Veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has thrown his weight behind the belief that Lagos State belongs to no single tribe, describing the city as a cultural melting pot akin to New York City in the United States.
The outspoken figure, known for his bold activism and the Our Mumu Don Do movement, made the remarks during a recent interview on News Central TV. Charly Boy argued that Lagos, which once served as Nigeria’s capital, has always been shaped by the diversity of the people who live and thrive within it.
“This is our first capital, so it has people from different ethnic groups who make Lagos really bubble,” he said. “If you are looking at it from that perspective, yes it feels like America, the melting pot of lots of immigrant people… Lagos is like New York of Nigeria.”
His comments come on the heels of a recent controversy surrounding the renaming of a popular bus stop formerly known as Charly Boy Bus Stop in Bariga. The Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA) recently renamed it to ‘Baddo Bus Stop’, in honor of rapper Olamide Adedeji, also known as Olamide Baddo.
Charly Boy, also fondly referred to as Area Fada, had earlier criticized the renaming, calling it an act of “legacy erasure” and attributing the move to tribal sentiments and political insecurity.
During the TV interview, he extended that criticism to the broader politics of the state, accusing the Lagos government of tribal bias and “being jittery” in the face of inclusive dialogue and cultural diversity.
“From that perspective, in terms of people coming together, it is really a no man’s land,” he added.
