Sowore kicks over renaming of Charly Boy Bus Stop in Lagos, calls it ethnic baiting

The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has criticised the renaming of Charly Boy Bus Stop in Nigeria.

In a post on his official X account, @YeleSowore said the action is ethnic-baiting and weaponising of culture.

He said: “I read a hubris written by one Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye, who claimed she is the Deputy Women’s Leader of the Indigenous Lagos Teachers Association, a group I had never heard of before, but let’s assume it does exist.

“She presents a diatribe laced with xenophobia, political cowardice, and ethnic-baiting; in it, she invented grievance and tried very hard to weaponize culture.

“What Mrs. Ebunola Adebusoye nee @jidesanwoolu did was use falsehoods, bitterness, and insecurity to trigger ethnic purity, whereas this is just a weak attempt to create political allegiance to the godfather of Lagos in Abuja, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT and his Lagos boys.

“This reminds me of the age-old propaganda scripts once used against the Afrobeat Maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the same argument they offered in hounding @AreaFada1 was also used against Fela, who was a bona fide Yoruba, they also claim he didn’t pay rent, that he was a bad influence on the youth, that he was harassing his neighbors, that he killed his electrician, and that he kidnapped a police officer’s daughter.

“That he prevented the railway from crossing, and next, they burnt down Kalakuta Republic and reassigned his property to the state.

“When Fela Kuti died, his Ikeja Shrine was reportedly converted to a church in the place now known as the “Computer Village,” it should have been” Fela’s Village.”

“They were so eager to erase his legacy, but it was a futile attempt, for Fela’s legacy has now become a global phenomenon. But they never learn. Ask yourself why the scripts haven’t changed.

“The attack on @AreaFada1 is still the typical strategy to criminalize creative dissent and try to silence those who challenge authoritarianism.

“The truth remains that Lagos is NOT a kingdom; it is a city of the people. The Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Hausa, Ibibio, Brazilian returnees, the Saros-Sierra Leoneans, and many others built Lagos City’s greatness.

“No tribe owns Lagos more than those who live in it and make it breathe.

“They make you feel like they care about the indigenes of Lagos, yet they are the first to dislodge them from their natural habitats with bulldozers when “non-indigenes” crave pricey landed property/ies.

“Mrs. Ebunola’s diatribe also wasted time on a baseless attack on my educational background, @SaharaReporters, and protests; these show exactly why Nigeria is stuck, because those who should be retired into silence are screaming the loudest with poison-laced tongues.”