Chief Solomon Aguene
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene, President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State, has congratulated governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on his victory at the election tribunal.
In an exclusive interview with OpenLife, Chief Aguene explained that every Igbo man sees governor Sanwo-Olu as his personal friend and he vows to continue to defend and support the governor at every available opportunity
In 2019, you led the Lagos Ohanaeze Ndigbo to support Governor Sanwo-Olu. In 2023, you also supported him. But he was challenged in the tribunal. Now, he has got victory. What do you have to say?
There is no doubt that Sanwo-Olu is the people’s choice and he won the election. That was the reason I celebrated his victory after two months of the election with over 2000 members of Ohanaeze in Calabar Hall, Ajao Road, Surulere, Lagos.
His performance speaks for him. He is a detribalized Nigeria. I can say that authoritatively because as the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos, I know how he takes other tribes as his own people.
So, he is well loved. He has been tested and confirmed.
Does this Sanwo-Olu’s victory strengthen your belief in the judiciary?
Yes. For example, governor Hope Uzodimmawas said to be number four man in Imo State during the election.
He went to court and won the case and there is nothing anyone can do except to go to the court and vacate the judgement. Anybody who has any other thing in mind without vacating the judgement is beating around the bush.
The same thing applied to Peter Obi and Ngige. When peter Obi emerged through court judgement in Anambra State, Ngige had to go home. When judgement is given, any other story after the judgement is irrelevant.
When Governor Hope Uzodimma got judgement, Emeka Ihedioha had to go home. There are many other cases like that which stand as court decisions. The court is above every other person.
For instance, the tribunal has given verdict that President Tinubu won the Presidential election. Who again can parade himself as president of Nigeria? So, Sanwo Olu’s victory in the tribunal is our victory.
You have also got a Lagos High Court judgment from 2022 to 2026 as the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State. But Sunday Ossai is parading himself as President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo . Does it mean that Ohanaeze Ndigbo bye law is above Nigeria constitution and judiciary? Is Sanwo-Olu and Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner of Police, Lagos aware that you have a court judgment?
This question is laughable. Yes, Sanwo-Olu is aware. But I am sure that his Attorney General is aware. If he is aware, nobody will challenge Lagos State judiciary once there is A High Court Judgement with a Certified True Copy, CTC.
It is an insult if anyone challenges it no matter the person’s our position in life. Governor Sanwo-Olu has invited me and the factional leader, Sunday Osaai for a meeting to discuss the matter.
But you know Sanwo Olu was interested in winning second tenure.
So, he tried as much as possible to manage the situation amicably.
But after the election which we all supported him, I know he still has the interest of Ndigbo at heart and he will put things in order.
I know he respects the rule of law and he respects judicial judgement and he knows that I have judgement as Ohanaeze Ndigbo President till 2026.
He knows that any story anybody tells him means nothing. The only way is for the person to go to the court and vacate the judgement. But like I earlier said, he needs to win his second tenure in office.
People came to me to say that Sanwo Olu does not like Ndigbo but he likes their disunity and internal fight , but I disagreed with them. I told them that Sanwo-Olu loves Ndigbo and that it was because of the election period that makes them to see things that way.
One of them is a Labour member, Chief John Uche. He made it clear to me that the governor does not like Ndigbo, if not he should have told his Attorney General to order the arrest of anyone who parades himself as Ohanaeze President.
This is because the kangaroo election was conducted in a hall five months after the judgement had been given by the court. They still went ahead to conduct election. Not even the election before the judgement.
I told those who said Sanwo-Olu does not like Ndigbo that their assessments are wrong. Sanwo-Olu loves Ndigbo. He knows the importance of court judgement.
If Sanwo-Olu does not believe in the power of court judgement, he could have not attended the tribunal to defend himself as the winner of 2023 governorship election.
His opponents took him to court . He went there and got victory. The same thing applied to me. My opponents took me to court and the court favoured me.
My sincere joy is that throughout the period till date, nobody has appealed against the judgement.
So, what are we talking about?
For instance, anyone that wants to challenge Tinubu’s election must go to a higher court to vacate the judgement no matter how the judgement was given, either by crook or by hook.
Well, governor Sanwo-Olu has gone to court now and he feels what I felt.
So, I now know that Sanwo Olu’s decision will not be compromised because election period has come and gone.
He is not a cunny human being. Everything has its own time in life. He is a man who believes in the rule of law.
I will continue to challenge those who say that Sanwo Olu does not like Ndigbo and that he was only interested in winning his second term tenure, a reason he allowed Sunday Ossai to be parading himself against Lagos State High Court judgement including those who said that my judgement given by a Yoruba woman judge cannot stand for Ndigbo.
I always stand to defend Sanwo Olu. The risk and sacrifice I take at all times to defend Sanwo Olu in Igbo communities in Lagos and south east since 2019 till date have earned me enemies.
It started from the day we agreed that we are going to support him in the house of His Excellency, High Chief Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, on Banana Island, Ikoyi, in 2019, who happen to be my brother and the grand patron of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos.
Ifeanyi is also the major financial of Ohanaeze Lagos activities since I took the mandate of leadership in Lagos in 2018.
The sacrifice I have made attracts a lot jealous, risk and abuse of all kinds to me. Ifeanyi also sponsors the best townhall meeting Ndigbo has ever held for any candidate at Onikan Event Centre including the major rally at the National Stadium for Sanwo-Olu in the same 2019.
The impressive attendance of Igbo community in Lagos has never happened in any political rally of any state including the south east.
That was the only time Igbo traditional rulers, Ndiezes, in Lagos, came together to speak with one voice and crown Sanwo-Olu with a chieftaincy title at the National Stadium.
All these which I single handedly organized attract lots of jealous and blackmail against me.
That marked the beginning of accusastions against my person. I was accused of taking hundreds of million Naira for supporting Sanwo-Olu since 2019.
But nothing like that. It is just a natural love I have for Sanwo Olu and to make Ndigbo living in Lagos have confidence that they are part of Lagosians but not as indigenes.
But you know, in politics, it is not how bitter kola sounds in the mouth that it sweets. Sometime, those who do not work make more profits than those who work. That is the result of blackmailing. But not to worry, I will continue to preach for Sanwo-Olu’s support. He knows that my own supports is not in doubt.
Sanwo Olu knows it. The judgement from court is final. As far as I am concerned, I am still the authentic president, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State.
No matter how it is analyzed to President Tinubu, he will tell you that the man with the judgment is the authentic President for Ohanaeze Ndigbo of his own Lagos State.
Those Presidential candidates, senate, governor and house of assembly candidates in 2023 elections, and even before, who went to court and lost, know how important court is.
Anyone who parades himself as a faction in those positions knows the weight of risk. Ignorance is not an excuse in the court of law.
If you are a good Christian or Muslim, you know that the judgement of court is final on the planet.
So, I congratulate Sanwo Olu once again.
He will stand on his feet in Lagos State and command everything that is going wrong to stop because he is a man of conscience. Congratulations, governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu. Congratulation, a tested and confirmed governor.
What is Ndigbo doing about Eze Ndigbo, Ngwe Fred Nwajagu , Igwe Ibilibeogada Of Isiagu Kingdom In Okwa South Local Government Area, Anambra state who is also the Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos who has been remanded in Ikoyi prison for a statement he made about bringing IPOB to Lagos?
Well, the power is in the hands of the governor. He is the highest authority in Lagos State.
Whatever decision and directives he gives, stands.
And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the governor to release Eze Ndigbo Ajao Estate on Tuesday, October 3 for the sake of Ndigbo.
I am asking for forgiveness because the man does not know what he is saying. Whatever he has said against the rule of law of Lagos State and Nigeria generally, he lacks the capacity to implement it.
He does not even have a single member of IPOB he is talking about. Based on my investigation, he does not even know where IPOB members hold their meetings.
Please sir, his arrest is rubbishing the culture and the tradition of Ndigbo. I wonder how a Yoruba man will feel if an Oba is languishing in prison for making a statement that he cannot convince a single person to join him.
And I also don’t know how an Hausa man will feel if an Emir is arrested and locked up in prison for making a statement that will not benefit them, rather the statement will destroy their lives and their properties.
So, Eze Ndigbo Ajao Estate is not an IPOB member and he does not have any of IPOB member as a friend or brother. I have visited him four times in Ikoyi prison and I see that he has learned a lesson.
This arrest is not only a lesson for him but it will change him for good because he would have realized that no one builds a sky scrapper or longest bridge in the world with ordinary mouth.
And no one wins a war by unveiling his strategies before going to the war. Please, Mr. Governor, kindly continue with your legacy of being a friend of Igbo community in Lagos.
If you do your investigation, you will discover that all the blackmail, abuse, threatening of life of all kind Eze Nwajagu unleashed on me, Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene, in Lagos, no other person has tried such. But I have forgiven him because I found that an empty vessel makes the loudest noise.
Today, I am the person that has visited him the most in the prison. I am also the highest donor to his feeding in the prison.
As a good Christian that you are, I know you can forgive him the way I have forgiven him because he has nothing to offer as we all know that lots of Nigerians are suffering from vocal diarrhea by saying what they don’t know and what they cannot do.
Eze Nwajagu of Ajao Estate is not a co ordinated Eze at all. He lacks the capacity of the statement he made.
I know him in Lagos since 1992 when he was a servant to John Nebe Olisa. I was the one arranging the visa of his boss to any part of Europe.
A leader is by birth and not by mouth. So, he has failed himself and Ndigbo in general. I, Solomon Ogbonna can beat my chest and say I am a leader. Leader is about sacrifice. It is not an enterprise.
If God touches your heart and you release him tomorrow, October 3, for Igbo people sir, I will see it as one of my highest achievements since I came to Lagos since 1981 till date. He is from Anambra State and I am from Ebonyi State.
As far as he is an Igbo man, he is my friend, our son, my brother and blood is thicker than water.
Please, my governor, I don’t want you to expect the richest Igbo man to come and ask for this favour or the most influential Igbo man.
If you do it for us with this little pleading, God will reward you when you don’t expect it.
I am sure that about 35 years ago, you did not know that you were going to be the governor of Lagos State.
That is God for you. He doesn’t under rate us because he is the only one who holds our secrets from birth.
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