The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), the youth wing of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation of
Ndigbo, has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Oba of
Lagos, Alhaji Rilwan Akiolu, to “retract and unconditionally
apologise to Ndigbo” over his alleged death threat to
Ndigbo living in Lagos should they fail to vote for the All
Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate,
Akinwumi Ambode, on April 11.
Apart from positing that democracy confers on the
electorate, the freedom of choice, OYC said it considered
the comments credited to Akiolu as “a despicable insult on
the Igbo nation, home and abroad, least expected of a royal
father in the rank of Oba of Lagos.”
The group called on security agencies to invite the Oba for
questioning because of the grave dangers his current
posture portends while lambasted the monarch for
employing crude arm-twisting, obtaining by tricks tactics.
The monarch had reportedly threatened to make life
unbearable for the Igbos in Lagos if they sabotage efforts
being made to ensure that Ambode emerges as the next
governor of the state.
Akiolu was said to have summoned all the Eze-Ndigbo in
Lagos State to his palace yesterday and told them: “On
Saturday, if anyone of you goes against Ambode, who I
picked, that is your end. If it does not happen within seven
days, just know that I am a bastard and it is not my father
who gave birth to me.
“By the grace of God, I am the owner of Lagos for the time
being. On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of
God, goes against my wish that Ambode will be the next
governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside
this water.
“For the Igbo and others in Lagos, they should go where the
Oba of Lagos heads to. When they were coming to the
state, they did not come with all their houses. But now,
they have properties in the state. So they must do my
bidding. And that is the bidding of the ancestors of Lagos
and God.
“I am not ready to beg you. Nobody knew how I picked
Ambode. Jimi is my blood relation and I told him that he
could never be governor in Lagos for now. I am not begging
anybody, but what you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or
anywhere you cannot do it here.”
Reacting to the monarch’s outburst, OYC, in a statement
issued this afternoon in Umuahia and endorsed by its
National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, warned that
“Igbo youths will not take this insult lightly, and unless he
apologises within 48 hours he should know he is courting
our wrath.”
OYC further warned that should anything happen to Ndigbo
or their business interests in Lagos in the event of APC
losing the Lagos governorship race, the Oba should be held
responsible.
“Inasmuch as we do not want to get involved in Lagos
politics, we want to sound a note of warning that no Igbo
should be vilified or persecuted for his or her electoral
choice in Lagos or any part of Nigeria,” the group said.
“Every Nigerian has the constitutional right to reside in any
part of the country and participate in the electoral process
based on one’s convictions, and electoral choice is not a
crime,” it added.
Isiguzoro said “nobody no matter what he thinks he is, has
the right to command Ndigbo anywhere on who to vote for
in a democratic setting.”
He said that the unprintable comments credited to the Oba
had only revealed his innate hatred for Ndigbo.
The Oba, according to him, “should be reminded that the
economy of Lagos will collapse should Ndigbo decide to
pull their investments from the commercial city.”
He said that “Ndigbo have remained the most persecuted ,
hated and marginalised tribe in Nigeria , yet the most
enterprising and highest contributors to the growth of its
economy, peace and unity.”
OYC asserted that the Igbo race needs commendation and
not hatred for their ingenuity, versatility and presence in
every part of the country, adding that God has destined
Ndigbo to prosper in any part of the world, even in hostile
environments.
The group, therefore, encouraged Ndigbo in Lagos and
elsewhere to vote according to their conscience in the
forthcoming polls without fear of intimidation.
Source: NATIONALPARROT
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