The
All Progressives Congress, APC, has reacted to the offensive threat allegedly
issued by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, to Igbos living in Lagos, by
stressing that the monarch is not an APC member and cannot speak on behalf of
the party. This was disclosed by the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu, who was speaking at a rally in
Iganmu, Lagos on Tuesday, while reacting to the controversial comments of the
monarch, explained that he was the first Yoruba governor to ever appoint an
Igbo commissioner, alleging that the Peoples Democratic Party, having lost the
presidential elections were 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 ruling party in
Lagos.
According
to the former Lagos governor, “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?
“To you Igbos, 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,” Tinubu said.
Also
speaking on the purported Akiolu threat, the Lagos State APC Publicity
Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, said the monarch spoke out of anger and urged the Igbos
against taking out their anger on the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi
Ambode, who knew nothing about the incident.
Igbokwe, who disclosed this in a
statement, said, “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, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He did not speak for the incoming governor,
Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. His Royal Highness is at liberty to speak for himself 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.
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