Veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has reopened an old debate after declaring that Lagos is “no man’s land.” Comparing it to New York City, Charly Boy argued that the state, as Nigeria’s commercial capital, ought to be a shared place open to every citizen and not affixed to any specific ethnic affiliation.
His comments, however, earned immediate criticism, especially from Lere Olayinka, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media.
Olayinka rejected Charly Boy’s assertion in a scathing rejoinder published on X (formerly Twitter) and threw down the gauntlet:
“Ndi Lagos is no man’s land. When next the seat of the Oba of Lagos is vacant, after the current Oba lives long enough, go and contest for it.”
He also gave examples of influential traditional titles in Lagos, including the Osolo of Isolo, Oniru, Elegushi, and Oloto, and dared Charly Boy to take any of them if his belief in Lagos being a “no man’s land” was correct.
Olayinka finished his post with bitter sarcasm:
“Sebi all these Traditional Titles are in your language, not Yoruba.”
