Lagos State House of Assembly has called on State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to direct the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture to interact with the Attorney-General/Commissioner for Justice to look at the listed sites (Prevention) Law, 2015 with a view to removing all vestiges of slave trade and colonialism superiority.
This Motion was moved by the Deputy Majority Leader, Noheem Adams, representing Etti-Osa Constituency One at the plenary on Tuesday 30th June, 2020.
In the Motion, the lawmaker, who recalled the gruesome killing of George Floyd, also noted that the murder triggered worldwide condemnations, demonstration, and protest against the continues police violence and racism of blacks in US and Europe without provocation.
“The House is aware that these protests further drew attention to the reality of systematic racism, oppression and domination of blacks by whites in spite of abolition of vexatious slave trade and related activities since the 18th century.
“This House is further aware that the demonstration brought about the pulling down of status of Edward Colston notable slave trade into a river in Bristol, London, while the British authorities removed from her museum status of another prominent slave master and promised a review of history pertaining to slave trade monument and sites,” he said.
In his comment, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, who explained that the intention of the Motion was not about history, and that history could not be changed, also noted that statues were not our history, and that Africans should give backing to the blacks that are fighting for the rights of blacks.
He added that the kind of treatments meted to George Floyd must be stopped and that we should support those who protest against such an act.
The Speaker decried that “South Africa got independence much later after the rest African countries and they are not talking about black lives matter campaign.
“We must protect the interest of our people all over the world. So many statues in London and other places are being brought down. We should change the names of some of these buildings. We cannot bring down the buildings because they were once used by colonial masters.
“We can change the names of some of these buildings and streets. Some of the names remind us of these people that enslaved our people. What do the names say to your minds.
“We need to change the names, but it does not affect our history. We should look at the history,” he said.
The Speaker further asked why the discovery of River Niger was being ascribed to foreigners, adding that the name Nigeria was said to have been given by the colonial masters.
“Those who dehumanized Africans should not be celebrated. Our people who were used negatively by the colonial masters should apologise to our people,” he stressed.
Supporting the motion, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu representing Etti-Osa Constituency 02, said history that makes the black to feel superior should be changed.
Meanwhile, Hon Setonji David (Badagry 2) said, “I want to support the motion to some extent but we need to check ourselves especially the black man. We need to look at the way we treat ourselves. Do we really value ourselves? Why do we have to scratch the surface?”
He therefore stated that there was no need to remove the vestiges, “We should fight for a better government to value of people. Removal of vestiges does not address the main issue.”