₦airaland Forum

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.
Oba Akiolu of Lagos
By Ebun Sessou and Oghene Omonisa
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/

no it doesn't

lagosians voted for their choices not the lagoon threat

it would have only worked for the weak. In every group or kingdom,there must exist the weak and the strong at heart. The only thing that worked for ambode was that the presidential election was lost by PDP.

That made people to see reasons into aligning with the centre. The problem with you lot is that you think its only igbos that are supporters of agbaje. Just take note that based on my study,it was only about 20% igbo population that came out to vote.

But next time that kind of threat is used as a political strategy,you will open a thread discussing the oba at ICC.

MrKnowitall:
Yes, it worked perfectly. I think the whole thing was planned by APC knowing how Igbo people would react. Igbos strong reaction naturally made Yoruba people uncomfortable, therfore, turning the election about who owns Lagos. Moreover, Igbos grossly over estimated their voting power in Lagos. Furthermore, i believe that the total Igbo population in Eko is not up to %19 of total Lagos population. Agbaje never had a chance.

where did you do the census of igbo population in lagos,may be that's in a lagos located in mercury, how did you survive the heat?

Even APC as a party will not say igbos are 19% of lagos population. What you don't know is that majority of non-indigines were not concerned about who governs lagos.

No wonder you are mr know it all cos that's a consolation of you not knowing anything.

U guys are shameless, u propose for everyone to 4get this matter yet u people are back at it. I hv said and i ll contine to say the oba spoke the mind of 80 to 90% of the Yorubas.

That threat worked perfectly, and it was the grand plan of apc to scare away some igbos that claim to have valued their lives so much. Anyways the apc strategy worked, but i feel such threat as heavy as this can never happen again or else those that knows how to handle this kind basketed mouth will have no option than to arrest the offender.

Inconsequential. Many SWtner do not even have voters card.
The judgement which throws up Stella oduah ,Uba and orji is unsolicited and wanted in the SW.
We definitely do not want that " Na our brother" mentality to be the norm over here
That can be practiced in the SE.

It worked.... It looks like a tribal war.
The yoruba's thought JK is planning to sell them out. Since JK once said Ambode is from ondo state. But igbo's are lagosians