According to a report by Signature TV, on Sunday March 8, 2026, a Prominent legal practitioner Barrister Emeka Emekesiri has stirred historical debate by claiming that the city of Aba in Abia State was once the premier economic hub of Nigeria, surpassing Lagos before systemic “frustration” forced an exodus of Igbo entrepreneurs to the South-West.
Speaking on the deep-seated roots of regional marginalization, Emekesiri argued that the commercial dominance of Lagos today is a direct result of Igbo ingenuity relocating from a stifled South-East.
Emekesiri painted a picture of a pre-war and early post-war era where Aba stood as the pinnacle of Nigerian urban development and commerce.
“Our people migrated to other regions. Aba was Aba before; it was the London of Nigeria. Aba. Aba was better than Lagos in those days that they had to frustrate Aba that people now had to relocate to Lagos,” Emekesiri stated.
A central point of the Barrister’s argument was the claim that many of Lagos’s most famous commercial landmarks were literally built from the ground up by these displaced Igbo traders.
He specifically cited the world-renowned Alaba International Market as a creation of the Igbo people.
“All these people that you say Alaba, Alaba means they built it. Igbo people built Alaba Market in Lagos. It was called Ala Aba,” he claimed explaining that the name was derived from the phrase “Ala Aba” (Aba Land), representing a desire to recreate the spirit of Aba in Lagos.
He further elaborated on the resilience of these traders:
“Go to Lagos, they recreate. If you give them a swampy area usually that’s where Lagos people will give them the Igbo people will sand-fill it and build it up”.See_More…