FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

"And because of Ambode, I went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia and I gave all the groups there $250, 000 to pray for Ambode. So how can I say something and some people will go against it?"

"For the Igbos and others in Lagos, they should go where the Oba of Lagos head to. When they were coming to the state, they didn't come with all their houses. But now they have properties in the state. So they must do my bidding. And that is the bidding of the ancestors of Lagos and God."

Rilwanu Akiolu (Oba of Lagos)

 

It gets worse.

What does this man do for a living to afford to give $250,000 to all the groups in Saudi Arabia to pray Ambode, his candidate for the office of Governor of Lagos State? Whose money was he giving away? He must expect a refund of principal, and interest too- Lagos taxpayers’ money from Ambode if he is elected governor. That alone is reason enough for Ambode not to be elected by Lagos State voters.

Mr. Akiolu probably believes that all non-indigene property owners in Lagos are property lottery winners. He has neither recognition nor appreciation for their hard work, ingenuity,  and risk taking.

He has no respect for Nigeria’s laws which allow freedom of movement and enterprise for all citizens, in all parts of Nigeria.

He must be held personally responsible for the death of anyone who votes PDP and “perishes in the water” after. He swore by his late father. The man must be worse than horrible.

I am told that he was a retired senior police officer. One can only imagine how much miscarriage of justice he must have been responsible and has not been held accountable for, as a police officer.

Mr. Akiolu is a great disappointment  and a threat to communal peace. He must be one of the worst of entitled Nigerians. He conduct is one of the more unacceptable faces of privilege in Nigeria.

He must be one of the more dangerous and vicious men in Nigeria with authority. He has a lot of explaining to do. Nigerians and especially the residents of Lagos must demand it of him. He must as a first step, apologize for his wanton rant, and disgraceful display of indiscipline and hatred of those who may not agree with him.

Mr. Akiolu is unfortunate evidence that there is still a lot of work to do in Nigeria.

 

oa

Premium Times (Abuja)

6 April 2015

Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments

By Ben Ezeamalu

The Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, is reluctant to clear the air on the anti-Igbo statements attributed to him on Sunday, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

During a courtesy visit by Eze Ndigbos (Igbo traditional rulers) in all the local governments in Lagos at the Oba's palace, Mr. Akiolu reportedly said that the Igbos resident in Lagos should cast their votes for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Akinwunmi Ambode, or perish inside the lagoon.

PREMIUM TIMES' reporters were not at the event where Mr. Akiolu spoke. But repeated efforts by this newspaper to reach the Lagos monarch on Monday for his reaction were unsuccessful.

When this newspaper called the Oba on his mobile telephone on Monday morning, his aide, who answered the call, said Mr. Akiolu was in a meeting and could not immediately respond to the matter.

Our reporter stressed the urgency of our enquiry and requested the aide to help pass our message to the monarch without delay.

He promised to do that after explaining that he (aide) was not competent to confirm or deny what the Oba said at the event.

But over two hours after our call, the Oba's palace is yet to revert to us. Subsequent phone calls to the monarch's telephone lines were unanswered.

However, four people, including a journalist, who were at the meeting at the Iga Idunganran palace on Lagos Island confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Akiolu indeed made the statements attributed to him.

One of those who was at the meeting said that after Mr. Akiolu ended his diatribe to the Igbo leaders, he walked out on them.

"When he came down the stairs to meet with us, he was already vibrating with anger," said a source who preferred not to be named.

Gordian Ojiako, Eze Ndi-Igbo in Amuwo-Oriade, confirmed the incident adding that Mr. Akiolu said worse things to them before storming out of the room.

"It will be wrong to challenge him inside his palace," Mr. Ojiako told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, adding that he was not yet ready to speak to journalists on the matter.

"We will go back and convene a meeting of Igbo stakeholders and respond to him appropriately."

Mr. Akiolu had reportedly dared the Igbo chiefs to go against his wish in the forthcoming governorship election and face his wrath.

"On Saturday, if anyone of you goes against Ambode who I picked, that is your end. If it doesn't happen within seven days, just know that I am a bastard and it is not my father who gave birth to me," major national newspapers quoted the monarch as saying.

"Jonathan is my son and I speak to him everyday. By the grace of God, I am the owner of Lagos for the time being. This is an undivided chair. The palace belongs to the dead and those coming in the future.

"On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God, goes against my wish that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water.

Mr. Ambode of the APC and Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are the two major contenders in the governorship election holding on April 11 across the country.

Last year, Mr. Akiolu had endorsed the candidature of Mr. Ambode, urging Lagosians to cast their votes for him.

But there are indications that the Igbos resident in Lagos will, like they did in the presidential election, vote massively for the PDP.

In the presidential election, the APC defeated the PDP by 160,000 votes, with a huge chunk of the latter's votes coming from Igbo dominated areas.

The PDP also won three House of Representatives' ticket in Lagos - all of them in areas where the Igbos have a majority population.

Mr. Akiolu reportedly said he would not beg the Igbos in Lagos to cast their votes for the APC candidate.

"I'm not ready to beg you. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi (Agbaje) is my blood relation and I told him that he cannot be governor in Lagos for now," he said.

"The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody, but what you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere, don't do it here. If you do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosperous for you. If you go against my wish, you will perish in the water."

The monarch noted that Mr. Ambode would continue the progress and development of the state.

"I am for the progress, growth and development of Lagos. Ambode is highly cerebral, he's a symbol and he is going to deliver the message which I, the Oba of Lagos, have said. And he will govern the state for another eight years," he said.

"He is going on a mission and God will give him the wisdom and knowledge to fulfill that mission. Almost a year ago, I declared that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos and it will not change.

"From time immemorial, the previous occupiers of this house will say what they wanted after consultations with other people. And this hasn't changed and it will not change at this time."

Mr. Akiolu further said that Lagos is poised to regain all it had lost since Independence, adding that Mr. Ambode's administration would be a government of progress.

"And because of Ambode, I went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia and I gave all the groups there $250, 000 to pray for Ambode. So how can I say something and some people will go against it?"

"For the Igbos and others in Lagos, they should go where the Oba of Lagos head to. When they were coming to the state, they didn't come with all their houses. But now they have properties in the state. So they must do my bidding. And that is the bidding of the ancestors of Lagos and God."

Responding, Mr. Ojiako promised Mr. Akiolu that the Igbos would support the APC in the gubernatorial election in the state.

"The mistake of last Saturday was caused by everybody, not only the Igbos. It is not only the Igbos that were responsible for the votes. But we have learnt our lesson. Saturday's election is going to be a different thing and Ambode is going to win," Mr. Ojiako, who spoke on behalf of the Igbo Chiefs, reportedly said.

"Everybody knows that when you fail the first time, you cannot afford to fail again. We are going to tell our people that Ezes from the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas are here and that we have sworn with the Oba that we are going to make sure that Ambode wins next Saturday's election."

[Ugo Nwokeji]

Ogugua is spot-on. When I first read it on Facebook early Monday morning, I fervently hoped it was not true. I am wrong, unfortunately.

This is absolutely grotesque and disgraceful. I don't even know where to start. 

Is it that a person like him occupies the lofty position he occupies? Is it inciting genocide? Is it the impunity in not only intimidating voters to vote his candidate but also in invoking genocide should they not do as he wishes? How did he get the multiple sums $250,000 he gave out in Mecca to buy prayers for his political candidate?

People will wonder how a person like this has come to occupy such a high position. If he spent so much buying prayers in making, shouldn't he sit back let the prayers to work magic? If he had to pay such obscene amounts and still feel the need to do what I have read and watched, does it not occur to him he just poured money down the drain?

What next? If his candidate wins, we may see another round of "deportations" of fellow Nigerians, like the current governor did. That would certainly appease the potentate. I remember when that bizarre "deportation" issue came up here and how some people tried to justify or rationalize it, or otherwise waffled with all kinds of bizarre logic. 

This oba exhibits everything wrong with Nigeria. How can we move forward when people like this wield so much sway over our body politic?

Here is the video of the charade; viewer discretion is advised:

http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/06/raw-video-oba-lagos-threaten-igbos-over-governorship-election

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[Pablo Idahosa]

Thank goodness I don't do Facebook, and allow my nephew to forward  such  crap to me. Impunity  is an overused term in the lexicon of Naija-speak, but here you have it. Ugo is right, and there ought to be hate laws in place for this incendiary grotesquery. 

Appalling.

Sent from my grandfather's typewriter

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

Below is What I posted on my Facebook wall yesterday in reaction to the scandal as it broke.

Wow, just wow!! Hate speech, ethnic baiting, xenophobia, undemocratic, anti-choice conduct, bigotry, dictatorial attitude all rolled into one anti-Igbo diatribe by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu. Let's face it; this is not a nation...yet. Will it ever be one? And we thought last Saturday's election would start healing our fissures and tamp down the rhetoric a notch. Unbelievable!!

“On Saturday, if anyone of you goes against Ambode who I picked, that is your end. If it doesn’t happen within seven days, just know that I am a bastard and it is not my father who gave birth to me. On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God, goes against my wish that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water. I’m not ready to beg you. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi (Agbaje) is my blood relation and I told him that he cannot be governor in Lagos for now. The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody, but what you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere, don’t do it here."

--Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, addressing Igbo leaders in his palace in Lagos. Not content with merely lashing out at them, Premium Times is reporting that the Oba walked out on his visitors after his hateful tantrum.

There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.


---Mohandas Gandhi

[Salimonu Kadiri]

The colonisation of Nigeria by Britain was made possible by indirect rule through the Emirs in Northern Nigeria, Kings (Obas) in Western Nigeria and creation of Warrant Chiefs in Eastern Nigeria. Since there were no Kings or traditional rulers in Igbo land the colonial conqueror of Nigeria, Colonel Fredrick Dealtry Lugard, created the Warrant Chiefs and imported RED CAPS from Morocco to dress up and distinguish the Warrant Chiefs from ordinary Igbos. However, popular saying in Igbo land was *Igbo Enwe Eze* which means Igbos have no Kings. In 'HOME AND EXILE' Chinua Achebe wrote on page 16 thus, "In all probability they (Igbos) would not wish to live under the rule of Kings. The Igbo did not wish to, and made no secret of their disinclination," hence the expression, *Ezebuilo* meaning A-King-Is-An-Enemy. With this background, the moment the Emirs, Obas and the colonialist created Warrant Chiefs (EZE) accepted to be under the rule of a foreign King/Queen, they lost their rights to be royal heads in their communities. Moreover when Nigeria became a Republic on October 1, 1963, all the royal institutions in Nigeria should have been swept away. But those who tattoo 'I AM PROUD OF BEING COLONISED' on their foreheads, will never see any contradiction in keeping and paying monarchs in Federal Republic of Nigeria. Therefore, the colonised forehead tattooed persons will take side with a group of nincompoops that constituted themselves into EZE NDIGBO of Lagos, that is to say the King of Igbos in Lagos in their arrogant claim of equality with the King (OBA) of Lagos. When there are no Oba of Yoruba in Onitsha, Aba, Owerri, Enugu and Akwa, why should there be Eze Ndigbo in Lagos?

 

Ogugua Anunoby has chosen to forward to this forum an article titled, Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments whereas there exists another article titled, OBA AKIOLU WAS QUOTED OUT OF CONTEXT. The article stated that Chief Lateef Aderibigbe Ajose, Opeluwa of Lagos, has noted that His Royal Majesty, Oba Akiolu, was quoted out of context by a National Newspaper and some online platforms. "My attention has been drawn to a publication in a national newspaper where HRM Oba Riliwanu Akiolu was alleged to have threatened Igbos in Lagos to make them vote for Ambode," Chief Lateef Aderibigbe Ajose said. He continued, "Last Sunday, all *HONORARY EZE NDIGBOS IN LAGOS PAID A COURTESY CALL TO HRM OBA AKIOLU. At the meeting, the visitors praised the Oba for his fatherly support and cooperation with Igbos in Lagos. They assured him of their continued good neighbourliness with other tribes in Lagos and support everything that'll further strengthen that harmony. Oba Akinolu on his part acknowledged the enviable performance of Governor Fashola and his contribution to the growth of investments in Lagos. He gave the assurance that he is not disturbed or angry with Southeast and South-South votes for President Jonathan as PERCEIVED BY THE EZE NDIGBOS. The Oba thereafter called on the Igbo Chiefs to show appreciation to Lagos State by supporting his candidate, Mr Ambode for continuity of excellence as they have earlier promised. Oba Akinolu assured them of his continued support and assurance where needed and THE MEETING ENDED WITH THE TRADITIONAL BREAKING OF KOLAS, ALLIGATOR PEPPER AND BITTER KOLA AND POURING OF LIBATION ON THE GROUND. IT WAS WITHIN THIS CONTEXT THAT THE TRADITION OF LAGOS WITH REGARD TO LAGOON CAME UP. IT WAS NOTED THAT WHOEVER WORKS AGAINST THE THRONE AND THE INTEREST AND PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE OF LAGOS WOULD END UP IN THE LAGOON AS PER TRADITION. OBA AKIOLU STATED FURTHER THAT THE IGBO PEOPLE HAVE NOT BETRAYED THE THRONE. LAGOS HAS ALSO NOT BETRAYED THE IGBO PEOPLE. LAGOS HAS DONE SO MUCH TO MAKE THE IGBOS COMFORTABLE AND TO PROSPER. FOR THIS, WE EXPECT RECIPROCAL RESPECT AND UNDERSTANDING. THE OBA OF LAGOS PRAYS THAT THE LAGOON AND THE THRONE WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS AND PROTECT THOSE WHO VISIT AND RESIDE IN LAGOS. (pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/04/06/oba-akiolu-was-quoted-out-of-context).

 

The writer of the article in the Premium Times, Ben Ezeamalu, confirmed that he was not present at the meeting where Oba Akiolu was alleged to have uttered what was reported in the newspaper's article re-forwarded to this forum by Ogugua Anunoby. Therefore, Ben Ezeamalu's article is nothing but malicious gossip. While Ogugua Anunoby could be right to question where Oba Akiolu got $250,000 he offered to prayer hawkers in Mecca to pray for Ambode, if it was true he did it, the question of illegitimate incomes should not be limited to Oba Akiolu but all Nigerian millionaires. Apart from that, we need to know if these Lagos EZES were summoned to the palace by Akiolu or they went there voluntarily and why? Are the Lagos EZE NDIGBO strangers to tradition of breaking  and sharing kola-nut, alligator pepper and bitter kola  and pouring libation on the ground which are always followed by the pronouncement of what participants at such rituals desire should happen in the nearest future? Why should it be strange to the Lagos EZE NDIGBO that during the pouring of libation Oba Akiolu prayed that whoever WORKS AGAINST THE THRONE AND THE INTEREST AND PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE OF LAGOS WOULD END UP IN THE LAGOON AS PER TRADITION? Why should Lagos EZE NDIGBO think that Akiolu's wish was directed against IGBOS in Lagos when they are not 'working against the throne and the interest and peaceful co-existence of Lagos which Akiolu's prayer was all about and Igbos are not the only non indigenes in Lagos? If these questions are honestly answered none but ethnic baiters and primordial sentimentalists would read anti-Igbo to the statements of Oba Akiolu, the King of Lagos.

 
 

---

From: Anun...@lincolnu.edu
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2015 20:53:57 -0500
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments

[Salimonu Kadiri]

[Pablo Idahosa]

Right on, Moses. While we are rightly cautioned with appropriate moral suasion by Toyin to temper our language for discussion on this list, there can be no discussion but universal condemnation. Words exhaust me on this. 

Sent from my grandfather's typewriter

[K. Gozie Ifesinachukwu]

Salimonu Kadiri,

Seriously. I assume you have not watched and listened to Oba Rilwan Akiolu in Video and the so called “Eze Ndigbo in Lagos” even more embarrassing response. May be this is simply photo shopped and not real, but it looks very real to me.

 

You were on what I believed to be the right direction with “Moreover when Nigeria became a Republic on October 1, 1963, all the royal institutions in Nigeria should have been swept away.” as was the case in India which had even much longer written and oral tradition of Kings and kingdoms. But somehow, you changed your trail.

 

Wishing you well.

Gozie

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Moses, Okey, and a few of our colleagues here:

Please tone the rhetoric down....a few of you are going overboard, over-reacting over the diatribe of one man, albeit an Oba!   

 I had written about HATEFUL speeches during this campaign when it was not cool. In this silly political season - post-presidential elections result -  hype has again taken center-stage - and in this case of Oba Akiolu and his outrageous statement, the hype takes an incendiary dimension because ever since 1933 or 1945,  since the times of Awo and Zik,  Lagos has been a simmering tinder-box for ethnic explosion between the two groups of prideful association.  Old realities have never been fully resolved, and the new realities make that resolution more imperative.

I was offended when the Oba of Lagos "outed" Ambode early as his preferred candidate for Governor in Lagos even before ANYBODY said so; offended when staffs and orukeres were pointed at the President at Ile-Ife during the six-week interregnum "fight for the Southwest", and now offended when the same Oba Akiolu, caught on tape,  makes an odious, uncharitable (and un-achievable) statement that he has now back-tracked on.   

The monarchy everywhere should not dabble into politics - many of them in my Ekiti State, for example, have been "demoralized" by the machinations of Oshoko Fayose both before now and now - and this Oba Akiolu episode, proverbs and all,  is one more reason that they should leave themselves out of political equations, or be left out.  In fact, I would favor a BAN on politicians visiting palaces during election periods, asking for "royal blessings" or monarchs making partisanly political statements.

Now having written the above, should one man's statement - albeit the Oba - lead to war or "war" in Lagos?  Except for those who want to lose their lives senselessly, I think not - and expect not.  For all this will also pass away.

Let peace reign.....following the examples of GEJ and GMB.  People everywhere next Saturday in Nigeria should vote their consciences, not their prejudices or herd mentality or immediate aggravations.  Nobody should vote for Ambode SIMPLY because Oba Akiolu says so, and nobody should vote against him too SIMPLY because Akiolu made an outrageous statement that Ambode DID NOT ask him to say.

Best wishes all...and there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[Okechukwu Ukaga]

"Ogugua Anunoby has chosen to forward to this forum an article titled, Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments whereas there exists another article titled, OBA AKIOLU WAS QUOTED OUT OF CONTEXT. The article stated that Chief Lateef Aderibigbe Ajose, Opeluwa of Lagos, has noted that His Royal Majesty, Oba Akiolu, was quoted out of context by a National Newspaper and some online platforms. " - Salimonu Kadiri

Forget about the articles. Watch the video yourself and see for yourself that the Oba did in fact tell the Igbos to vote for his preferred candidate or they will perish in the Lagoon within one week. And he he swore by his father to indicate how serious he was. He was not kidding and he was not quoted out of context.  And he made the threats before the breaking of kolanut (not that there is a good or appropriate time to make such threats and vile comments). I hope that for every Akiolu or Fani Kayode whose is willing and able to attack fellow Nigerians this way just because of their "ethnicity", there are not much more closet hatemongers who will either quietly agree with such attack or come out to try and explain/defend the indefensible. Even in this forum, it is becoming predictable how some will defend any wrong perpetrated by one who they have affinity with only to condemn similar or less wrong by another not so close. What a shame.  

OU

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Executive Director, Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership

Extension Professor, University of Minnesota Extension 

Adjunct Professor, Geography Department, University of Minnesota - Duluth

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"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Richard Buckminster Fuller

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Bolaji:
I wonder aloud why you should be saying this. I watched you on TV presenting the results from Bayelsa and asked myself why you were selected knowing your obvious APC bias.
We live to learn; we learn to live.
Ib Abdullah
----

[Okey Iheduru]

Bolaji:

If, instead of presenting him with a basket of parrot's eggs, you agree/align with Prof. Ogungbemi that Mr. Rilwanu Akiolu is still "one of the most highly respected Royal Fathers in Yorubaland and in Nigeria", then I leave you to your conscience.

Peace as always!

Okey

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Ib Abdullah:

I don't know what TV you were watching, or what bad leaf you were smoking,  but I did not present "the results from Bayelsa", but from Delta State.

Despite your allegation of my "obvious APC bias", Delta still returned 1.2 million for GEJ, the second highest after Rivers State's 1.49 million.  Presumably, because of that "obvious APC bias", I must have suppressed 2.8 million votes from Delta State?

Go figure....

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

Shaking his head

[Okey Iheduru]

Brother Abdullahi:

That's a serious issue for another day, what Prof. Attahiru Jega did during the presidential election. The partisanship and political biases of each and every one of the Returning Officers he deployed to "critical states" are an open secret.  

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Actually you came across as an Igbo smoker with your bald head and scruffy neck tie picked up from the nearest orika bale.
You obviously cannot hide your bias. Of you really know what integrity means you could have turned down the offer to do what you did.
A laye lo ju ti!
---

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okey Iheduru;

I am fully aware of your own proclivities.  I read many times during the campaign, and "bit" my fingers at your take on many instances.

Whether you like it or not, in Yorubaland, the Obaship of Lagos is "one of the most highly respected Royal Fatherhood in Yorubaland and in Nigeria."  - just as the Deji-ship of Akure is.  Yet when a particular Deji overstepped his bound and beat his wife publicly, it led to his deposition by his people....by his people.

The hysteria currently being whipped up over Oba Akiolu's insidious statement is political, and could back-fire.  Quite a number similar hateful statements have been made in this campaign, and nary a whimper has been heard from many quarters - including yours.

I wonder why.

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Brother Okey (since you liberally call Abdullah "Brother"):

You disappoint me heavily with what you wrote below about some "open secret."  If I were to ask you to give me the list of VCs (or ROs) sent to the various states, you probably would demur.

I got the letter (by email) deploying me as State Collation Officer for the Presidential Elections to Delta State at 1 pm, on Friday March 27, after I had settled in Akure to take part in the March 28 elections there.  I took off to Asaba a few hours later, and did not get into Asaba until 11 pm that Friday, taking off because of the travel limitations the following day (Election Day), arranging my own hotel.  For the next TWO NIGHTS - Saturday night, Sunday night - I waited and waited at the hotel for results to come in from the fields, and none came until about midnight Sunday when one or two LGs came in.  By Monday night, fourteen local governments had come, and it was not until Tuesday morning that the rest - 11 Local Governments came - which we compiled by 12 noon, and by 2 pm, we were flown by charter flight to Lagos (40 minutes), and by 4 pm or so, I was announcing the results at the Conference Center.

So what should really have ended by Sunday morning did not finish until Tuesday morning.

You have to be part of the process to know that there is NOTHING a person of integrity can do for or against any political party as State Collation Officer.    Even a person WITHOUT integrity - I am not even sure what he can do WITHOUT it being so obvious:  change figures from the field, when all the state collation was in the full glare of the media and public?  I even got the party agents and any body who wished to take digital pictures of each of the LG submissions.

INEC stated to us that it DELIBERATELY chose NOT to post VCs to the states of their universities - rather to neighboring states -  because that was what it had done in 2011, and it wanted a twist to it so that pressures on the VCs could not be teleguided.

Let me make it clear to you:  I was not sent to Delta to inflate or deflate figures.  I got a email-letter of appointment and a e-manual of the 2015 Election.  I never spoke with Prof. Jega during the period until Tuesday morning when I sent him a text that I would not be around beyond Tuesday (March 31) if the rest of the results did not come in - and luckily they started to roll in.

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[Okey Iheduru]

Dear Bolaji:

You had an honorable choice to make: remain the unapologetic APC partisan you are (absolutely your right) or politely turn down the "e-mail" appointment letter to serve as an umpire in a fight in which you had a dog and were unabashedly working for your dog. That would have bolstered your claim to being a "person with integrity." 

Peace as always!

Okey

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Integrity demands that you turn down the offer---no national duty---because of your obvious bias. Your postings constitute incontrovertible evidence of your APC leanings.
Please stop this obscene protestation of your allege neutrality.
We live to learn; and we learn to live.
Ib Abdullah
---

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okey:

I did not even think of refusing the Collation Returning Officer job - in fact, I was elated at the experience - except for the fact that it would interfere with my 60th birthday...which it eventually did.

I am fully glad that your allegation of my "unapologetic APC partisanship"  did not interfere with my collation arithmetic.  In the language of you social scientists, your allegation is part of your arsenal of political "narratives" and "problematizing" of the existentialism of the moment.! :-)

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

First, while it is true that other traditional rulers have made partisan pronouncements and taken partisan actions in this election season, none of them has approached let alone equaled Oba Akiolu in sheer vitriol and partisan arrogance. Nor has any others publicly made similarly bigoted, xenophobic, and condescending statements against and to members of an ethnic group. The Oba's infraction is egregious and the APC hierarchy is right to unequivocally distance itself from it.

Second, someone mentioned that some of the usually vocal interlocutors on this list have inexplicably gone silent, an indirect suggestion that perhaps these folks approve of or lack courage to speak out against the Oba's hateful words. Personally, I can understand silence as a reaction.

People often believe that silence is approval. In a case like this it could indicate shame and embarrassment. They may not want to go on record with open condemnation of the Oba's hate speech because it may be (mis)construed as disrespect to a prominent traditional ruler. This may particularly be the case with the Yoruba and Lagosians on the forum. The alternative to an open, public rebuke of their Oba is to be silent. I can fully understand that, and I respect it. If my Och'Idoma were to utter words of hate of the Rilwan Akiolu genre, I know that there would be only two options for me. One is to openly, publicly condemn the monarch, which quite frankly I may not be inclined to do so as not to be seen as publicly disrespecting my paramount ruler. The other option, which I would likely exercise, would be silence, in which case I could share my disgust and outrage privately with friends and interlocutors. So, I do understand the "silent" reaction of some people.

What I would never do is to publicly make statements that could be legitimately understood or interpreted as mitigating, making light of, or trying to explain away the statements as something equal to familiar election season partisan utterances. What I would not do is to criticize those who are justifiably outraged by the words of a metropolitan city monarch, words that portray him as a bigoted, hateful, ultra-partisan thug rather than a royal father.

I understand silence. What I don't understand is the idea of making statements that, instead of focusing on the divisive and hateful words of the monarch, berate the critics of the Oba's words and threats.

I have no doubt in my mind that some people's reaction is motivated by politics, or that at the very least, some are opportunistically latching on to the Oba's words for political purposes. This is despicable, as this scandal borders on the ongoing damage to our national fabric and should not be politicized. But politicization is happening on both sides and should be called out on both sides. I have seen vile Facebook posts in the last 24 hours saying that a vote for PDP/Jimi Agbaje is a vote for Igbos and for "Lagos as a No Man's Land," and that a vote for APC/Akinwunmi Ambode is a vote to preserve Lagos for the Yoruba and to keep the Igbo from taking it over.

I think the overarching point to make here is that there is too much partisan fever going around, and it has infected supposedly neutral constituencies like traditional institutions and the intellectual class. Here is what I posted this morning on my Facebook wall on this hyper-partisan virus:

Hyperpartisanship. That is the new epidemic afflicting Nigeria and Nigerians. It causes an inability (or refusal) to see right and wrong and to condemn wrong even-handedly. It causes some victims to see white as black and black as white. It causes some sufferers to deny reality and to construct convenient alternate realities. It causes other sufferers to subscribe to untenable logics and explanations. Hopefully, after the gubernatorial elections this Saturday we will begin to heal from this deadly affliction.

I would add that partisanship is now mixing combustively with ethnic provincialism and shades of xenophobia.

[Bode]

This is an excellent reflection by Moses. As you know, Yorubas have a regicidal history; while they respect their Obas, the Obas are not immuned from criticism and revolt. The words of the Oba of Lagos are not only rhetoric of the 1960s, they are politically counterproductive. But the issue of Lagos has a very contentious history; you recall Sir Ahmadu Bello’s original phrase of Lagos as No Man’s Land. That issue seems not to have gone away. And whatever happens with the Governorship election, the identity of Lagos State will remain front and central to its politics and future.  

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

'Yorubas have a regicidal history'? Since when? Who are the Yorubas and when did that history begin? The Yorubas were invented by German missionaries in nineteen century Freetown---they did not exists before 1870--- and the regicide you reference is a script from Oyo history, after Oyo - Ile. It cannot stand for what constitutes Yoruba today.
The Oba of Lagos could not have uttered what was attributed to him outside the indegene - outsider binary that suffocates citizenship in Nigeria. That licenses for/of bigotry and exclusivism implicates all Nigerians because it is practiced all over the federation. It has to be expunged from the constitution.
Ib Abdullah
----

[Segun Ogungbemi]

"I have seen vile Facebook posts in the last 24 hours saying that a vote for PDP/Jimi Agbaje is a vote for Igbos and for "Lagos as a No Man's Land," and that a vote for APC/Akinwunmi Ambode is a vote to preserve Lagos for the Yoruba and to keep the Igbo from taking it over."

The above is inflammatory and. provocative enough to cause the anger of Oba of Lagos. If there is no fire there cannot be smoke. Whoever is behind such postings should put an end to it.
Lagos State belongs to the Yoruba. When the Oba of Lagos said that he owned Lagos he was referring to the cultural belief and practice of the Yoruba that the Royal Highnesses own their domains in Yorubaland. Therefore, the Oba of Lagos is simply claiming his traditional and cultural rights by saying he owns the land.
It is absolutely wrong for Ibos to say that Lagos is no man's land.
Such arrogant statements of some of our Ibo brothers/sisters are probably responsible for the hate utterances of the paramount monarch of Lagos.
I remember a similar attitude was demonstrated in Kaduna and some other parts of the north in the 60s, which escalated the crisis that eventually snowballed to war.
The right thing to do when one sojourns in another culture is to study it and respect the people. Any vulgar utterances from the sojourner could spark disturbances. The Yoruba are the most accommodating among the major ethnicities in Nigeria that I know of and it should not be abused by any non indigenes living in their land.


Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

What about an unequivocal condemnation of one of the most vile threats of violence on peace loving citizens by a paramount traditional leader. Is  the right course not to condemn an action before criticizing responses to the action? What is going on?

Is it not clear that the Oba of Lagos was preparing APC thugs for violence against the Igbo in Lagos, if Ambode, his candidate is not elected Governor of Lagos State next Saturday. The Oba made it clear that he would hold the Igbo people in Lagos responsible for any outcome that is not his preferred one.   

The Oba’s threat to the Igbo in Lagos is an existential one. It should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The Oba is the problem. All harsh words and calls for restraint should be directed at him. The man is dangerous. He is even more dangerous because he is a traditional leader. How is anyone sure that the man is truly contrite. This is one time unbridled outrage is justified.

oa  

[Esther Jaiyesimi]

Well said Bro - you are your fathers son. You can never please everyone. The family were all praying for you as you carried out your role with impunity.

Integrity is the watchword and with that you can't go wrong. i think we are so used to corruption and/or rigging in Nigerian politics that it is almost impossible to believe that anyone can carry out a role objectively following the rules and regulations and laws as appropriate. Education should make a difference and the negativity in the system beggars belief.

As the Christians say 'it is well'!!!

And there you have it.

Morenike Jaiyesimi (nee Aluko)

 #ProudSisterSpeaksOut 

---

Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 01:12:36 +0100
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments
From: alu...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Leke Olalemi]

"The partisanship and political biases of each and every one of the Returning Officers he deployed to "critical states" are an open secret.  " 

Dear Prof. Iheduru,

could you be kind to share the names of the "critical states"? My interest is in interrogating the available data specifically for irregularities in these states. Perhaps the numbers might lend some support, or not.

Regards,

Leke Olalemi

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Morenike Esther:

Lord have mercy!  Are you on USA-Africa-Dialogue too?  Who would have thunk?

This is the first time EVER that you as my blood sister (second child away from me) that I have EVER seen you contribute to a public forum like this, not to talk of in my defence.  Oh well...this must be part of your "birthday present" to me....thanks a bunch...but I am expecting my other present(s) too! :-)

It is well....as Nigerians are quickly wont to say when fed up with the system!

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

Having a belly laugh

#BrotherRecoveringFromSurprise

[Bode]

"The Yorubas were invented by German missionaries in nineteen century Freetown---they did not exists before 1870—"

 "Ibrahim Abdullah” 

Could you elaborate on this, Please? The ancient Yoruba Kingdoms, empires and confederacies did not exist before German missionaries came?

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

Según Ogunbemi,

The inflammatory and provocative Facebook statements I referenced could not have caused the Oba's anger because, 1) the statements were made AFTER the Oba's threatening statements went viral, and 2) because the statements were made by those who support the Oba's position and were reacting to the outrage it caused by digging in and reinforcing the Oba's xenophobic political statements. They were stretching the Oba's threats and divisive rhetoric further, saying that a vote for PDP/Agbaje was a vote for an Igbo takeover of Lagos, and that a vote for APC/Ambode is a vote for preserving Lagos for the Yoruba and preventing the said Igbo takeover. In other words, in the last 48 hours since the scandal broke, the Oba's despicable words have birthed new xenophobes and emboldened old, closeted ones. Their postings can be seen on Facebook interspersed between the huge number of posts condemning the Oba's words.

On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 11:08 PM, Segun Ogungbemi <segun...@gmail.com> wrote:

"I have seen vile Facebook posts in the last 24 hours saying that a vote for PDP/Jimi Agbaje is a vote for Igbos and for "Lagos as a No Man's Land," and that a vote for APC/Akinwunmi Ambode is a vote to preserve Lagos for the Yoruba and to keep the Igbo from taking it over."
The above is inflammatory and. provocative enough to  cause the anger of Oba of Lagos. If there is no fire there cannot be smoke. Whoever is behind such postings should put an end to it.
Lagos State belongs to the Yoruba. When the Oba of Lagos said that he owned Lagos he was referring to the cultural belief and practice of the Yoruba that the Royal Highnesses own their domains in Yorubaland. Therefore, the  Oba of Lagos is simply claiming his traditional and cultural rights by saying he owns the land.
It is absolutely wrong for Ibos to say that Lagos is no man's land.
Such arrogant statements of some of our Ibo brothers/sisters are probably responsible for the hate utterances of the paramount monarch of Lagos.
I remember a similar attitude was demonstrated in Kaduna and some other parts of the north in the 60s, which escalated the crisis that eventually snowballed to war.
The right thing to do when one sojourns in another culture is to study it and respect the people. Any vulgar utterances from the sojourner could spark disturbances. The Yoruba are the most accommodating among the major ethnicities in Nigeria that I know of and it should not be abused by any non indigenes  living in their land.


Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

> On Apr 7, 2015, at 8:37 PM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have seen vile Facebook posts in the last 24 hours saying that a vote for PDP/Jimi Agbaje is a vote for Igbos and for "Lagos as a No Man's Land," and that a vote for APC/Akinwunmi Ambode is a vote to preserve Lagos for the Yoruba and to keep the Igbo from taking it over.

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[Ibrahim Abdullah]

The nomenclature Yoruba was strictly speaking used with reference to Oyo. The others---Ekiti, Egba, Ijebu et al--were not Yorubas. This is basic History 101! The compilation of the Yoruba dictionary by Crowther and his collaborators and the translation of the bible constitute the first steps in that invention from above. But this is not peculiar to the Yorubas. It is also true of the Igbos and Hausa. So what you call ancient Yoruba kingdoms did not exist. The evidence we have of Ile Ife is archeological. Oduduwa is mythical. Only Oyo Ile is grounded in history.
There was no Igbo identity before 1900. What we had in Hausa land was a series of city states---Zaria, Kano, Katsina---that were cobbled to constitute the Sokoto Caliphate by 1810. The Hausa language and Islam were the unifying markers but identity was city centred: BaKanu/BaKatsine /Danzaria et al.
Hope this helps!
Ib Abdullah
---

[Rex Marinus]

Segun,
A) Lagos does not belong to the Yoruba. Lagos belongs to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The hinterland Yoruba used to pay tolls and duties to be allowed access to trading ports in Lagos. By the 1861 cession of Lagos to the British, Lagos became a British colony. By the Acts of amalgamation in 1914, Lagos became the capital of the territory called Nigeria. If you read MJC Echeruo's classic book, Victorian Lagos, you will see the evolution of this West African Port city as a cosmopolitan and transnational city, with the rise of "Print capitalism" and the structures that circulated urban civic value from the 19th century. It is linked o the same forces that drove developments in the same period of great West African Port Cities - Freetown, Accra, Barthurst, Monrovia - the return and convergence in these epicenters of returnee Africans from America, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Not the Yoruba. Lagos was always essentially a "transnational city" with its internationalist ties from the 19th century. Its exponential development from early in the 20th century has much to do with rapid and sustained migration towards it, when it was both the political capital of the Federation of Nigeria, and its major entreport and commercial epicenter. It drew people from across what is today Nigeria as administrators, entrepreneurs, tourists, etc. Of these great migrations into Lagos, the population with the highest impact has been the Igbo, whose presence in Lagos since at least the 19th century as administrators, professionals, artisans, and business people have had the greatest effect on the character of Lagos arguably more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria today.
 
B)The Igbo share the city today with the Yoruba, the Efik, the Hausa, the Urhobo, the Nupe, the Fulani, and hundreds of people of other ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria. It will be total misinformation and presumption to claim that Lagos is a Yoruba city, or that it belongs to the Yoruba. Even the Edo, who first founded the city as a war camp cannot make claims to the ownership of the city of Lagos! The Igbo who now arguably have the largest ethnic population in Lagos today, cannot make the claim that Lagos belong to the Igbo even! It is therefore utterly preposterous and unfounded to continue to retail the fiction that Lagos belongs to the Yoruba. I will give a little example with New York which was originally populated by the Lanape and Pequot Indians. There was such a time when it was New Amsterdam, with extensive Dutch influence, and it became New York, with extensive English influence - particularly during the American Revolutionary War. It soon became so much more complex with the vast immigration into the city in the 19th century, with new European arrivals, particularly poor Irish immigrants, who ultimately, using the Tammanay Hall led to the rise of the immigrant Irish at the head of New York politics. All great cities evolve in that direction; so does Lagos. To claim that Lagos belongs to the Yoruba is not only romantic fiction, it obscures the truth of the dynamic nature of the human space. Two great ethnic factions have shaped and claimed Lagos since the 20th century: the Igbo and the Yoruba. Before the civil war, the Igbo controlled the political and economic life of Lagos. With the civil war and its end, the Yoruba established dominant political and economic interests in Lagos. The 2st century is improving interesting as the Igbo, slowly building a coalition of other nationalities that have been marginalized by elite Yoruba interests in Lagos since 1970, are rising once again to establish political and economic claims in Lagos; starting with representation. Sabre rattling has always been a feature of these  claims. In fact, in 1951, the Yoruba and the Igbo armed themselves with matchetes, and were ready to war over their various claims on Lagos until calmer interventions cooled off that prospect.
 
C) On a different note, I want to understand what polite convention legislates that a man who acts like a baboon should not be called a Baboon? What makes Mr. Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, so special that in spite of his idiotic actions you find it impolite to elevate his person and thus obscure, perhaps even excuse his actions? Akiolu did not express values that makes him anything but, and therefore to confer or ascribe extraordinary significance  or value to him is equally distasteful to me as it is distasteful to you that Dr. Agozino addressed him in what I personally think is his proper name. Nigerian presidents have been called worse, and so, who the hell is Akiolu? Let me also, respectfully note, that part of the ways we continue to perpetuate "corruption" in Nigeria is in the circulation of these kinds of antinomy that undercut the requirement for probity in Nigeria. When we place people higher on a pedestal that removes the equality clause in the Nigerian constitution, and because some like you still tolerate antiquated monarchism in a constitutional republic, there is often the danger of overreach. In the end, Akiolu is a citizen of Nigeria, and is not the "owner" of Lagos. Monarchists like you, I'm sorry to say this, sustain the political fragmentation of the Republican ethos on which the modern Nigerian nation-state is founded. Your conservatism is certainly a political and cultural choice, but it is dire in its implication for the general conduct of fair nation-building. Support for the office and person of Akiolu and other predatory institutions in Nigeria, by which the Nigerian state has been exploited and undermined, makes for the continued backwardness of Nigeria, rather than its transformation into a modern, fair, and egalitarian society. I subscribe to Biko Agozino's description of Akiolu, and in the modernity of the republican notion that all men are born free and equal. The idea of some individual as a "Royal father" is self-indulgent hokum. Nigeria is a democratic republic: there is no "royal highness", no talakawa, just citizens. That is the basis of the social contract. No Nigerian in Lagos in the SUBJECT of the Oba of Lagos - only a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, again, why should Akiolu not be called a baboon if he acts as one?
Obi Nwakanma
 
 
 

> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments
> From: segun...@gmail.com
> Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2015 23:08:27 -0500
> CC: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Nigerian Gentlemen all,

Shalom!

Just my two kobos worth: 

My starting point is that the Oba of Lagos is an honourable man and not a mass murderer or a Nigerian of genociadl intentions tworads his Igbo countrymen.

Respect begets respect, we all agree. Therefore, what cannot be understated as psychologicallyand politically plausible as issuing from the misery and disappointment of post-electoral defeat, is the inflammatory rhetoric and hysteria of Messrs Ogugua Anunoby & Co Ltd and w3don't have to consult any oracle of Delphi – or Ifa - to be certain of the reality of a backlash to all this. It does not bode well for peaceful co-existence in that crucible of a metropolis called Lagos, because incendiary rhetoric only contributes combustible fuel to the ethnic fire - the fire which usually precedes the cooking of the ethnic stew...

As I understand it, Lagos is not “No Man's Land”, nor is any part of Nigeria and moreover, every Nigerian of whatever ethnic identity or lack thereof, has a legal right to live anywhere in Nigeria, individually or in large numbers.

The enterprising Igbo people have lived in Lagos for the better part of the last century and all of the 21^st century and are organized, to the extent that today we talk about “Ezes from 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas”. The other patent fact is that whereas the Igbos seem to be more evenly distributed throughout the rest of the Nigerian Federation, constituting on average the alleged 25% of some of the other state populations, there is no corresponding influx of Yorubas or their local Obas in either Onitsha or Aba - the commercial capitals of what may appropriately be called Igboland.

Understandably, the King of Lagos – unlike the King of Sweden - is permitted to be involved in the partisan politics of his own kingdom and at the moment is a staunch APC supporter and would dearly like to see his own preferred candidate Mr. Ambode elected as governor of Lagos State which is co-terminous with his Kingdom. I suppose that the Nigerian Federal and State constitutions give him that sort of flexibility - in which case his political involvement is neither unconstitutional nor – God forbid, criminal.

I urge you to take a step back from the kinds of irreverential baboon invective that can only lead us closer to the very edge of the precipice that leads to the abyss and the everlasting down-falling into the bottomless pit of possible pogroms, lynchings, tribal war, ethnic reprisals, disruption of commercial life and relocation to safe ethnic havens - as has happened before -

The Oba of Lagos mode of expression is cultural – even if he was expressing himself in Nigeria's official language to his Igbo subjects who were assembled for the sole purpose of listening to His Majesty.

If we go back to Ogbeni Salimonou Kadiri's explication giving the King's uttrerance the necessary traditional background :”THE MEETING ENDED WITH THE TRADITIONAL BREAKING OF KOLAS, ALLIGATOR PEPPER AND BITTER  KOLA AND POURING OF LIBATION ON THE GROUND. IT WAS WITHIN THIS CONTEXT THAT THE TRADITION OF LAGOS WITH REGARD TO LAGOON CAME UP. IT WAS NOTED THAT WHOEVER WORKS AGAINST THE THRONE AND THE INTEREST AND PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE OF LAGOS WOULD END UP IN THE LAGOON AS PER TRADITION.”

In the video we see the congregation of Igbos in a jovial mood, back-slapping and smiling (not shmiling) mood and nothing like the fear of collective annihilation that our forum respondents Bizo and others would like us to believe is imminent.

What does Biko Agozino the criminologist understand?

Surely, they do not think that if the Igbos reneged on their promise to vote en masse for Mr. Amode, they (the Igbos) would be dragged over and drowned en masse in the Lagos Lagoon?

[Ugo Nwokeji]

Ib,

Just to clarify one point simply for the sake of historical accuracy: There was an Igbo identified well before 1900, albeit a limited one. It may not have included people like me and perhaps most of those who now consider themselves, or are considered, as Igbo before 1850, but that is another matter altogether. It was historical process, which began centuries before 1900.

Ugo

From my mobile phone

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Nigeria’s traditional leaders, Oba in the case, are neither expected nor allowed to participate in partisan politics. How could they be fair and just if they are partisan politicians? The Oba of Lagos is a a former senior police officer and a lawyer. He has direct personal and professional knowledge and experience of the harm that can result from it. He has chosen not to resist the urge and opportunity to personally profit materially from partisan politics. Worse still he is prostituting partisan politician- PDP today, APC tomorrow. Which political party will it be next?  

The Oba is anything but an honorable man. He is a corrupt, hateful, evil, self-centered man. Nigeria’s News Express newspaper reported on 23/0914 as follows among others.

“Oba of Lagos, His Royal Highness Rilwan Akiolu, has opened up on the role he played in the alleged bribery of some Yoruba monarchs by late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, to frustrate the struggle against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola.

“The monarch, who was the Lagos State Police Commissioner at the time, said that with the exception of one or two traditional rulers, other prominent Yoruba Obas collected bribe from the Abacha administration, declaring that he personally shared the money to the monarchs.

“The monarch said the traditional rulers collected the bribe from Abacha to assist the late Head of State to remain in office following the relentless protests that trailed his coming to power.”

Read more.

http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=7506

 

It is a shame that this very corrupt and unprincipled man who should never have become an Oba, remains in office and has supporters and defenders.

Anyone with the hatred  as deep and vile as this man has for peaceful fellow citizens should not be in charge of anything. If he was an honorable man, he should know to come out without any further delay, with a sincere, heartfelt, personal, and unreserved apology, not only to the Igbo in Lagos, but to the  APC and all Nigerians.

The Oba’s wingmen may argue that it is not in Yoruba tradition for an Oba to publicly apologize in person. That of course is not true. The Oba who had a fist fight with one of his wife not too long ago, made a personal apology when he was held to account for his gross undignification of the position he held. Femi Falana is as Yoruba as they came. He demanded that the Oba issue a personal apology. He like the rest of all Nigerians of goodwill, is waiting for the Oba to admit the error of his rant and publicly be contrite. Time is of the essence. Apology delayed is apology insincere.

Let me add that the Obaship of Lagos was never one of the more highly esteemed traditional stools among the Yoruba. The position’s occupants were not even Yoruba in the beginning. They were Edo and subordinate to the Oba of Benin. The position has no direct link to Oduduwa, the mythical ancestor of the Yoruba. Its “Yorubanese” is a later development. The higher order Yoruba Obas think lowly of it.

The disgraceful display of indiscipline and intemperance by the Oba of Lagos provides all patriotic Nigerians with another  opportunity to acknowledge and be worried that ethnic prejudice still runs deep in Nigeria even among the educated and privileged high and mighty. It is evident in this forum. It reminds all Nigerians too that politics for some highly placed Nigerians is still a “do or die” affair. The arrogant, flagrant, and shameful display of ethnic prejudice by this Oba should be addressed frontally and without hesitance and kid gloves. It is the Oba of Lagos this time. Who would it be the next time?

 

oa

[Segun Ogungbemi]

Thanks for the information. I will go to my Facebook for more responses. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

[Bayo Amos]

Obi Nwakanma,

Oba Akiolu's comments were reprehensible and should be condemned by any right thinking individual.There is no fair description of what's bad. He deserved nothing less than outright condemnation and perhaps some fair share of insults. On that score, I join thousands, probably millions of Nigerians who have condemned him. I think Awujale's admonition is apt and a must read for Oba of Lagos:

"The Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, has told President Goodluck Jonathan, that it is not proper in Ijebuland or Yorubaland for an Oba to canvass for votes for any candidates seeking elective posts.Rather, monarchs in Yorubaland only encourage their subjects to make their informed choices...........The royal father said any Oba canvassing for votes for any political party’s candidate would be courting trouble. He said rather than engaging monarchs for campaign, each candidate must go out and sell his or manifesto to the electorate."

http://www.punchng.com/news/obas-dont-campaign-for-politicians-awujale-tells-jonathan/

Now, to your claims.

According to you, Lagos belongs to the Federal Republic of Nigeria (is there any city in our geographical space that doesn't belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria?), .......and Of the(se) great migrations into Lagos, the population with the highest impact has been the Igbo, whose presence in Lagos since at least the 19th century as administrators, professionals, artisans, and business people have had the greatest effect on the character of Lagos arguably more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria today, .....and the Igbo who now arguably have the largest ethnic population in Lagos today,................... 

If Lagos is truly a "colonial settlement", a "no man's land" that is up for grab and you have the highest impact, the largest population and you are shaping the character of Lagos, what exactly are you waiting for? Go for it, claim the city. 

Thanks,

Bayo.

[Rex Marinus]

Bayo, first, I salute you on your comments on Akiolu. I disagree on only just one thing: I have no problems with Akiolu canvassing support for his favorite candidate. He must not be denied this right o his political choices. What I and many others disagree with is the use of threat directed at a specific people in the canvassing. Secondly, even with the number of Igbo in Lagos, no Igbo can claim Lagos as an "Igbo city." There is not a single ethnic group in Nigeria that can claim this of Lagos, because more than any other city in Nigeria, Lagos has grown beyond the "ethnos." Its culture is profoundly hybrid, and its character very multi-ethnic and international. Everyone who lives in Lagos, pays tax, and has an interest in Lagos is a Lagosian. So, you will not hear me claim Lagos as an "Igbo city."
 
The Economic and political interests that drive the growth of Lagos are powerfully rooted in the great waves of migration from every part of Nigeria and even West Africa, as well as globally. Yes, indeed, every Nigerian city belongs to the Federal Republic, and the republic is an agglomeration of Nigerian peoples. This is the point of my argument, and it is not to claim Lagos for myself. There is no need for that. But I do emphasize the equality of all who dwell in Lagos, and who are Nigerian citizens, on the ownership of Lagos.
Obi Nwakanma

 

---

From: aae...@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 12:42:42 -0400

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Bode]

Ibrahim Abdullah

Thanks for the history lesson. It is a very Eurocentric history. No doubt I did not know it. "As an ethnic description, the word "Yoruba" was first recorded in reference to the Oyo Empire in a treatise written by the 16th-century Songhai scholar Ahmed Baba.” (wiki) For your information, the term Yoruba came from Arabic from the encounter with Arabs, not German missionaries and it is almost half a millennium before the German missionaries you suggest invented it— where in the world did you get this fable from, by the way?  When you said the others were Ekitis, Egbas, etc you forget that the Yorubas are a Confederacy and at the height of the Old Oyo empire, its rule was over all those territories that now stretch across Nigeria, Benin, perhaps Togo and beyond. It was the might of the Oyo Empire that Ahmed Baba referenced that protected the Yorubas earlier during the slave trade. To claim that such an empire that thrived as an advanced culture and political system at the time there wasn’t even Germany as a nation and when the English were still Barbarian, to claim it was invented by German missionaries is the very definition of Eurocentrism. As for Ife being mythology: "The dynasty of kings at Ife, which regarded the Yoruba as the place of origin of human civilization, remains intact to this day. The urban phase of Ife before the rise of Oyo, c. 1100–1600, a significant peak of political centralization in the 12th century)^[21][22] is commonly described as a "golden age" of Ife.^[23]"   I would recommend to you the Essay Before Oduduwa.

[Bode]

 "Lagos does not belong to the Yoruba. Lagos belongs to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “

Obi

We are back in the 1950s! This was one of the battles the Awolowo and the Action Group fought before Nigerian independence. Please correct me: my understanding is that they finally agreed to draw the boundary of the Western Region from Ikeja all the way through Surulere. So, it is not accurate then or now to claim that the whole of Lagos belongs to the Federal Government or was ever part of the capital city.

Bode 

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

It seems to me that there is a mix-up here.  Should we not make a distinction between:

 

(a)    An existing  group of people with identifiable archeologically -  documented,

orally- documented or/and written - documented history.

 

(b)   self-identification and self- naming by the group over time.

 

(c)    group identification by outsiders –  whether European,  Arab or otherwise.

 

 

GE

[Bayo Amos]

Obi Nwakanma,

Of course, Oba Akiolu as a citizen has an inalienable right to participate in  our political process. However, as a king who, according to Yoruba tradition, is regarded as  a "Father of all", he would do well to apply a bit of discretion. Otherwise, he would bring ridicule to the throne as he seems to be doing. Even beyond threatening Igbo, it sounds completely absurd and untenable for a king of his standing to mouth words such as bastard in the manner that was portrayed in the video. Although Awujale's admonition is not a legal imperative, so to say, it is full of wisdom and is in tandem with what's expected of Obas. In this particular case of APC vs PDP, the leading contenders (Ambode vs Agbaje) are Yoruba, and for him to be supporting one against another without adducing any reason is in itself condemnable. The funny part:  Oba Akiolu is not even asking Igbo not to vote for Igbo (because there is an Igbo in the political race) but Igbo should not vote for PDP's candidate, who is a Yoruba. I hate PDP and I believe the party has nothing to offer Lagosians. However, I am equally aware that it doesn't sound right for a TRADITIONAL ruler to be so openly vociferous in his opposition to a particular party.

 

I was a bit surprised that your two plus two did not equal to four. I thought if Igbo had the largest  population (you said arguably, but what's your reference?) , highest impact (in what?), and were and are still shaping the character (in what ways?) of the city, they would or should undoubtedly be the defacto owner or at least the majority owner of the city. Even though we do know all cities belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in reality, we know who owns or at least controls Enugu, Ibadan, Kano, Benin etc.  Are  Igbo magnanimous ( to who?) for not claiming Lagos, afraid to do so, or just not interested?  It seems you are saying neither A (Igbo) nor B (Yoruba), and not even C (others) owns Lagos, a kind of euphemism for "no man's land". I had a great laugh.

In Nigeria, there is something called customary law and when any issue pertaining to customs or tradition is up for adjudication even at the supreme court, a justice/judge that is learned in such laws must be present to decide the case. Obi, such laws as they pertain to Lagos derive from Yoruba customs, not  Igbo, not Hausa, not others. In  Lagos State House of Assembly/parliament, besides English language, Yoruba is the language of business. Not Igbo, not Hausa, not others. When the state owned broadcasting stations  cast news, they do so primarily in English and then Yoruba and Egun. Not Igbo, not Hausa.  There are traditional rulers in almost every community in Lagos, e.g.  Ojora, Oba of Ikeja etc each with rich history dating back to years. Even a traditional ruler, Oniru still observes his annual Oro festival where a section of Iru estate is declared closed for business at a particular time. Oro festival is common throughout Yorubaland and these practices among others cement the "yorubaness" of this community. I am wondering, what is it that makes Lagos a "no man's land"? It bears repetition to state that Lagos is a  Yoruba city with a cosmopolitan touch or feel. It radiates Yoruba in every sense of it. I don't know how Igbo have shaped the character of Lagos, perhaps you can educate us on this. 

Oba Akiolu's gaffe (condemnable as it is)  is not a ticket or a license, so to say, to make outrageous claims that do not have any root in logic, law or custom.

Thanks,

Bayo.

[Bode]

I always find this claims interesting: that though a group exists as (A) it comes into existence as a group only through (b) or (c). Whatever the criteria, the claim is that Yoruba identity (c) occurred via encounter with the Arabs and not via German missionaries as Abdullah claims. That (c) Yoruba identity was adopted as a means of self identification, some would claim  before references in Ahmed Baba’s works, as far back as the 12th century. I once read a dissertation that tried to show it was the Afro-Brazilian slaves who constituted yoruba identity upon their return. The list goes on.  To claim that powerful socio-political structure like the Oyo Empire operated in an identitarian void or was not able, for all the centuries of its power,  to constitute a yoruba identity until Europeans came is questionable to me.   Thanks for the clarification.

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Bode,

The boundary was at Idi Oro and Boundary in Apapa Ajegunle. Until 1967 if tax officers are chasing tax defaulters once the run across at boundary or Idi Oro they are safe. 

Cheers.

IBK

--

[Bode]

Thanks IBK, they also did a massive land and property buy-up throughout Lagos in anticipation of future claims to Lagos. At first, they printed a pamphlet “Lagos belongs to the West” to argue for Yoruba exclusive ownership but later Awolowo compromised to save the cooperate existence of Nigeria because Sir Ahmadu Bello said the North had already made sacrifice by joining the federation, when they are in Lagos, they don’t want to be under the control of the Government of the Western Region. But Awolowo’s real calculation was this: you can’t restrict peoples access to Lagos and if Lagos as federal capital was under the Western Region, the Govt of the region would be responsible for all those people under its aggressive program of free education and modernization, so the booming population of Lagos was going to be a great financial liability!   

[Rex Marinus]

Bayo,
There is really nothing much more I wish to contribute  this discussion. I do not wish to bore others on this forum, who I think may not give a fiddler's fart about who or who does not own Lagos. I will simply sum up in these few words: every city in Nigeria belongs to the people and government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (b) Lagos is not a Yoruba or Igbo or Itshekiri city, it is a great cosmopolitan Nigerian city. Its global character defines that. Dr. Aluko has pointed out all the different "traditional rulers" in the various quarters of Lagos. Just as those exist, I also know that you have in all these places Igbo Town Unions that meet, and organize their lives according to their realities in the Lagos megapolis; they do not subscribe to any other authority, either in arbitration or in negotiation, except to the Common Laws on which the Municipal and state laws are based. So, the customary courts may serve a specific population, but not the general population. They therefore mark a unique but not a general aspect of the city of Lagos. In time, by attrition, the customary law will be irrelevant because its application is specific to a passing order.
 
 I have on occasion used the term "no man's land" for Lagos, and it seems to me that perhaps that limits the real terms that ought to describe Lagos: I will now simply say that Lagos belongs to "EVERY MAN" who makes a life within it. Its chief owner however remains the Federal Republic of Nigeria - not the Yoruba, not the Igbo, not the Nupe of the Oshodi areas. The Yoruba may today determine the situation of Lagos by an overwhelming, and unchallenged dominance of the politics of Lagos since 1967 which has also given them control of the Lagos Legislative Assembly. But as you know, it has not always been so. Until recently, most Igbo in Lagos refused to vote or participate in Lagos politics, since the end of the civil war in 1970. They faced their economic life. But this is changing with increasing and deepening democratic participation; organizing and increasing awareness that they need to protect their political and economic interests in the city where they have made mind-boggling investments. As various people continue to assert their rights to be properly represented, and organize various coalitions, this current but uneven dominance of the Yoruba in the politics of Lagos, through popular suffrage is bound to shift, and it will be not too far in the day. There is no doubt that the Yoruba has had a great influence in Lagos, and have profound claims and interests in Lagos; my argument is that just as the Yoruba began to (re)assert their dominance of Lagos from 1966/67, there is clear evidence that migration and other forms of human interaction is re-shaping the reality of this city. Even what people have often called "Yoruba interest" is bound to become more complex and diffuse. At the core of Akiolu's current outburst is his impatience on this changing reality. Ibadan is a Nigerian city with an overwhelming Yoruba population, whose culture define the character of the city, just as Enugu or Aba are great Nigerian cities with overwhelming Igbo population; the same cannot be said of Abuja or Lagos. Historical factors make it impossible. What you hear on the streets of Lagos is a polyglot wave. And as a former newspaper reporter in that city who covered Metro and City Life, I know exactly what I'm talking about.  I salute you.
Obi Nwakanma
 
 
: aae...@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 16:36:53 -0400

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Due to the statement credited to Oba (King) Akiolu of Lagos, certain individuals have now ingested overdose of ethnic Viagra to shake off the political impotence they suffered from the March 28/29 Presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria in order to find a new political libido. That is why Mobolaji Aluko has be drawn into the controversy arising out of Oba Akiolu alleged statements to the so called *Eze Ndigbo of Lagos* even though he is neither related to the King nor present at the meeting with *Lagos EZE NDIGBO.* The alleged Oba Akinolu utterances pertaining to gubernatorial election in Lagos State was elongated and projected on Bolaji Aluko because he served at a Collating Office as a Returning Officer during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
 
In his post on this forum on the 7th of April 2015, Ibrahim Abdullahi described the purpose of Jega's deployment of Returning Officers to *Critical States* as an open secret. On the same day Ibrahim Abdullahi wrote: I watched you (Bolaji Aluko) on TV presenting the results from Bayelsa and asked myself why you (Bolaji Aluko) were selected knowing your obvious APC bias. In his response, Bolaji Aluko explained how he was selected and that he was in Delta State and not Bayelsa State. Okey Iheduru intervened in the discussion on April 8, thus, "You had an honourable choice to make: remain the unapologetic APC partisan you are (absolutely your right) or politely turn down the 'e-mail appointment letter to serve as an umpire... That would have bolstered your claim to being a 'person with integrity." The tragedy that has befallen Nigeria is that even when most of us boast of heavy academic degrees, we lack the moral insight that makes critical difference between possessing certificates and being knowledgeable. The bias of Ibrahim Abdullahi against Bolaji Aluko is so great that he saw him in Bayelsa State (Yenogoa) announcing election results instead of (Asaba) in Delta State. The election has come and gone and the results were known by March 31, yet, Okey Iheduru could write about Bolaji Aluko as an unapologetic APC partisan who should have refused to serve as an Umpire in the election. Okey Iheduru's suspicion would have made sense if the election results from Delta State announced by Bolaji Aluko had been won by the APC. However, of the Total Valid Votes cast, 1,267,773, in Delta States, PDP, won 1,211,405 votes against APC's 48,910!! For what we know, APC, has announced that it is going to challenge the presidential and National Assembly election results in Delta State. We should allow reason and not emotion to guide us so that we can differentiate unpatriotic elements, sycophants, crawlers and hypocrites from genuine patriots and principled persons of our country like Bolaji Aluko.

 

Concerning Oba Akiolu's alleged statements Moses Ebe Ochonu wrote, "Wow just wow!! Hate speech, xenophobia, undemocratic, anti-choice conduct, bigotry, dictatorial attitude all rolled into one anti-Igbo diatribe by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu. Let's face it; this not a nation..." In his own contribution *Biko Agozino* wrote, "A baboon has threatened to drown masses of Igbo citizens of Nigeria in the lagoon if they do not vote for his preferred candidate for the governor of Lagos State." I am not a monarchist and, in fact, I am of the opinion that the Emirs and Obas lost there dignities when they kidnapped and sold their kith and kin as slaves to Europeans. Worse more, when the Emirs, Obas and the Lugard made Warrant Chiefs cum Eze accepted the suzerainty of Britain over Nigeria, they have over-lived their usefulness to the people of Nigeria. If Biko Agozino tacitly referred to Akiolu as a 'baboon', I wonder what the *RED CAPPED* 'monkeys were doing in the palace of Akiolu. Why did the Self-Red-Capped EZE monkeys pay courtesy call to the 'Baboon'? There are over a million Igbo people living in Lagos and we want to know when did all Igbo in Lagos meet to appoint the Red-Capped EZES to represent them in the Palace of Oba Akiolu? The Premium Times has quoted Akiolu as saying,"I am not begging anybody, but what you people (the red-capped EZE Monkeys)cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere, don't do it here." When Oba Akiolu said,*you people* he was referring to the Red-Capped EZE in his Palace not the entire Igbo population in Lagos State. And what was it that the red-capped monkeys wanted to do in Lagos that the baboon asked them not to do? Why should the red-capped monkeys regard it as a threat when the 'baboon' asked them not to do in Lagos what they would not do in Enugu, Aba, Owerri, Onitsha etc.? Hitherto, all the violent clashes involving the Igbos have occurred between them and their host communities in Northern Nigeria starting with the massacres of Igbos in Jos in 1945, in Kano in 1953, the entire Northern Nigeria following the tribally executed coup d'état of January 1966, Kano in 1980, Maiduguri in 1982, Jimeta in 1984, Gombe in 1985, Kaduna and Kafanchan in 1991, Bauchi, Katsina and Kano in 1991, Zango-Kataf in 1992, Funtua in 1993 and Kano in 1994. While we may condemn violence on people because of their ethnic origin we need to critically examine the provocative attitude of some OSU people who outside their own communities clothe themselves as EZE with the intention of subjugating the people of their host communities. Major General Philip Efiong, second in Command to Ojukwu's Biafra wrote on the attitude of the Igbos in the North after January 15, 1966 coup d'état so here, "In the course of my duties as Principal Staff Officer at General Ironsi's SHQ (Supreme Head Quarter), I received a number of intelligence reports about the arrogant and abusive attitude of Igbos in the North and the suppressed anger of many Northerners, including our Northern Army officers (p. 76, Nigeria & Biafra: MY STORY)." Further on page 88 of his book, Philip Efiong wrote, "It must be added that the attitude of the Igbos in the North, as reported in some papers at the time of the first coup, was particularly provocative and contributed to the violent eruption of emotions, giving some encouragement and reason for action."   
 

In his own contribution, Ugo Nwokeji insinuated thus, "We may soon see another round of 'deportations' of fellow Nigerians like the current governor did." This is a tacit reference to Governor Babatunde Fashola whose Lagos State's Government relocated 72 Igbo vagrants to Anambra on July 24, 2013 which ethnic agitators turned into anti-Igbo action. Yet, it was a known fact that Lagos State relocated 72 vagrants to Ita Oshin end of Abeokuta North Local government on May 11, 2010 and the action was not termed anti-Yoruba. In mid 2011, Lagos State relocated 196 vagrants to Sokoto State, 83 to Oyo State, 67 to Osun State 21 to Ekiti State and 7 to Ondo State. Professional ethnic agitators ignored those facts when they branded the relocation of 72 Igbo vagrants to Onitsha as Lagos war against the Igbos. Forgetting that his Anambra State had relocated vagrants to Abia and Akwa Ibom State, Governor Peter Obi, championed campaign against Lagos State over the relocation of Igbo vagrants, from Lagos to his State, whom he claimed had the fundamental human rights to come to Lagos to shelter themselves under bridges and defecate indiscriminately anywhere. In the 36 States Federal Feeding Bottle Republic which Nigeria has been constituted, every state collects revenue allocations from the centre (Federal Government) to care for the inhabitants of their respective state. What should happen is that when an individual is leaving his /her state to settle in another State, such individual should take his/her portion of revenue allocation to the new State of settlement. That can be done through inter state government bills. The unholy Igbo ethnic war against Fashola's Lagos government over the relocation of 72 Igbo vagrants from Lagos ignored totally that there were over a million Igbo people living harmoniously in Lagos. Surprisingly the reaction of Igbo ethnic warriors was found missing when in October 2011, 1,800 Anambrians were expunged from Abia State Public Service and sent back to Anambra because Abia State, under Governor Theodore Orji, claimed it was no longer capable of catering FOR FOREIGNERS IN THE STATE." Already in 2002, another Igbo State, IMO STATE, DISMISSED ALL ABIA INDIGENES IN ITS PUBLIC SERVICE AND REMITTED TO ABIA STATE IN 2010 THE FILES OF ALL PENSIONERS OF ABIA ORIGIN SO THAT ABIA STATE COULD TAKE OVER THE BURDEN OF PAYING THEIR PENSIONS.

 

During the media attention that accompanied the relocation of 72 Igbo vagrants to Onitsha, Anambra State, one Akabueze who claimed to be an Igbo leader said in the Daily Sun of 6 August 2013 thus, "The Igbo are key stake-holders in the affairs of Lagos State... It is the Igbo that are making Lagos tick; it is the Igbo that made Lagos what it is and without them, Lagos will go to sleep. In short, without Igbos, there will be no Lagos." What Akabueze forgot was when Igbo left Lagos en-masse in 1966, Lagos did not go to sleep and when in June 1993, Arthur Nzeribe, with his midnight court injunction that scuttled the Presidential election, all Igbos in Lagos departed to the Southeast because they thought there was going to be war between Yoruba and Hausa, Lagos did not go to sleep until they returned. The real Lagosians stayed because it was their land. Just like Akabueze, the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, declared Lagos, no man's land. The cool headed Fashola responded, "IT WILL BE VERY UNCHARITABLE FOR ANYBODY TO SUGGEST THAT LAGOS IS NO MAN'S LAND. THIS IS THE LAND OF MY ANCESTORS AND IT WILL BE UNCHARITABLE FOR ME TO  WALK INTO YOUR HOME AND SAY YOUR HOME IS 'BONA VACANTIA' WHICH IS NO MAN'S LAND'. IT PERHAPS SHOWS LACK OF UNDERSTANDING, AN IMPOLITE WAY OF EXPRESSING A STAKE. AND STAKES ARE LEGITIMATE, BUT ARE QUITE DIFFERENT FROM OWNERSHIP."

 

With regards to the 2015 Presidential election, the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Enwo Igariwey appeared in the Nigerian Guardian online of 9 July 2013, where he declared, "We have the population and the Igbo are the only people with over a 25 per cent spread in any part of this country. We are not underdogs under any circumstances, we have the capacity to decide who can be president or who cannot because we have the numbers." It is in this respect one should understand what is going on now in Lagos politically. The politics of 'I Before Others (IBO)' practised by certain elements who fraudulently claimed to be representing their ethnic group politically led to the demise of the first Republic. In the last six years, the selfish politics of 'I Grab Before Others (IGBO)' has become fashion and even those that claim to be well read seem not to recognise that exaggerated Igbo-philia shall always induce Igbo-phobia. That is natural law of equilibrium. What Oba Akiolu is asking for Ambode, Oba Sijuade, the Ooni of Ife asked the same thing for Jonathan without anybody complaining. 

 

     
  
 

---

Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 12:20:18 +0100

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Bode,

The real issue here is Igbo domination. They started it under the colonial rule spreading all over the country. They also tried it in 1959 during the NPC/NCNC alliance. That greed was too intense that by 1966 they resorted to killing each other.

In the East Calabar and Port Harcourt had been completely taken over by the Igbo. That was why the locals took over their properties after the war and paid them compensation for the abandoned properties.

In Abuja now the Igbo gloat that they own 80% of Abuja without qualms. Their quest for domination of Lagos is obvious. Ojukwu launched a ragtag army under Victor Banjo an Ijebu in a bid to subjugate Lagos.  He failed woefully in his gratuitous and unprovoked attack on friendly Edo and Yoruba territory.

The same song that denied them dinner is the one they are singing at breakfast table. Thinking they are exclusively smarter than all other nationalities in Nigeria.

Some of us will tell them the truth and teach them self restraint. One here called the Oba of Lagos a Baboon. If Lagosians in anger react to that slur, they will yet again cry victim.

The lesson of all this is that when you sit on a keg of gunpowder, you do not carelessly play with a box of matches.

Cheers.

IBK

[Bode]

One final consideration on the argument of Lagos as No Man’s Land. Has the dissolution of the Regional governments and the removal of the Federal Capital status from Lagos not in essence fundamentally changed the entire debate, and caused Lagos, in effect, to revert de facto to Yoruba control as we have seen since after the Civil war? I think with the appointment of an Igbo, Mr. Ben Ifeanyi Akabueze as Commissioner in Lagos State for 16 years or so now, the state is ahead every other state of the federation in integrating Nigerians. This should be encouraged, but a precipitous claim to ownership of Lagos would only bring out ugly divisions rather than advance integration.

On 4/8/15, 6:12 PM, "Ibukunolu A Babajide" <ibk...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Segun Ogungbemi]

I think the posting of  Salimonu Kadiri is apt and I hope the Ibos in this forum spend time to read it and learn a moral lesson from their past to guide their utterances to prevent similar incidences in future. 

A word is sufficient for the wise. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

[Leke Olalemi]

The attempted assault on Prof. Aluko’s integrity is unfortunate; the allegation has no basis in the hard facts.

The official results for Delta state were highly anticipated for at least three reasons:

(a) Prior to Prof. Aluko mounting the podium to announce results, there were two states remaining: Delta & Borno. Delta was initially projected to be a ‘heavy’ South South state: massive voting numbers expected, and a high percentage of those votes were expected to be for the PDP; this was the expectation *before* the election.

(b) Unofficial voting results for Delta state had been sparse: agents were finding it ‘difficult’ to send in the voting results; this was the general pattern for South South results.

(c) The results from Edo state had previously been announced; the Edo state results were statistically baffling: a fantastically low turnout (36.3%), and a high vote cancellation rate (4.3%). Will similar results be reported for Delta?

There were cancellation of votes in at least 14 states. This report of votes cancelled, along with the rejected votes, is rich. Many of the (State) Collation Officers were painstaking in the details. Prof. Aluko did not disappoint: ‘the entire results in Ndokwa East, all of the LGAs, had been cancelled because the collation of the results had been done only by the electoral officer in the absence of the collation officer; a total of 50,738 votes were affected; in Ndokwa East: 2 polling units affected with 1,712 votes; in Patani, 11 polling units; Udu: 17 polling units and 15,744 votes affected; Warri SW: 4 polling units and 32,443 votes… a total of 826*31 votes affected in the state’ (data reported here are preliminary; these notes were taken in the televised announcement of the results. INEC have committed – on telephone – to provide the full report of the cancellation data for all the states, LGAs, and polling units. The data is certainly available but have yet to be shared by INEC). Perhaps an interesting anecdotal observation here would be that the details of the cancellation data announced on TV by the State Collation Officers appeared to have a correlation with their disciplines…

The results from Delta state in comparison to other states ought to give a pause to those peddling the integrity allegation:

(1) Delta state delivered for the PDP 95.6% of the valid votes cast (compare Rivers: 95.0%).

(2) In the South South, Delta state returned the second lowest percentage of the valid votes for the APC (3.9%); only Bayelsa state is lower (1.4%).

(3) Delta state returned for the PDP the second highest number of valid votes (second to Rivers state): 1,211,405 vs. 1,487,075.

(4) Delta state rejected 1.3% of the total votes cast (Edo: 4.3%, Cross River 3.3%, Bayelsa 1.3%, Rivers 1.2%, Akwa Ibom 1.1%); these are the lowest rejection rates in all of Nigeria; for context: excluding all the South South states, the lowest rejection rate is from Plateau (1.8%).

(5) The turnout rate (using INEC’s definition of turnout) in Delta state is second only to the turnout rate for Rivers state in all of Nigeria (66.1% vs. 70.1%).

The performance of the PDP in Delta state was exceptional, and particularly so in the context of the PDP-leaning states. Had Professor Aluko been ‘strategically deployed’ to Delta state to help the APC cause, the conclusion is inescapable: the good prof. failed fantastically to achieve that objective. The more reasonable inference would be that Delta State results are consistent with the performance of a (State) Collation Officer who had helped to secure PDP's victory.

Leke Olalemi

-------------------------------

Isaac A. Olalemi
Mob: (+47) 902 902 37

[wa...@comcast.net]

Dear All,
The unfortunate outburst of the paramount Chief of Lagos has once more brought to the fore the insensitivity which some Nigeians exhibit to others. Defend or condemn the statement, it is obvious that this contraption called Nigeria is an unholy alliance. Some intellectuals on both sides of the divide in this argument are clearly partisan and ethnocentric in the arguments. Why the claim to ownership of Lagos in a country that has been in the making for more than 100 years? Lagos belongs to all Nigerians no matter what exists in the subliminal mind of any Nigerian. We are treading on a dangerous path here. How shall anyone accept that Abuja belongs to the Gwaris after the development of that city by the commonwealth? It is pertinent to think deeply before we write or make nonsensical statements and comments. The paramount Chief of Lagos is of Edo ancestry, but Edos are not making any noise about this? Paramount Chief Akiolu has not demonstrated that his ascendancy to the throne conferred any respect to those about him. A former police officer he was. One wonders how he policed in the days of yore.

Let us not turn this forum into a tribal one. Truth is we are Nigerians and any part of Nigeria is home to all!

Steve Nwabuzor

----- Original Message -----
From: Bode <omi...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, 09 Apr 2015 02:16:35 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments

One final consideration on the argument of Lagos as No Man¹s Land. Has the
dissolution of the Regional governments and the removal of the Federal
Capital status from Lagos not in essence fundamentally changed the entire
debate, and caused Lagos, in effect, to revert de facto to Yoruba control as
we have seen since after the Civil war? I think with the appointment of an
Igbo, Mr. Ben Ifeanyi Akabueze as Commissioner in Lagos State for 16 years
or so now, the state is ahead every other state of the federation in
integrating Nigerians. This should be encouraged, but a precipitous claim to
ownership of Lagos would only bring out ugly divisions rather than advance
integration.

<http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Ben-Akabueze/53184979#>

On 4/8/15, 6:12 PM, "Ibukunolu A Babajide" <ibk...@gmail.com> wrote:


Bode,

The boundary was at Idi Oro and Boundary in Apapa Ajegunle. Until 1967 if
tax officers are chasing tax defaulters once the run across at boundary or
Idi Oro they are safe.

Cheers.

IBK

On 8 Apr 2015 20:30, "Bode" <omi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "Lagos does not belong to the Yoruba. Lagos belongs to the Federal Republic
> of Nigeria. ³
> Obi
>
> We are back in the 1950s! This was one of the battles the Awolowo and the
> Action Group fought before Nigerian independence. Please correct me: my
> understanding is that they finally agreed to draw the boundary of the Western
> Region from Ikeja all the way through Surulere. So, it is not accurate then or
> now to claim that the whole of Lagos belongs to the Federal Government or was
> ever part of the capital city.
>
> Bode
> --
> Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
> To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
> To subscribe to this group, send an email to
> USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:USAAfricaDialogue%2Bsub...@googlegroups.com>

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Leke Olalemi:

Thank you for coming to my defence...much appreciated.

My participation in the Delta State collation process in Asaba (I did not visit a single polling unit, or ward / LG collation center; I was not expected to or required to; who wan die?)  and announcement in Abuja gave me another invaluable insight into the entire electoral process.   I was not FULLY aware of how highly anticipated Delta's results were because for two days and one night we were busy collating, and I was not following the results on TV at all...but I did not still want to be collating on my birthday on Thursday April 2, and told Prof. Jega that I would quit on Tuesday if all the LGs had not come in by then!  When I arrived Abuja afternoon (Tuesday March 31) on the same day as Orubebe's morning drama (Orubebe is from Delta State) and the colleague Professor for Rivers Collation drama, I was NOT aware of EITHER of those events at all before I took the podium, because I had just finished the collation in Asaba, and was in the air immediately afterwards by chartered flight.

I shall elaborate only if and when all legal challenges - if any at all - are over. 

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[Bisi Dare]

Going by Salimonu's statistics of Igbo massacres by other nationalities, why is it being expected that Oba Akiolu should apologise for the misdeeds of others beyond his mis-speak? Maybe there is a logic which I am missing.

If there is an apology to be made on that score, I am of the view that the call for that should be to the Nigerian nation and not to the Oba, who should bear his own cross.

Olabisi Dare

Sent from my iPhone

[Abayomi Akinyeye]

Bisi, quite an age. Thank God for this forum and let me hear more from and about you.

Cheers,

Yomi Akinyeye

[Chika Onyeani]

Roar Of The African Lion by Chika Onyeani will be published by Jonathan Ball this month:

“I have been accused of being angry — if you know what is going on within the Black Race, I ask you, why wouldn’t you be angry?”

The African Lion, Dr Chika Onyeani, is back and roaring. The author of the phenomenally successful Capitalist Nigger, which has sold more than 100 000 copies in South Africa alone, offers a new collection of his speeches, articles and other writings over the last 15 years.

In Roar of the African Lion, Dr Onyeani’s unblinking gaze and plain speaking are directed at many of the burning issues of the day. He outlines his revolutionary Spider Web Doctrine – aimed at financial self-reliance and the upliftment of black communities –and attacks the parasitic leaders whose greed has robbed the people of Africa of opportunities for advancement and development since their liberation. He is equally scornful of the failures of the African elite to influence the direction of their countries, and has trenchant comments to make about racism, xenophobia and hypocrisy in Africa, America and elsewhere.

Dr Onyeani also tackles the persistence of slavery on the continent, the West’s ambivalent attitude to aid and debt relief, rampant corruption and the “whiteness” of Barack Obama. Looking to the future, he cautions Africa to be wary of China’s embrace and to pursue its own solutions to African problems.

About the author

Chika Onyeani is a journalist of international acclaim. A former diplomat, Onyeani is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the cutting-edge African Sun Times, the largest and only weekly African newspaper distributed nationwide in the US. Onyeani has received numerous awards for journalistic excellence. A sought-after speaker, Onyeani has been quoted, interviewed and written up by practically every major medium. He is an alumnus of several institutions of higher learning, both in the UK and USA.

Book details

• Roar Of The African Lion by Chika Onyeani
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781868426744
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Cats: Africa, International, Non-fiction, South Africa
Tags: Africa, African Sun Times, Barack Obama, Capitalist Nigger, Chika Onyeani, China, English,International, Jonathan Ball, New Releases, Non-fiction, Race, Racism, Roar Of The African Lion, South Africa, Spider Web Doctrine, Whiteness, Xenophobia

[kojo]

Please plan to attend this conference and spread the word.

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andoh