IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has paid a courtesy visit to the Ooni of Ile-Ife HRM Enitan Ogunwusi.
This comes barely a week to the governorship election fixed for 11 March.
Taking to his Twitter page on Sunday, the young politician shared photos from the courtsey visit and said: “This week, I paid a courtesy visit to His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the custodian of Yoruba culture.
“My Yoruba heritage has given me the Omolúàbí sense of responsibility expected from leaders to always ensure our common diversity & history as Nigerians are exploited to promote peace, harmony and progress for all.
“Lagos has become heartbeat of commerce, industry, culture and entertainment in Nigeria and Africa, a welcoming shelter for all who call our state home.
“Under my leadership as Governor, it will continue to be the shining beacon on the hill for all who seek the best it has to offer.
“Èkó E dìde!! ~ GRV.”
The politician had also replied critics questioning his family pedigree in the State.
He said those doubting his Yoruba heritage should study the history of Lagos, saying his focus is on how to uplift the megacity.
GRV also said the ‘’Yoruba-Igbo tribal card’’ being employed by political opponents is a ploy to disunite and distract people from ending what he described as 24 years of arrested economic and political development.”
The LP governorship hopeful, who said this in a statement made available to Sunday Vanguard, described himself as the original Omo onile olona of Lagos.
His words: “I am a Lagos boy, an Omo Eko proper, no doubt. To those doubting my Yoruba pedigree, I advise you to read Lagos history if as a Lagosian you don’t know the Rhodes Vivour family pedigree and our stellar contributions to the development of Lagos – foremost legal luminaries and judges from the 1800s such as Steven Bankole Rhodes, to my uncle, the Supreme Court Judge, Bode Rhodes Vivour, and my father, Barrister Olawale Rhodes Vivour, a lawyer.
“The land upon which City Hall is built belongs to my family. My great parents’ estate owned the largest plantation in Lagos.
“I am an original Omo onile olona of Lagos, and with so many high flyers in this Yoruba family that I have to emulate and surpass.
“I hardly have time for the 1939 April Fool’s day joke that ignited the Yoruba versus Igbo rivalry and its current divisive effects.
“My focus is on how to uplift Lagos, my beloved state of birth and lineage by resolving the perennial Lagos traffic problem through building four new rail lines in four years, whose multiplier effects would create jobs throughout our economy, resolving the massive unemployment and underemployment that is the ‘Agbero’ culture, provide housing and social services, all of which you can read about in my manifesto.
“Therefore, the Yoruba-Igbo tribal card is a ploy by our political opponents to disunite and distract our people from ending 24 years of arrested economic and political development of Lagos by the cabal.
“Yes, my father is Yoruba and my mother is Igbo. In Yorubaland, a child is that of the father. Omo ÍkÍ ni mi.
“I am the true son of my father. Right from childhood, I noticed that there wasn’t much difference between Yoruba and Igbo as we share hundreds of the same words – Okuta/Okwute (stone), Imu/Imi (nose), Akuko/Okuko (chicken), Omo/Umu (child), Ifa/Afa and over a hundred other words even after thousands of years of dispersal.
“Economics and culture still tie us together, as well as the love between thousands of Yoruba-Igbo families, from the Rhodes Vivour, Funsho Williams, Agbaje and many other Lagos families, to across Yorubaland with the Adelekes, Alade etc.
“As I educated myself and became conscious, I learnt that not only Yoruba and Igbo, but all…”