The attention of the Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers has been drawn to the shocking comments credited to the revered Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, regarding his expected voting pattern of the Igbos resident in Lagos, which comments has raised a lot of public interest within and outside the country.
These comment, in a nutshell, tends to threaten the Igbos and others resident in Lagos with dire consequences should they vote against his anointed and preferred gubernatorial candidate – Akinwunmi Ambode of the APC.
We wish to state as a body that we are alarmed at the unguarded and most unfortunate statements of the Oba. As Traditional Rulers, we must at all times adorn the toga of non-partisanship in line with the divine role we are privileged to play in the society.
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We must state that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees all Nigerians freedom to live anywhere in the country and to carry on lawful and legitimate businesses in any part of the country. Our said constitution equally guarantees all Nigerians freedom of association including that of holding public opinion on any issue which however includes political.
The Igbos who constitute a sizeable number of the population of Lagos State have made and are still making valuable contributions to the development of that State. The Igbos will not allow anybody no matter how highly placed in the society and under any guise whatsoever to cajole, intimidate or cow them into subverting their constitutional rights of freedom to choose where they live or do business in the country or what political opinions to hold.
Our council, in the light of the foregoing, condemns in very strong terms, the comments of the Oba of Lagos as contained in various media reports as same is obviously ill-advised and unacceptable in a country where we all share a common dream.
We are very confident that the Oba will not carry out his threat irrespective of who emerges as the Governor of Lagos State after April 11 elections because we know that he was not enthroned to supervise the total destruction of our dear Lagos. However, we urge the Igbos in Lagos and others to be vigilant and take the issues of the safety of their lives and that of their properties seriously in the days ahead.
HRM Eze Eberechi N. Dick, JP
Chairman,
Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers
HRM Eze Dr. D.A. Chionye,
1st Deputy Chairman,
Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers
HRM Eze S.A. Okorie,
2nd Deputy Chairman,
Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers
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