By Ademola Adekusibe
TYT Editorial
September 17, 2025
A tweet and deliberate history distortion has been flying around on X in recent days, pushed by GST and amplified through the pity campaign of Uzo. TYT cannot fold its arms while falsehood is being dressed as fact and Yoruba culture is dragged in the mud. It is our duty to correct the lies, expose the propaganda, and set the record straight. Lagos is not xenophobic, Lagos is Yoruba. That is the truth.
Let’s set the record straight against vultures like GST and opportunists like Uzo. The propaganda will not stand. You cannot insult Yoruba heritage, exploit Yoruba culture, and then hide under the banner of “xenophobia” when Yoruba rise to defend what is theirs. Enough of this cowardly victim play. Yoruba will not bend. Yoruba will not beg. Lagos is Yoruba land, and Yoruba culture is not up for grabs.
From the beginning, Lagos was not an empty shell waiting for outsiders to claim. Long before British annexation in 1861, Lagos was a thriving Yoruba city-state under Oba Dosunmu, with traditions, rituals, and a monarchy rooted in Yoruba cosmology. The Awori laid its foundations, the Benin overlordship shaped its politics, but Yoruba identity remained the anchor. When colonial traders and freed slaves arrived, Yoruba accommodated them. When Igbo migration swelled in the 1970s, Yoruba tolerated it. This openness is being weaponized today by people who want to erase the Yoruba claim to the very city they built. No amount of propaganda can twist that history. Lagos is Yoruba. Lagos will remain Yoruba. A kii gba ile omo eni fun alejo. One does not hand over their child’s inheritance to a guest.
Now, on this nonsense about “owanbe vs owambe.” Yoruba are not sorry for defending their language. Words in Yoruba are not dead syllables, they carry drum beats, oríkì, ancestral chants. Òwànbę is not just “party,” it is the spirit of community, the joy of Yoruba resilience expressed through music, dance, and fashion. When Yoruba insist that outsiders spell or use it correctly, it is cultural guardianship, not “hate.” The French guard their language, the Japanese protect their traditions, the Arabs fight for Arabic purity. But when Yoruba do the same, suddenly it becomes “xenophobia”? That hypocrisy will not pass. If you cannot respect Yoruba culture, then leave it alone. Stop twisting it for clout, stop commodifying it for pity points, stop misrepresenting it while calling Yoruba corrections “oppression.” Owe l’esin oro, bi oro ba sonu owe la fi nwa a, proverbs are the horse of words, when words are lost we use proverbs to find them.
Lagos has always been cosmopolitan, yes, but cosmopolitanism does not mean surrender. Yoruba tolerance is not weakness. Yoruba patience is not an invitation to insult. Lagos is open, but Lagos is not leaderless. Yoruba kingship, from the Oba of Lagos to the line of Alafins and Oonis who influence its politics, is a reminder that Yoruba sovereignty runs deep. When outsiders eat from Yoruba land, they must remember that respect is the rent. You don’t enter a man’s house, feast at his table, and then spit on his walls. Yoruba will not accept that insult. Bi omode ba subu a wo iwaju, bi agbalagba ba subu a wo eyin, when a child falls he looks ahead, but when an elder falls he looks back to the wisdom of the past. Yoruba are elders in Lagos.
And let us stop pretending the Igbo problem is new. Since 1999, Igbo elites have chosen isolation over coalition. They mocked Yoruba during June 12 when Abiola’s blood was fresh. They laughed when Yoruba carried annulment on their necks, losing lives and livelihoods for democracy. Yet Yoruba still rose, built alliances, and delivered Obasanjo in 1999. They built again and produced Tinubu in 2023. That is politics, resilience, sacrifice, coalition. Meanwhile, Igbo elites shout “marginalization” online and expect pity to hand them Aso Rock. Sorry, Nigeria doesn’t work that way. Politics is not served like efo riro. You fight for it, you negotiate for it, you bleed for it. Yoruba paid their dues. Those who will not pay theirs should stop crying foul.
And when we speak of violence, let us call it out evenly. Were Yoruba not attacked in Port Harcourt? Were Northerners not slaughtered in the East? Did anyone scream “xenophobia” then? No. But the moment a market squabble happens in Lagos, the media circus begins. Why? Because Lagos is the prize. Lagos is the economic engine, the city of gold. To tarnish Lagos is to weaken Yoruba pride. GST and their propagandists know this, which is why they amplify every Lagos quarrel into “genocide.” It is a strategy, not the truth. Yoruba will no longer be silent while their name is dragged in the mud. Bi a ba fi owo otun ba omo wi, a fi owo osi fa mora, when a child is corrected with the right hand, he is drawn back with the left. Yoruba corrections are love, not hate.
Even Igbo voices betray the propaganda. Look at @Ada_042, saying that four of her creatives left Enugu for Lagos because Lagos pays three times more. If Lagos is so “xenophobic,” why does Igbo talent run to Lagos? Why do Igbo businessmen plant roots in Ladipo, Alaba, Balogun? Why does Lagos remain the dream for Igbo youth? The truth is clear. Yoruba generosity sustains them. Yoruba tolerance gives them space. Yoruba industry gives them wealth. But instead of gratitude, they spit insults and cry victim. It is the height of hypocrisy.
Victimhood is not a strategy. Propaganda is not respect. Yoruba are not fooled. Lagos is not the problem. Yoruba are not the problem. The problem is outsiders who want to reap where they did not sow, who want to twist Yoruba culture without Yoruba consent, who want to profit from Yoruba land while labeling Yoruba “xenophobic.” That era is over. Yoruba have carried Lagos from the era of kings to the oil boom, from the civil war influx to June 12, from annulment to democracy. Yoruba will carry Lagos into the future, but not with ungrateful passengers tearing at the roots.
Let it be heard loudly. Lagos is Yoruba. Yoruba culture will be respected. Yoruba language will be defended. Yoruba heritage will not be mocked. If you cannot respect Yoruba, leave Yoruba culture alone. If you cannot honor Yoruba land, leave Yoruba land. GST’s propaganda cannot change this. Uzo’s pity campaign cannot erase this. The vultures can cry, but Yoruba will roar. Lagos is Yoruba, yesterday, today, forever.
