Forgive Akiolu and move on, Buhari tells Igbo

The President-elect, Maj. Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has
urged the Ndigbo and other non-
indigenes in Lagos State to forgive
all that has been said against them
and move on for the sake of peace.
Buhari said this during a rally in
Lagos to address the comments
made by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan
Akiolu.
Akiolu has been under fire since
Monday when he reportedly
threatened the Ndigbo in Lagos to
either vote for the All Progressives
Congress governorship candidate,
Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, or perish in
the lagoon.
The Peoples Democratic Party on
Tuesday asked Lagos State
Governor Babatunde Fashola to
suspend Akiolu forthwith.
However, the President-elect
described Lagos as home for all,
adding that the time had come for
Nigerians to look past ethnicity in
the general interest of peace and
unity.
He said, “I admire what your
governor has done in terms of
mobilising revenue to sustain
Lagos development. I have a lot of
respect for Governor Fashola for his
hard work, commitment to the
state and the country. There is no
doubt that Lagos is a mini-Nigeria.
We are all here and it has been
mentioned by previous speakers
that everybody (tribe) is
adequately represented in Lagos.
“So, I assure you. If you vote for the
continuity of APC in Lagos, you
stand to gain more. It is in your
interest that you vote for the APC.
“Please when you go home tell
your neighbours, relatives and
even the opposition to please bury
the hatchet. Let them fall in line
and vote the APC.
“When we were coming in our bus,
Fashola told me how Lagos State
had been spending to maintain the
federal infrastructure here such as
buildings, roads and other
institutions. I had promised before
that if I won the election and
became the President, I would
make Lagos my priority. Governor
Fashola is already holding to me to
that promise so I would like the
incoming governor to listen
carefully and make sure he makes
me honour my undertaking.”
The National Chairman of the APC,
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said
Lagos was responsible for building
the opposition and ensuring that it
finally took control of the centre.
He said it would be a great injustice
for Lagos to become an opposition
state after working so hard to build
a bright future.
Akinolu can’t speak for APC –
Tinubu
Also speaking, a former Governor of
Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, said
Akiolu was not a member of the APC
and could not speak on behalf of
the party.
Tinubu, who noted that he was the
first Yoruba governor to ever
appoint an Igbo commissioner, said
the Peoples Democratic Party,
having failed to win last week’s
presidential elections, had been
desperately trying to pull the APC
into the Akiolu controversy.
He said the coordinator of the
Transformation Ambassadors of
Nigeria, Ifeanyi Ubah, and the PDP
leader, Bode George, were only
making baseless accusations
against the APC.
Tinubu said, “The Oba is not a
politician. His job is to
accommodate all political parties
whether PDP, APC or SDP. So, what
did he (Ubah) go and do at the
palace? Is the Oba a politician?
“To you Igbo, don’t we pay your
children’s school fees like others?
Or is it the palace that pays for it?
When we conducted an exam and a
spelling competition, an Igbo boy,
Ebuka, from Anambra, came first and
he became the governor for one
day.
“Those that won the competition
three times in a row were Igbo.
Ebuka was sent to Switzerland
computer school and then Obafemi
Awolowo University. We did not say
he was an Igbo boy and he would
not enjoy. He became an executive
in Oando and he is now in Canada.
“Another boy, Felix, won and went
to Switzerland and OAU. We paid his
scholarship; we did not deny him
because he is Igbo.”
‘Suspend him now’
But the PDP said the Lagos monarch
should be on suspension till after
Saturday’s governorship and state
House of Assembly elections in
order to guarantee free, fair and
credible elections in the state.
In a statement issued on Tuesday
by Lagos PDP Publicity Secretary,
Mr. Taofik Gani, the party said it had
also alerted the security agencies
to hold the monarch responsible
for any attack on non-indigenes or
PDP members in Lagos.
The statement read in part, “The
governor is thus a conspirator in
this threat to life and must also be
held accountable for any violence
in these elections. We have at this
point been vindicated about the
desperation of the APC to retain
Lagos State at all cost, including the
All Progressives Congress’ plan not
to concede the imminent defeat on
April 11.
“The positions of the PDP are
coming on the heels of the now
viral threat issued by the Oba of
Lagos to Ndigbo that they must
vote for the APC governorship
candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, or
be drowned in Lagos water.”
Despite the alleged threat to their
lives, PDP urged Lagos non-
indigenes and others to be part of
Saturday’s voting exercise.
Monarch spoke out of anger –
APC
Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary
of the APC in Lagos State, Joe
Igbokwe, said in a separate
statement on Tuesday that the
monarch spoke out of anger.
Igbokwe urged his kinsmen not to
take out their anger on the APC
governorship candidate, Mr.
Akinwunmi Ambode, who knew
nothing about the incident.
The statement read, “Oba Rilwan
Akiolu of Lagos is not a card-
carrying member of APC. He is not a
leader in the APC. He does not
speak for the APC. He did not speak
for Governor Babatunde Fashola of
Lagos State.
“He did not speak for our national
leader, Bola Tinubu. He did not
speak for the incoming governor,
Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. His Royal
Highness is at liberty to speak for
him and he spoke for himself only.
“Lagos APC appeals to Ndigbo not
to take the statement as the
position of the party in Lagos. We
passionately appeal to Ndigbo not
to carry the statement credited to
Oba Akiolu too far so as not to put a
knife on things that have held us
together for more than 50 years
now. If out of annoyance you throw
your cap away, a mad man will take
it and use it forever.”

yes moving is the key, forward ever!!!

Nah so

Mr presido

Lol...

well we will decide on saturday.

Yes o

good good

JK is OK.

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Mtcheeeew.