Thursday, April 9, 2015

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

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



On Thursday, April 9, 2015 4:26 PM, Bisi Dare <bisidare@gmail.com> wrote:


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

On 9 Apr 2015, at 00:55, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:

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
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Nigeria: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Reluctant to Clarify Anti-Igbo Comments
From: alukome@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com


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


On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 10:47 AM, Esther Jaiyesimi <em_jaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
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: alukome@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com




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.! :-)

And there you have it.


Bolaji Aluko


 

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 12:55 AM, Okey Iheduru <okeyiheduru@gmail.com> wrote:
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


On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 4:18 PM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:

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



On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 11:29 PM, Okey Iheduru <okeyiheduru@gmail.com> wrote:
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.  

On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 3:07 PM, Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:
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
----
On 7 Apr 2015 21:43, "Mobolaji Aluko" <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:


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


On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 5:23 PM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:
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.


On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 8:50 AM, Pablo Idahosa <pidahosa@yorku.ca> wrote:
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

On Apr 7, 2015, at 5:00 AM, Ugo Nwokeji <ugo@berkeley.edu> wrote:

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:


On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 6:53 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
"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."

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---Mohandas Gandhi

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