“The Igbos must Ignore Akiolu, the Oba is not a politician”- APC Leaders

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Edwin Clark, and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, urged non-indigenes in Lagos State, especially the Igbo, to ignore the Oba of Lagos, HRM Rilwan Akiolu’s death threat within seven days if they did not vote for the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode.

While Tinubu assured the Igbo in Lagos that they need not be afraid and that they would never be discriminated against, he said those who visited the Oba should have come to the political leaders of the state and not the monarch.

Speaking at APC governorship campaign rally at Coker, Orile-Iganmu, Tinubu said: “PDP is full of liars. Their leader in Lagos, Bode George is a liar, the other person, an Igbo man, Ifeanyi Ubah, is also a liar. Ubah knows that we are the political leaders but the Obas are not, ignore whatever they say on politics.

“That was why he planned to visit the Oba of Lagos. We are the politicians, why didn’t he come to us? He held a meeting with some Igbo in the PDP in Sheraton and later went to the palace. He knows that we are the leaders politically, the Oba is not a politician, he welcomes whoever comes to him. We are the politicians don’t let anyone put you in trouble.”

Clark advises Akiolu to respect laws of the land.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, Chief Clark urged non-indigenes to “ignore the threat of Oba Akiolu and join other Lagosians to vote en-masse for Jimi Agbaje.”

Clark advised the monarch to respect the laws of the land because he is not above the law.

The former Federal Commissioner for Information, who alleged that Oba Akiolu preferred Ambode whom he claims hails from Ilaje in Ondo State, to Jimmy Agbaje, his brother who is a native of Lagos, said: “It is most disheartening to learn today that the Oba of Lagos is pouring acidic vitriol on non-Yoruba in Lagos, singling out the Igbo, for voting President Goodluck Jonathan, in last week’s election.

“It is doubly shameful, most unbecoming of the standard set by previous Obas of Lagos like Oba Oyekan that Oba Akiolu is reported to have threatened to throw all those who voted in Lagos State against the APC into the waters of Lagos. What would possess the occupier of such an important stool in Nigeria to commit himself in partisan politics to the extent of threatening life and safety, before the voting, and within a week of Mr. President’s display of statesman-like handling of political outcomes?”

Tinubu and Clark spoke as apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, condemned the Oba’s comments and urged the Igbo in Lagos to be courageous and vote candidates of their choice in Saturday’s election.

Other people and groups who spoke on the issue include the Lagos State APC, which apologised to Ndigbo over the Oba’s comment; APC Presidential candidate, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd); Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi.