Igbo group seeks apology from Akiolu over alleged threat

A group, Ndigbo-Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo organizations in Lagos State, has condemned the recent alleged threat on Igbo by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu and called for an apology from the monarch for his action.

Akiolu had warned that if anyone, especially the Igbo, go against his preferred candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, such a persons would “perish in the lagoon”.

In a statement signed yesterday by President-General, Ndigbo Lagos, Prof Anya O. Anya and others, the group highlighted the grave implications of the monarch’s threat and the likely response it will elicit from Akiolu’s subjects, stressing that the stool of the Oba of Lagos is ancient and is regarded with reverence as such pronouncements are construed as divine-like and attract unquestioned loyalty.

It said: “It is on this premise that the current Oba’s threat should be treated with the highest level of concern. The Igbo nation recalls the painful experience of the pogrom of 1966 and 1967 (which started with similar incitements) in which over 30,000 Igbo men, women and children were massacred; the subsequent civil war, in which over two million lives of mostly innocent civilians from the then Eastern and Midwest Nigeria were lost, had their foundation from incitements.

Noting that the Igbo and the Yoruba have had a long history of peaceful co-existence and generally share common dreams of a positive future for Nigeria, the group said it does not feel that Akiolu’s threat was a true reflection of the mindset of Lagosians.

“As far as Ndigbo are concerned, we will continue, as we have always done, to be partners in progress with our fellow citizens and our brothers and sisters in Lagos, and we will continue to contribute our quota towards the peace and development of Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general,” it said.

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