Atiku’s Aide: An Igbo Governor in Lagos State is Possible

Demola Olarewaju,the special assistant on digital media strategy to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has sparked debate by asserting that a person of Igbo extraction could one day become the governor of Lagos State.

Olarewaju, whose principal ethnic group originates primarily in Nigeria’s Southeast, made the comments during a recent interview on the MIC ON PODCAST.

Olarewaju stated that it is “not impossible” for an Igbo man to govern Lagos because the state is “undergoing an evolution now.” He described Lagos as fundamentally commercial and enterprising, noting that these qualities define the state’s brand, even though it possesses indigenous people.

When asked directly if a non-indigene could govern Lagos, he replied, “I honestly don’t have a problem with a Chukwudi running Lagos state as long as certain things are also put in place to protect the interest of the indigenous people of Lagos state.”

He acknowledged that Lagos is historically Yoruba land and that the rights of the indigenous population must always be enshrined. However, he argued that the state’s transformation means “Lagos no longer belongs to Lagosians,” suggesting its commercial and cosmopolitan nature supersedes ethnic ownership.

Meanwhile, the assertion that Lagos transcends indigenous ownership has been refuted by the state’s official spokesperson. Gbenga Omotoso, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, recently pushed back against claims that Lagos is a “no-man’s land.”

Speaking at an event organized by the Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau (LASRAB), Omotoso stated that only anarchists make the claim that Lagos belongs to no specific group. He emphasized the need for Lagos to preserve and protect its heritage, suggesting that this “battle for the preservation of the state’s heritage can be won through technology and ideology.”