Icheoku laments that this is not a case of a king or queen who can do no wrong; no, this is a case of a ruler of Isale Eko who did a very heinous wrong to a whole nationality of bona fide Nigerians who merely chose to domicile in Lagos, an integral part of their country. Those Igbos living in Lagos have equal right of residence in Lagos as the Oba, who himself is not even a native of Lagos in the strict sense of that word. His ancestry is traceable to Bini Kingdom and technically he is as a "stranger" in Lagos as those Igbo people he is trying to exclude therefrom and deprive of their rights to life by drawing them in the lagoon. So by necessary implication, the Oba is rather in a forcible occupation of the stool of Kabeyesie of Lagos and traditionally not a rightful person to be the Oba of Lagos. Equally, his candidate Ambode is not from Lagos but Ondo State and so has as much right to domicile in Lagos as those Igbo people living there too. Ditto is the APC owner and general commanding officer and former governor of Lagos Bola Tinubu, who himself was born in Osun State. So the Igbo person similarly has the right to also aspire to the governorship of Lagos State like this two "strangers" too; hence the Oba has no prerogative to claim exclusive ownership of Lagos in adverse of any other Nigerian who chooses to call Lagos home.
What was said is very menacing and the manner it was said, very condescending and demeaning too. A master and overlord dismissively giving express warning to his underlings and subjects to do his bidding or they would be drowned in the lagoon? Even Orwellian Animal Farm was not this brazen and impetuous. What manner of a father, be it royal or biological, would so threaten his supposed children - that they would be water boarded until they drown and then their bloated bodies dumped into the lagoon? And then to add insult to injury told them further that it is a willy-nilly affair as he is not begging them but telling them? Really, and Nigeria is still a free country and practicing democracy; and this high chief had the temerity to want to abridge other peoples' freedom to choose who they want as their governor? This man made his choice by selling for his candidate but now wants to deprive and deny other fellow citizens of their own right to make their respective choices and someone calls this a free country?
Why did Nigeria become a republic in 1963 if not to shave off the British monarchy overbearing influence on Nigerians? Or was it a case of substituting one white colonizing overlord for another internally colonizing black one? If by the Yoruba tradition, the Oba has authority over the Yoruba people within his Isale Eko domain, does that mean he can now extend and dictate to every other people who live in every part of Lagos, a part of their country, too? is it okay therefore for the Imam of Lagos to equally decree or pass a fatwa that every person in Lagos must become a Muslim or be drowned in the lagoon? Ditto the Christian leaders thereto? Did this Oba not know that Igbo people are very republican and are not given to one central authority called king and why did he think he can now impose his kingship over this special breed of Nigerians?
The other thing many commentators are missing out or mixing up is the mindset that uttered such horrendous hateful statement? A mindset that once rose to become an AIG in the Nigeria Police Force and you wonder how he scornfully treated and did not promote or recommend for promotion people from Igboland who passed under or through him? Icheoku recalls it was this same Oba Akiolu who forced President Jonathan's hands to fire then IGP Ogbonna Onovo, due to an existing feud both men had while they served in the police force? The Oba disrespectfully rejected the Commissioner of Police the then IGP Onovo posted to Lagos, forcing a showdown that eventually saw the COP reposted elsewhere and which was followed soon with the firing of IGP Onovo himself. So what we are seeing here is a pattern of hatred and avid anti-Igbo very antagonistic sentiments, being continually expressed by this paramount ruler. The same Oba once quipped that when the Igbo people came to Lagos, they did not carry any houses from their homeland in the East to Lagos but are now buying up the entire Lagos? Icheoku asks, what else is needed to find this man the hateful anti-Igbo man he is; as the only thing that changed this time is that it was captured on smart-phone, hence this brouhaha.
Icheoku says this Oba has by his hateful utterance lost every reverence which he holds by reason of the office which he occupies; and is now susceptible to all manners of attacks, including those which otherwise would have been considered not edifying or dignified. By his utterance he has made himself a mouse and every cat is now free to strike their luck, jabbing him. How can a sane public fatherly figure so isolate a people and condemn them to death by drowning, especially when they committed no crime to deserve the punishment. Just listen to this raving man pouring his heart out on his disdain of a people who are merely struggling to keep themselves afloat in a country which has continuously marginalized them and for too long. According to Oba Akiolu,
"On Saturday, if anyone of you goes against the Ambode I picked, that is your end. If it doesn’t happen within seven days, just know that I’m a bastard and it is not my father who born me. The one you have done before, he’s my son. Jonathan is my son and I speak to him every day. But, this Saturday, by the grace of God almighty Allah, I am the owner of Lagos and the owner of this…for the time being. Listen. Because this is an undivided chair. The palace belongs to the dead, the living and those coming in future. On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God almighty Allah, goes against my wish that Ambode, insha Allahu, will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water. I’m not ready to beg, appeal to anybody o. And that’s why Asiwaju and the governor said, I said that is your own. Even the two of them they cannot disobey me. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi (Agbaje) is my blood relation and I told him in a plain language he can never be governor in Lagos for now. The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody to go, but you must not, I repeat… what you people cannot do in Onitsha, what you cannot do in Aba or anywhere, you do here in Lagos. If you do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosper for you. If you go against it, you will perish in the water. Finish.”
Icheoku is raving mad at the excuse proffered by the leader of those traders who went to the Idungaran palace of Oba Akiolu as to why they did not react as expected following the threat; and berates him and his delegation for not immediately walking out on the Oba in protest. How can any true blooded Igbo man be present where such a threat to his people were being made without being highly offended, regardless of whether or not they were being courteous inside the Oba's palace? It is very offensive and offends every sensibilities of every Igbo man and woman that such an insult and affront and threat on Ndigbo was not immediately reacted to by those traders who were in attendance. This is why they are not the authentic Igbo leaders but mere traders interested in protecting their shops from being looted and vandalized by the Oba's controlled and directed notorious area boys street urchins. What a pitiful pity party these traders are that indeed courted this decrepitude.
Unfortunately, according to Yoruba tradition, an Oba cannot apologize or withdraw whatever he has said, but at least his underlings can do so and also refuse to drown those Ndigbo who live in Lagos inside the lagoon? This is imperative because directive to enforce an illegal order can be refused and Icheoku expects those area boys to refuse to obey their king on levying genocide on bona fide members of the Nigerian society who call that part of Nigeria home. This is the natural thing to do under the circumstances - distance themselves from the illegality as any other contrary disposition will force the hands of Ndigbo to defend themselves and there will be no other better definition of anarchy than an incensed Ndigbo turned loose in Lagos. But regardless, Icheoku insists that only an unreserved apology and retraction from the palace would suffice in this circumstance. What was said was horrendous and can only be a by-product of a deranged and demented mind or one heavily burdened by the influence of drugs and other hallucinatory substances and cannot be otherwise excused. No sane royal father of ALL who reside and domicile within their domain should so discriminate against a section of his supposed subject in the manner the Oba has done. Icheoku says to the Idungaran Palace, Ndigbo deserves and demands an apology for the vituperation of your ruler and NOW.
Yoruba monarchs beg Igbos to forgive Oba Akiolu By Sylvester Ugwuanyi on April 9, 2015
ReplyDeleteEight Yoruba traditional rulers led by the Alabirun of Ikare, Oba Kayode Akinyemi, have pleaded with the Igbo community in Lagos to forgive the threat made on them by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu. This was as they noted that Lagos has been so peaceful for everyone because the Yorubas do not segregate.
The Yoruba monarchs spoke at Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Council Chamber in Festac, Lagos State when they played host to 24 Igbo traditional leaders from different parts of the state.
Akinyemi, who noted that Oba Akiolu’s threat should be seen as a slip of the tongue urged both tribes to work as one for continuous cooperation and peaceful co-existence in Lagos.
Meanwhile, the umbrella organization of Ndigbo in the Diaspora, the World Igbo Congress, WIC, has charged their kinsmen residing in Lagos State against being cowed by any form of threat since they are guaranteed of equal protection by the law like every other Nigerian as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.
In a statement jointly signed by Larry Udorji, Cyril Nwaguru and Jimmy Asiegbu, who are the chairman, secretary-general and public relations officer respectively, WIC noted that Igbos in Lagos deserve an apology from Oba over his threat.
According to the group, “We call on those who have the ears of Oba Rilwan Akiolu to be guided accordingly and contain his excesses as the Igbo will no longer condone the ignorance and primordial sentiments that informed such dastardly initiatives as the Abandoned Property saga in a country that is purported to be ‘One Nation with One Destiny.’
“We hereby put the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan; the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman A. Abba; all South East Governors and all the Igbo members of the Federal and State Houses of Assembly on notice that our people, the Igbo, will take necessary action to defend Igbo lives and property,” the statement noted.