of Yorubaland" - Says Alhaji Femi Okunnu

A former Federal Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, has said it is wrong to say Lagos is not part of Yorubaland.

He insisted that the state had always been a Yoruba state, noting that no amount of history could change the status.

Okunnu, according to a statement on Thursday, spoke at the 40th anniversary of Idungaran Club of Lagos, and was reacting to a statement credited to a monarch, who said Lagos was not part of the Yoruba race.



Delivering a lecture titled, ‘Let Lagos State Be,’ Okunnu argued that the common language spoken in Lagos had always been Yoruba, despite the large percentage of its people whose ancestral were Bini or Tapa.

“The same argument could be said for millions of Fulanis in Sokoto State/Adamawa, Gongola, Kano/Katsina who were no less Fulani in origin just because the common language of these Fulanis in those states is Hausa, and not Fulani,” he added.

Okunnu recalled that Lagos State was the first British Colony established in 1861 and was later joined with the protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the protectorate of Northern Nigeria.

He said, “In 1954 under the Littleton Constitution, Lagos city regained its independence from the West and became the Federal Territory until the creation of Lagos State in May 1967.”

The President of Idunganran Club of Lagos, Chief Ganiu Abayomi-Badmus promised that the club would, at all times, look after the welfare of its members and the community.