C# How to convert an object with IList to IList<object>?

Question

I have an object which implements IList interface, I want to cast it to IList<object> or List<object>, I tried

IList<object> a=(IList<object>)b;
List<object> a=(IList<object>)b;
IList<object> a=(List<object>)b;
List<object> a=(List<object>)b;

These are not working. Please help, thanks. To clarify:

b is an object pass as parameter from outside. It implements IList interface. For example,

public class a
{
  string name;
  List<a> names;
}
public void func(object item)
{
  object dataLeaves = data.GetType().GetProperty("names").GetValue(dataInput, null);
  if (dataLeaves != null && dataLeaves.GetType().GetInterfaces().Any(t =>t.IsGenericType && t.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IList<>)))
  {
    List<object> a=(List<object>) dataLeaves; //Need to convert the dataLeaves to list or IList
  }
}

Answer 1

You can't convert the existing object to an IList<object> if it doesn't implement that interface, but you can build a new List<object> easily using LINQ:

List<object> = b.Cast<object>().ToList();

Answer 2

Found the answer:

IEnumerable<object> a = dataLeaves as IEnumerable<object>;