By Emma Nnadozie
LAGOS—A Lagos-based lawyer and industrialist, Mr Chukwudi Atueyi, yesterday, gave vivid account of what transpired between Igbo leaders and Oba Akiolu of Lagos State which has resulted in controversy.

The lawyer who regretted the uproar that accompanied the meeting said the Oba’s statement was not directed at the whole Igbos in Lagos but jocularly to his Igbo friends that visited him.
According to him; “All the Eze Ndi Igbo honorary in Lagos went to pay HRM solidarity visit on Sunday and I was fortunate to be among those present at the said meeting. What the Oba said was fully and simply directed to only the Igbos present at the meeting who his majesty considers to be very close to him and should understand him well enough.
“You know when one talks to his very close friends and subjects, he tends to be very free with them, so he was being very free with those present at the meeting and wanted us to realize how serious and close he takes us and our votes, because he cannot imagine us giving him our words only to turn back and do the very opposite.
“He did not force us to the meeting, we were the ones that went to him on solidarity visit, so it would be very evil of us to only go and deceive him there. He only jokingly (at least as it appeared to me then) warned the people present at the meeting who he considers his own people. The said warning that we are supposed to be very conversant with since we have all the “Ëze Ndi Igbo” present there, as that was not the first time we visited him. We are all already aware of the Yoruba culture and understood perfectly what he meant. There was no specific place he referred to all the Igbos in Lagos.
“He was only addressing the Igbos with him present there whom he considers his own people and he simply observed his culture which we all quite understood and this explains why there was applause and laughter at the end of his speech. We were expected to, thereafter, talk to our people in civilized manner to convince them and canvass for their votes if we truly believe we are capable of doing so.
“The tradition of lagoon water threat was directed only to those present at the meeting as culture demands. Though he appeared serious but we all understood it as a joke, that was why we all applauded him and made fun of it there.
“So I suspect serious politics at play here. I wouldn’t know who recorded the speech and decided to play politics with it. It is most unfair to his majesty to be portrayed in this manner and I think I owe it as a duty to speak up before things get out of hand.’’

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/oba-akiolu-addressed-us-his-igbo-friends/

Cc lalasticlala

“The tradition of lagoon water threat was directed only to those present at the meeting as culture demands. Though he appeared serious but we all understood it as a joke, that was why we all applauded him and made fun of it there.

If it was jokingly as they want us to believe then the Oba should have not spoken it when the microphone and cameras where focusing on him because he could have said it in the comfort of the palace without the media men and he would be spared all this embrassment that this words have cause to the esteemed stool and traditional institution

Lies

I BEG MAKE UNA NO INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE BIKO

WHAT THE OBA SAID IS CLEAR


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXc1S6qO_Xg

Who even recognise all these money conscious traditional rulers abroad?
Useless people.

We only recognise and respect the Traditional Rulers that dwell on the red soil of the South East "where the sun sets"

KABIEEEEEEEEEEESI O mo sun mo ba mo ji na so ba mi o je ba ean bu oba aro ba fin lo oba pa saki.

i will never dis obey u my king for any person i repeat he who sale his people cheap can never buy them costly

He never meant i that way.....But he was absolutely wrong....

KABIEEEEESI O

chiedu7:
I BEG MAKE UNA NO INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE BIKO

WHAT THE OBA SAID IS CLEAR

the man didn't dispute that he did said it,.....but he said that the Oba was jokingly telling those that came to see him whom he called his friends that statement.

“He was only addressing the Igbos with him
present there whom he considers his own people
and he simply observed his culture which we all
quite understood and this explains why there was
applause and laughter at the end of his speech.
We were expected to, thereafter, talk to our
people in civilized manner to convince them and
canvass for their votes if we truly believe we are
capable of doing so.

the emboldened gives a credence to what the guy says about the Oba addressing his friends


but the Oba was wrong to have make it public knowing how sensitive things are in this election time couple with how PDP has being using religion and ethnicity to almost divide the nation...... PDP has capitalised on this statement and they are using it to fuel alot hate btw the ethnic groups involved.....

Copied from a comment from the nation newspaper......

We should avoid saying things we cannot defend. There is normally no limit to what we say to our friends jokingly. Lets us get real here. We all call our friends' children our children and even jokingly refer to our friend's wives, as ours, and of course the common retort is "you try to even wink at my woman... and see if you will last 24 hours".

Except there was already an intention, by some unscrupulous people among the visitors, having just watched the video again has just confirmed the assertion that the "threat" was directed at the friends of the Kabiyesi who were his visitors. Lagos-based Prof. Pat Utomi, has incidentally also confirmed that the Eleko of Eko, Oba Akiolu, has many times jokingly asked him to remove his Business School occupying "large portion of my land" and he has always responded jokingly too, that Kabiyesi should blame Asiwaju Tinubu who as governor, signed his C of O for the land on which the school is built.

Dear Igbo brothers and Sisters, most self-evident facts, speak for themselves. You cannot argue against the fact that the Yorubas in Lagos have been the most accommodating hosts you have in all of Nigeria. My Ijebu landlord, late Pa. Dawodu of Efunboye Street, Palmgrove, collected and banked the rent of his friend's house on Shyllon Street for four years during the civil war and up till a year after and handed over the house and full four-years rent proceeds with full interests and no deductions, to the surprised Igbo friend when he returned to Lagos after the civil war. The three-storey house is still standing today, in Palmgrove, Lagos. Meanwhile till date, very few Yorubas ever try to reside in the East, even though many Yorubas in Lagos have large number of uncles and aunties, as Baba Kano, Iya Kaduna and Aunty Yola, to confirm that thousands of Yorubas, have for hundreds of years been living peacefully in northern Nigeria and even as far as Ghana.

Our Igbo brothers and Sisters should take up this challenge and make their homestead too, more welcoming to visitors, as many other Nigerian peoples. Meanwhile, Yorubas in Lagos and across the Nigerian South West, will remain warm to all visitors, be they Igbo traders or their Chinese manufacturers. It is simply in the nature of the Yoruba to live and let others live.

Just the emboldened I just like to point to...............

Op dont be silly! Why will he call himself a bastard if its a joke? Our comedians have never called themselves that even when making jokes.