by Tunde Leye

I cannot be nominated a minister from Lagos State. And to think of becoming the governor of Lagos State? I will be asked what exactly I am smoking. Yet I would meet all the constitutional requirements for all of these.

When the news filtered that Chuka Umunna was potentially the next leader of Labour, Nigerians were excited. Clearly, the name is an Igbo name. You would also forgive some who might have been confused into believing that Labour in this context meant the Labour Party of Nigeria. When it finally became clear that it was actually Labour in the United Kingdom that was Umunna was a prospective leader, the ululating of Nigerians knew no bounds. Many tagged him the British Obama since there are similarities between his story and that of Barrack Obama. Obama’s father was not American as Umunna’s father was not a UK citizen. Their mums were. Their fathers even died ten years apart from each other in their respective native countries in automobile accidents. Many began to draw these parallels and referred to him as potentially UK’s first black prime minister.

Nigerians love to celebrate their own succeeding like this in another man’s country. Whether a Nigerian becomes a top movie star, or the sheriff of a police department or mayor of a town, or gets a first class in a foreign school, we celebrate. Sometimes, we even take out full page advertorials for congratulatory messages in national newspapers to celebrate them. It doesn’t matter to us whether the individual identifies with the country or not or whether he or she has visited the country for one day or not. Once the name sounds Nigerian, we claim the person and celebrate them extensively, identifying with their success and congratulating ourselves for excelling abroad.

Nigerians can be forgiven for this. In the midst of reports of Nigerians being killed in foreign countries, arrested for drug, organ and human trafficking, corruption and the likes, it is understandable that every piece of good news remotely connected to Nigeria will be celebrated as validation of the truth that not all Nigerians are bad. But in all of this, there is a hypocrisy we refuse to confront.

These countries integrate our people well enough that where they have the talent and the drive, they rise to the top. Here in Nigeria, we are still fixated on concepts like who is an indigene of where, what a person’s tribe is and which is their state of origin. There is almost nothing you can do in this country, no form you can fill for anything significant where you will not be asked to indicate your state of origin. If it is at state level, you will be asked to input your Local Government of Origin. This is in spite of the fact that all of this contravenes the constitution of this federal republic. Very few places in Nigeria will allow a non-indigene lead. This has deprived many places access to the best quality brains available to them, something those foreign nations where we celebrate our own understand – they will harness your talents irrespective of where you are from, as long as you meet the criteria they set in their laws.

Take me for example. I was born in Lagos. All my schooling was in Lagos, all the way to the university. I have lived in Lagos all my life. In fact, the only time I have lived outside Lagos for more than two weeks (at least before I started working) was during and slightly after service year when I was posted to Yobe and I stayed on to lecture at the Federal Polytechnic Damaturu for a very little while after passing out. I have worked in Lagos since after NYSC and paid my taxes here. But both my parents are from Ekiti State, in towns a walking distance apart. This means that when I fill all those forms, I fill Ekiti State as my state of origin. Forget that I have been to Ekiti less than ten times all my life. Whilst I can understand the Ekiti dialect when spoken to, thanks to my parents, I cannot speak it properly. But since I am not an indigene of Lagos, I cannot become in Lagos what Kate Enolue became in Enfield, UK. I cannot represent Lagos in the National Assembly as Chuka Umunna is doing for Streatham in the UK. I cannot be nominated a minister from Lagos State. And to think of becoming the governor of Lagos State? I will be asked what exactly I am smoking. Yet I would meet all the constitutional requirements for all of these. Lagos is even one of the more accommodating places. When we move into many other states in the country, this problem takes on an even more virulent strain. Governors sack civil servants because they are non-indigenes. It doesn’t matter if these are the best hands for the jobs.

Many will tell us these are our realities in Nigeria and it has always been so. How wrong. According to Richard Sklar, the first mayor of Enugu was a Fulani cattle dealer who hailed from the old Sokoto province. He also served as the president of the Enugu Chapter of the political party most identified with Nnamdi Azikiwe, the NCNC. This was in 1956. Enugu was the most politically important town for the Igbos in that period. It became the capital of the Eastern Region four years later at independence, yet they could elect a Fulani man as its mayor. This was at a time when the United States was still a very segregated nation between the blacks and the whites. Fast forward fifty eight years later, and the realities have changed. The United States has advanced enough from that time to have a black man whose father was not an American citizen as the president. We have regressed to the level where those who are citizens of this country cannot be much politically outside the very recent invention that we call their states of origin. Many will argue that it is being pragmatic and realistic to covertly accept what our constitution does not enshrine. If in a few decades, other countries have changed their realities, we have no excuse beyond our own hypocrisy.

The other point I would like to make is Chuka Umunna’s age. He is 35 years old and has a good shot at being his party leader. In Nigeria, he would not even have a shot at being youth leader at that age, not to talk of being party leader. In Nigeria, age trumps competence in public life almost all the time.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.