Eze, Dr., (Ambassador) Tony Greg Anosike, recognized the efforts of governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in his first tenure and the need to support him for another tenure to consolidate his numerous achievements and encouraged Ndigbo in his constituency in Lagos to vote for him as a peace-maker and lover of Ndigbo. Beyond this, he has always intervened whenever there’s a rift between Ndigbo and Yorubas within his jurisdiction and restores peace, a multi-award winner from various organizations because of his philanthropic gestures. He spoke with The Unique Model Magazine.
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Sir, you’re a known Eze in Lagos, leading Ndigbo in Onigbongo, Maryland area of the State. Available records indicate that your contributions toward helping Ndigbo in Onigbogbon in Lagos state, in terms of conflicts resolution and giving jobs to Ndigbo in your companies, tell us more about your background from your village and how you emerged as Eze Ndigbo of Onigbongbo, Maryland, Lagos?
My name is Eze (Ambassador) Tony Greg Anosike, I am from Anambra Sate, Awka South, precisely Emese, that is my town. One adage says in Igbo language, or in English interpretation, “charity begins at home”. So my background is from home, I came to Lagos, I never struggled for Ezeship, but I was compelled to be Eze Ndigbo and before I became Eze Ndigbo in Lagos state, I asked the Igbo Community to write a letter to His Royal Majesty of my Town, and they wrote a letter. The Igwe of my town confirmed that I am worthy to be Eze in Lagos and that they should give me the title. Then, when they came back and said that they had received reply from His Royal Majesty, Igwe Ara-Ilo of Nneise, then I asked them to write to Oba of Onigbongbo, they wrote a letter to Oba of Onigbongbo, Oba of Onigbongbo confirmed and told them that he wants me to be the Eze Ndigbo of Onigbongbo. Before, I accepted, I went to the Igbo community in Onigbongbo and I was crowned Eze Ndigbo of Onigbongbo in Maryland Local Council Development Area, LCDA.
Your acceptance by the community is an indication that you are worthy to serve Ndigbo in Onigbongbo, so far, have you been rendering services to Ndigbo in Onigbongbo, Mary Land L.C.D.A?
Yes, as an Eze Ndigbo, I am the head of Ndigbo in my locality, my duties are to maintain peace and order in my locality, and to protect the interests of Ndigbo in my locality, and to intervene whenever there’s a dispute or conflict between Ndigbo and the Yorubas or other tribe in my locality here. However, I have a lot of things I made Igbos to understand, that, firstly, I don’t encourage any Igboman to take his landlord to court or to Police station. If any take his or her Landlord to Police or Court, I will go there and withdraw the case and settle the matter. Go into dialogue; settle with him, if he does not want any Igboman he or she should pack out. God is taking the person to a higher level. Secondly, if there is any problem within my area, I first and foremost consult the Oba, we work together to settle it, not only Igbo and Yoruba, other ethnic nationalities within my area. So we live in peace, Maryland is a very peaceful place, we don’t have any problem, we live like brothers and sisters in our area.
Recently, you had a dialogue with Ndigbo in Maryland, most of whom traders and the representatives of the Oba in your area about the attack on Ndigbo in Onigbongbo, after the presidential election, and brokered peace between them. Do you have plans to extend this pro-active measure to other Eze Ndigbo in Lagos?
If you are an Eze or the head of any community, you are there to serve them; you are a servant to people, not to collect from people. As I am, I know what I spent to broker peace and ensure that my people are fully happy. Firstly, before the election, I met the Oba and discussed with him that, please I want peace to reign in our area, especially between Yorubas and Igbos, I don’t want any conflict, the Oba assured me that there would be no problem, but unfortunately after the election, some miscreants started causing problems, to which I drew the attention of the Oba. But at the end of the day, we held meeting together, and they apologized for what happened and promised that such a thing would not happen again. And we are living in peace again. The representative of the Oba, popularly called Area I, said that they are sorry for what happened that it will not happen again and after the governorship election, it did not happen.
What happened to the Igbos is like Xenophobia?
Have Ezes in Lagos met with the government on this issue because this issue has lingered over a period of time. Each time there is a general election, Igbos are targeted only?
Yes! Ndi Eze had organized a press conference in respect of that, during which we informed the state government through the press conference and told our people to be law-abiding, and they told our host communities to be law-abiding as well. We Igbos are peace-makers, and we are builders, we are not destroyers. We always like where there’s peace, we always like where there is progress, an average Igbo man has no time to go and destroy somebody’s property, he has no time to go and cause problems on the way, an average Igbo man concentrates on his own businesses, alright, we are still talking to them. Please be law abiding citizens. Secondly, most of the people you saw doing these things in Lagos, I am sorry to say, most of them are not exposed. They have not travelled out of Lagos. I have seen a lot of them, from their children and how they grow in Lagos. They did everything in Lagos, they stay in Lagos, they have not even gone up to Shagamu, but those that have traveled out will know very well that Igbos, are hospitable and receives strangers more than their own brothers.
From you assessment, do you encourage your people to re-elect governor Sanwo-Olu?
Firstly, Mr. Sanwo-Olu is the only governor in Lagos State that receives Igbo people very well. In Ohanaeze secretariat in Surulere, Mr. Sanwo-Olu supports the running of the secretariat. He welcomes Igbo people, he is a very peaceful man, and that is why I am encouraging Igbos to vote for him. Nobody is perfect, we are all human beings. Even Jesus Christ with all He did on earth, they still crucified him, and said He was not a good person. So we should not start counting his errors, wherever there is error we can cover it, and ensure we see the good part of that person, so I am advising them because Sanwo-Olu is a good man.