BEVERLY HILLS, May 11, (THEWILL) – Ọmọ Eko Pataki, an association of Lagos indigenes, has called on Lagos State’s Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to ensure that the vacant position of Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU) went to an indigene.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Trustee of the Ọmọ Eko Pataki, General Tajudeen Olanrewaju rtd, Ọmọ Eko Pataki said: “We at Ọmọ Eko Pataki are once again asking Governor Sanwo-Olu for the umpteenth time to do what is right and what is just by appointing a qualified Lagosian as LASU VC. This is the normative pattern all over the nation. Nothing else will do. We remain stout and firm in this crucial and historic crusade to protect our native earth.
“It is rather disingenuous and sad the recourse to a brazen, untidy subterfuge and the deliberate attempt by Governor Sanwo-Olu and other wielders of power in Lagos State who are bent on short-changing Lagosian natives by attempting a crude imposition of a non-native as LASU Vice Chancellor.
“We at Ọmọ Eko Pataki will continue to defend the Lagosian culture and our collective heritage. We will resist with all legal tools the stark, duplicitous manoeuvre to impose another non-native in a very crucial institution like LASU.
“This is indeed wrong, untoward and unacceptable. It is a blatant aberration. It will not hold. It is as if the temporary wielders of power in Lagos state are bent on a scorched earth policy. If not, why are they indifferent to the sensitivities of the natives?”
Ọmọ Eko Pataki said it was an abnormal situation where the Governor, the Deputy Governor, the Speaker and other key office holders were non-natives, saying: “Why should anyone in thoughtful contemplative bearing insist on foisting upon us yet another non-Lagosian? This is rank absurdity.
“Three well-qualified Lagosians have been shortlisted. Sanwoolu should do the needful by picking one. There is no need for this Russian roulette. This rigmarole is offensive, wrong-footed and inappropriate.”
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
