The Impunity Of Lagos Babaloja

FOLLOWING on the heels of the recent “deportation” saga, another, perhaps more dangerous, storm that could threaten inter-ethnic relations in Lagos is brewing. I call it the babaloja controversy. Babaloja, in Yoruba, literally means “father of the market” just as iyaloja means “mother of the market”.

I am made to understand that all over Yorubaland, it is usually the traditional ruler that controls markets in the cultural sense. The iyaloja and babaloja are agents of the oba, the traditional ruler. They are said to be spiritually grounded as members of local cults associated with the traditional institutions of the locality of which the oba is the head.

When Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, the mother of former Governor Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State, was alive, she was known as the Iyaloja General of Lagos.

She appointed one Alhaji Abibu Oki as the babaloja of Ladipo Motor Spare-parts Market, a bustling trading zone heavily dominated both in numbers and quantum of investment by Igbo merchants. When she died recently, Bola Tinubu, who is now the primary political principal in South Western Nigeria, appointed his sister, Mrs Folorunsho Tinubu-Ojo, as the new Iyaloja General.

Igbo traders in Ladipo Motor Spare-parts Market kicked against the imposition of Oki as the leader of a market in which Yoruba traders and artisans form the obvious minority. They insisted that the leadership of the market must be determined by democratic elections, and whoever wins should preside over its affairs for a determinate term of office.

The Chairman of the Mushin Local Government Area, Mr Olatunde Babatunde Olapitan, in reacting to the rejection of Oki by the Igbo traders, urged them to “admit the culture of Yorubaland”, as the babaloja is the person on ground to liaise between the traders and the local government under whose purview the market is placed by law. Apparently, the babaloja helps in the collection of government revenue and carrying out of certain directives in the markets.

We may have a big crisis in our hands unless this matter is handled with the care it deserves. Already (just as the deportation hoopla did) it is stoking great tension between Igbos and Yorubas both within and outside the market. We are faced with the typical challenge that crops up when a society begins to transit from a mono-cultural setting to a multicultural, modern one.

Here in Lagos, it manifests in many ways, thus leaving people struggling to figure out how to deal with it. For instance, should a city like Lagos rapidly transforming to a world class metropolis still tolerate the excesses of oro, a festival of the local people that demands that women and non-initiate men and non-indigenes must vacate the streets at dusk or risk just about anything, including loss of life? How do you achieve a 24-hour economy mega-city while at the same time, allowing the locals the right to preserve their prized cultures?

With regard to this babaloja/iyaloja issue, my own view is that it is best to allow the traders elect their own leaders. The leadership is there to protect their interests, including representing them adequately before government. I do not think the babaloja can suitably represent the interests of the traders before the government since, according to Olapitan, he is an agent of the government. We are in a democracy, and a democratically elected government has no right to impose a leader on the traders. Government has the power to make and implement lawful policies for the cleanliness, development and good governance of the markets.

The traders, irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds, have an obligation to comply with lawfully made policies and pay their taxes and rents to government and whomsoever it may concern. They also have a duty to recognise the cultural sensibilities of the locality and be willing to apply themselves to harmonious coexistence with the locals. For the hands to be clean, the right hand must wash the left hand, while the left hand washes the right hand, our elders say.

The leadership in Lagos must rethink this apparently growing tendency to make policies or take actions that divide or create tensions between the indigenes and other residents of Lagos. The new singsong of “Leave Lagos if you don’t like it” is a waste of time and effort because no one is going anywhere except they want to go. Every Nigerian citizen in Lagos is equal before the law, and the law enforcement agents are there to implement the law whenever it is breached, whether by an indigene or settler. The situation in Jos should be an object lesson that when hatred is sown between indigenes and settlers to a breaking point both sides will equally bleed.

We don’t want this in Lagos or any part of Nigeria. We can’t make progress this way.

My suggestions are as follows.

If the babaloja and iyaloja must be in all markets, let their cultural duties be spelt out. Let the traders still be able to elect their leaders. The traders’ union executives can still work together with these government agents to maximize the advantages of cooperation. The Lagos State Government should have regular meetings with the leadership of the Igbo, Hausa and other major non-indigene groups to explain some of their policies and resolve sticky issues before they result to ethnic friction.

The political leadership in Lagos should also bear in mind the potential political consequences of some of these new controversial measures that deny people’s citizenship rights, such as imposing this babaloja thing on people who do not understand what it is all about. Some of these policies can lead to a change of party in power in the state. The non-indigenes have enormous voting power and can launch it to protect themselves from what is rapidly becoming a hostile and oppressive regime.