Borrussia:
Pa Ikechukwu Okonkwo, a septuagenarian, and
his family stayed back in their three-bedroom
apartment in Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos,
to monitor reports from his large screen television
while the April 11 gubernatorial election lasted.
Unlike the previous election, where the aged
grandpa had encouraged all his children to vote
for President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28
presidential election, this time, he handed down a
warning to all members of the family never to be
involved in the gubernatorial election in the state.
His reason was not farfetched.
The fear of the pronouncement of a first class
tradition ruler was the beginning of wisdom. Even
though some people believed the recent Oba
Akiolu’s tirade was only a mere joke, Pa Okonkwo
did not want to leave it to chance as according
to him, “When a king makes a pronouncement on
what bothers on his interest and even swears to
it, it is better to abstain than to take a risk.
“I will not take chances; traditional rulers are
powerful. They can do anything in the name of
culture and tradition.”
Okonkwo, without apology said: “What people
don’t know is that if he meant it, it may not
necessarily be dying in the lagoon. It could be a
philosophical statement which may manifest in
the form of ill-luck or inexplicable occurrence at a
later date on those who go against his wish,
especially when people said he swore by his
throne. I warned my children to stay at home and
watch how it will end.”
Pa Okonkwo may not be alone on this line of
thought; other Igbo residents in the state had
different ideas on how the Oba’s threat affected
their voting pattern or contributed to the turn-out
of the last election in the state. If the Igbo
actually came out for the election, did they vote
out of anger and emotion? Did it cause voter
apathy among Ndigbo or spur them to vote
against the Oba’s wish?
“Vote Akinwunmi Ambode or be drowned in the
lagoon within seven days! The Oba’s threat came
like a bolt out of the blue and it resonated
throughout Lagos and the length and breadth of
Nigeria and became the subject of discussion here
and there.
Political observers believe that the pattern of
voting in the presidential election, especially from
the South-East, could have given the monarch
much concern about how the Igbo in the state
could sway the votes for Agbaje and therefore he
handed down the threat.
Whether a mere joke or not, with the outrage that
greeted the development, political analysts
therefore expected protest votes from Igbo voters
against the APC candidate. And scared of this the
APC almost went on their knees to plead with
Ndigbo to disregard the Oba’s threat and
maintained that he spoke for himself and not the
APC. The fear of protest vote swinging the
pendulum for PDP’ Jimi Agbaje was palpable.
Would the Igbo vote in Agbaje? Alas, that was not
to be. Instead, not only that the Oba’s candidate
won, the margin showed that many Igbo might
not have voted.
And as a matter of fact, many stayed away from
the voting centres. There were those who really
felt threatened by the threat of the Oba and those
who lost interest after President Jonathan was
routed in the Presidential election.

Like Pa Okonkwo, many felt that the threat could
not be treated with kid gloves, thereby abstaining
from the process entirely.
Some of those who spoke to Saturday Vanguard
maintained that the royal outburst of ‘drowning
threat’ was just a media creation and a huge joke
after all. They said that much as it was
dismissed as a joke, it was inconsequential.
An Igbo domestic worker to one media executive,
when asked why he refused to cast his votes
said: “I wanted to vote for the PDP because I was
tired of APC in Lagos, but I was scared of the
Oba’s threat.” Even when reminded that as a
Christian he needed not to be afraid of such
threat, he maintained that it was safer not to
vote than to be weighing the efficacy or otherwise
of the Oba’s fetish dispositions. “Oga, we are all
Christians but in a matter like this it is better not
to give chances to anything,” said.
This was at Amuwo Odofin. “Many of my friends
decided same way, just stay away,” he added.
An Igbo transporter at Volks Bus Stop, Ojo, also
reacted: “I stayed away merely because I honestly
believed PDP would win, and that there would be
protests and violence. My family did not step out
of our ‘yard’ till late in the evening, when we saw
that the situation was calm.’ He however
confessed that he thought of the Oba’s threat
and the fear of drowning in the lagoon but not as
much as he thought about the possibility of
chaotic and inconclusive election.

Buttressing this point, a teacher, Kingsley in his
40s who resides in Oyingbo, Lagos, said, “The
Oba’s threat was a major factor why most Igbo
resident in the area refused to vote.’’ According to
him, “it was an all Yoruba affair; Igbo had nothing
at stake. I stayed back at home to monitor what
was going on. So, I don’t see how the Oba’s
threat would get at me or any of my family
members if I decided not to vote. I consider the
statement as careless but that did not affect my
decision. I just stayed away, merely because I had
nothing to lose,” he said.
A supermarket clerk at Amuwo-Odofin, who did
not want her name in print, said she did not vote
because her husband asked her not to vote. Even
when we asked why her husband prevented her
from exercising her civic duties, she retorted: “Are
you asking me to question my husband?’ She
however was indifferent on whether it was the
Oba’s threat that informed the decision of her
husband.

In another development, some other Igbo people
were part of the process as they went out to cast
their votes regardless of the threat. Anita Ihemba
who hails from Anambra State and resident in
Ajegunle, disclosed to Saturday Vanguard that she
voted according to the directives given by their
leaders at home. She stated that they were
warned not to succumb to the threat of the Oba
and not to vote APC in the state. “Since the
outburst of the Oba, we have been inundated with
messages from home that we should not vote for
APC and my family complied.
Mr. Reuben Okafor is an Igbo trader at Alaba
International Market, Ojo, and a resident of Ilufe,
Ojo, said he voted PDP in the presidential/
national assembly elections, but refused to vote in
the governorship/state assembly elections. His
reason was that votes did not count in the first
elections. “I don’t think the votes counted in the
presidential election. If the votes counted, I
believe Jonathan would have won in Lagos. So,
that was why I never bothered to vote in the
governorship election.”

He dismissed the Akiolu’s threat, saying it was
inconsequential. “No! The threat could not have
caused it. Which threat? How can you cause all
the Igbo in Lagos and say they would drown in
the lagoon in this modern age? It is not possible,”
he stated.
In his reaction, the Eze Ndigbo of Mushin, Eze
John, commented that Oba Akiolu’s threat
motivated them to come out and vote according
to their conscience. “Every Igbo man condemned
the threat totally. That is why every Igbo in my
area was motivated to come out and vote.’’ “For
me, I didn’t see the comment by the Oba of Lagos
as a threat, rather, we saw it as not responsible
and this actually motivated some people to vote
according to our conscience. For us, it was a
challenge for every Igbo in the state. Even those
who travelled came back to Lagos to vote. I also
rushed back to Lagos to vote regardless of the
Oba’s threat. So, it geared us to come out to
vote”.
John explained that the Oba Akiolu’s outburst
only strengthened their resolve to vote and
against the wish of the Oba in the gubernatorial
election, adding that the results of the
presidential election which did not go in the
favour of President Jonathan had initially whittled
down their interest.

“Before the Oba’s comment, immediately after the
presidential results were announced, the Igbo in
Lagos had decided not to vote in Lagos again
because we believed our votes would not count.
That had necessitated our initial refusal to vote,
but we decided again to come out and vote
according to our conscience after the Oba’s
threat. So, it only galvanised our sympathy for
Agbaje.
Meanwhile, Eunice Ugochukwu, a petty trader in
Egbeda said, “In my own ward, most of our
people did not come out to vote, not because of
the Oba’s threat but because of the results of the
presidential election” which according to her
dampened her interest. According to her, “What I
gathered from a lot of them was that they had
premonition that APC candidate would win and
so they did not bother to come out and vote.

“So, if there was voter apathy in the last election
in Lagos state, it would not have been as a result
of the Oba’s threat, but it could have been
because the Igbo were not happy the way the last
election went. In Lagos, we wanted a change in
government, unfortunately, the person we voted
for did not win,” she said. There could be other
reasons why some Lagos Igbo residents stayed
away from the polls last Saturday, but it will not
be out of place to suspect that the threat from
the Oba of Lagos could have played a major role.

www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/did-oba-akiolus-threat-work-for-ambode-yes-and-no/

newsomtin:
Are u oga seun??

LAGrejectIBO:
Its a simple truth....Ibo leaders in Lagos and back home had everyone of them believing, faithfully, that Ibo is a majority in Lagos. The Presidential election was along ethnic line, Yoruba and Hausa voted APC, Yoruba and Ibo voted PDP.

When the result.of Presidential election came out it revealed that Ibo is a minority and their vote is insignificant in winning election for anyone....national or state level.

Their 60% population in Lagos turned out to be 12% instead. The shock of that revelation and the loss of their messiah added to shut them up and shrink their loudness.

Then when the god of Lagos, Oba Akiolu gave them choice between Ambode and the Lagoon, they suddenly realized that contrary to Ohanaeze message, their ownership of Lagos is a false propaganda and so they stayed away from the polls in order not to anger Yorubas.

When it comes to politics Yoruba is fanatical...their own is worse than bokoharam. Bokoharam kill strangers for religion, in matters of politics Yoruba will slaughter his own brother. Ibos are warned to steer clear of Lagos politics and politics in SW generally.