Lagos Group Urges Senate to Reject Alleged Non-Indigenes on Ambassadorial List

|By Chinwendu Nwani

A Lagos socio-cultural organisation, De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, has pressed the Senate to reject the two ambassadorial nominees listed as Lagos representatives, asserting that both nominees lack legitimate Lagos indigene status.

In a letter addressed to the Senate President and released to journalists on Friday, the Foundation condemned the nominations as a fresh blow to constitutional equity and the federal character principle. The letter was signed by the group’s President, Miftau Bolaji Are, and Steering Committee member, Engr. (Dr.) Lateef A. Onikoyi.

The organisation insisted that Lagos remains the only state where federal appointments meant for indigenes are consistently handed to non-Lagosians, a pattern it labelled a “longstanding injustice.”

The Foundation alleged that one of the nominees, former commissioner Lola Akande, cannot validly represent Lagos due to her links to Delta and Kwara States, despite being listed under Lagos. It further claimed that the second nominee previously made derogatory remarks questioning the legitimacy of indigenous Lagosians, a comment the group described as “deeply offensive to the ancestral owners of Lagos.”

The organisation warned that approving nominees who neither originate from nor respect the communities they claim to represent would heighten historical tensions and erode constitutional fairness.

It stated that the issue transcends Lagos, arguing that it strikes at the heart of justice and national cohesion. The group therefore urged the Senate to decline the confirmation of any ambassadorial nominee presented as a Lagos representative who is not an authentic indigene.

“We ask for no special treatment, only the same fairness granted to other states,” the letter read.