Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Musiliu Obanikoro has reacted to reported death threats
issued to Igbos by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akinolu if they refuse to vote for
APC Candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode.
Here are
the details
Minister
of State for Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has condemned in very
strong terms, the death threat reportedly issued by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan
Akiolu on the Igbos living in Lagos, saying such habitual intolerance is not a
character trait of the quintessential Lagos people.
A
bewildered Obanikoro, while appealing to the Igbos not to generalise an average
Lagosian with Akiolu’s deliberate intolerance for obvious political reasons,
contended that the monarch has shown unambiguous biases despite his place as a
custodian of the Lagos traditional institution.
Particularly
worrisome, Obanikoro noted was the fact that “such premeditated and needless
hostility could pit the non-indigenes against the Lagos indigenes”, a situation
he claimed has never been so in the state but “designed for a failed political
reason.”
While
appealing to the Igbos to ignore such threat that tampers with their right to
choice as Nigerians and stakeholders in the state’s body polity, Obanikoro said
what happened at the Oba’s palace was an eye-opener for the Igbos to make an
ideal choice on Saturday during the governorship poll.
“These
people have not only become arrogant with power, they are gradually becoming
despots. This is who they are. If an individual lays claim to not only
handpicking a governorship candidate but alluded to also owning Lagos as it
were, the Igbos should know what such a statement portends for them as a people
sinisterly regarded as strangers.
“This was
the same manner some Igbos were packed like spare parts and dumped somewhere in
Anambra State about a year ago by the APC government regardless of where each
person came from. They constantly shutdown their stalls at the slightest provocation
in the state; they levy heavy taxes on them and subject them to all manners of
molestation because they think they own Lagos. And now, they are threatening
them with death and attempting to undermine their right to choice,” he said.
The
minister who called on every patriotic Nigerian to condemn the statement noted
that similar threats were issued by the APC-led government to civil servants in
Alausa through the Head of Service in the presence of one of his predecessors,
Hon Yakubu Balogun, representing Lagos Island II in the House of
Representatives, but noted that, “All these intimidations and harassments will
fail.
“But only
the Igbos and well meaning Lagosians (indigenes and non-indigenes) can put an
end to this undeserved and ugly treatment from a government in their own
country when they are not second class citizens. An opportunity therefore
avails itself this Saturday at the governorship poll. By simply voting right,
the Igbos can bid the APC nightmare a final goodbye and a new lease of life will
be theirs.
“I appeal to them to see this as a serious challenge to their existence and
survival and be ready to fight for what the constitution guarantees them –
their right to choice. No one, no matter how highly placed can deprive them of
this right but themselves. It is apparent that CHANGE is due and imminent in
Lagos and the Igbos can choose to be part of history this Saturday.”
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