We regret not acquiring property in Anambra – Yoruba community laments

BY Ogechi Chukwu
a year ago

Alhaji Ademola Okeleye, the president general of the Yoruba community in Anambra State, has bemoaned the deliberate decision of his people not to purchase land in the state despite the Igbo’s willingness to give them land.

The problem Yoruba people have is their belief that they will not stay in the state for a long time, which is why many of them do not acquire landed property like Igbo people do in other parts of the country, according to Okeleye, a chartered accountant who has run an audit firm in Anambra State for the past 20 years.

However, he claimed that it is still possible since his people have recognized the need of investing in the nation.

He asserts that the stereotype that Igbo people are unfriendly to outsiders is untrue, pointing out that Yoruba voters backed and cast ballots for the candidates of their choice in the most recent general election without facing any harassment.

He claimed that many who in some regions of the nation viewed the election as a life-or-death struggle had forgotten that politics is a game played by politicians and questioned why regular citizens would allow themselves to be used to sow discord in the nation.

He said: “There are over 500,000 Yoruba people living in Anambra State and nobody harasses them for any reason. The problem many Yoruba people have is that when they come into the state, they think they will not stay long, but many of them have ended up marrying Igbo women and settling down permanently.

“And unlike the impression in some quarters that most Yoruba people in the state are artisans and tailors, the truth is that many of them teach in the universities and polytechnics and own businesses across the major cities in the state.

“Many Yoruba people were born in Anambra and they speak Igbo fluently. It is therefore not true that Igbo people are not accommodating”.

He urged other ethnic groups to imitate the former director of protocol to former Governor Willie Obiano, Chief Uzuegbunam Okagbue, for his ability to make Yoruba people feel at home whenever a need arose.