Olasupo Shasore, former attorney-general of Lagos state, says places of public significance should not be named after Frederick Lugard, first governor-general of Nigeria. <\/p>\n
Discussing culture, identity and history on Art for the People, a programme anchored by Molara Wood, Shasore said Lugard\u2019s place in history is not one to be celebrated.<\/p>\n
Lugard is behind the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 which led to the formation of the Nigerian nation.<\/p>\n
The Kogi state government house is named Lord Lugard House, but Shasore said while his name needs to preserved for historical purposes, he should not be given prominence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a despicable character. I\u2019m a Nigerian. I feel the pain of the consequences of many things he did. He was blood thirsty, over ambitious, a racist, segregationist,\u201d Shasore said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not even now placed in his proper position either in British or Nigerian history. I think that needs to change. We need to see him for who he really was. So, places like Kogi state house and Kaduna\u2026 we shouldn\u2019t be naming monuments after Lord Lugard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying take his name out of the streets because we need to have his name in our history but places of public significance and democratic relevance shouldn\u2019t be named after him. You can\u2019t have the state house called Lugard House. I think that\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to him, the statues should be in a museum, not a \u201cplace of reverence\u201d and minted with the money of Nigerians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing wrong with keeping records of history, effigies and statues but not in a celebratory way of people who ought not to be celebrated in history. His statue belongs in a museum where there would be a description of what he did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and author further said it is high time Nigerians stopped complaining about how the Nigerian country came about and focus on making things work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longer we bicker about the fact that we were forced together because nobody really wanted to be together, I mean, it doesn\u2019t go very far. We got to make it work and it\u2019s people that make it work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo bicker over how Nigeria came together is to display a lack of faith in the national project. It\u2019s to ignore the power of an idea for nation building and it\u2019s to not know the power of the people into making nations work.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething happened in our communal experience that made us diminish ourselves in world history and somebody convinced us that it was okay to just be some people who sold cocoa, timber and rubber. We need to be intentional about our history, we can\u2019t be accidental about it because it is the power of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Olasupo Shasore, former attorney-general of Lagos state, says places of public significance should not be named after Frederick Lugard, first governor-general of Nigeria. Discussing culture, identity and history on Art for the People, a programme anchored by Molara Wood, Shasore said Lugard\u2019s place in history is not one to be celebrated. Lugard is behind the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":126286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,15,2],"tags":[55268,16231],"yoast_head":"\n