Now that the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections have come and gone without any Nigerian of Igbo extraction resident in Lagos drowned in any Lagos Lagoon (I suspect quite a good number of Igbo voted for and against Ambode in spite of the Oba’s threats. Nor do I think his chiding contributed in any way, whatever, to Ambode’s victory), I felt it would be more apt to broach this matter at this time. I am inclined to describe the Oba’s outbursts, as mere vituperations, albeit, one that is capable of evoking many destructive, unintended consequences.
To fully flesh out the issues, it is important to analyse the exact words uttered by Oba Akiolu. Having personally listened to the audio recording, here are Oba Akiolu’s exact words.
“On Saturday, if any one of you votes against the Ambode I picked, that is your end, I swear in the name of God almighty allah If it doesn’t happen within seven days, just know that I am a bastard and it’s not my father who bore me. The one you have done before is my son, Jonathan is my son and I speak to him everyday. But this Saturday, by the grace of God almighty allah, I am the owner of Lagos; I’m 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 the future. On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God almighty allah, goes against my wish that Ambode insha allah 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 oo.
“Asiwaju and the governor said I shouldn’t have (inaudible) but that is their own, even the two of them, they cannot disobey me. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi is my blood relation and I told him in a plain language that he can never be governor in Lagos for now, future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody but you must not!! But what you people could not do in Onitsha, what you cannot do in Aba or anywhere…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 finish!!.”
Well, that is pretty loaded to say the least. As an initial matter, the notion that a traditional ruler single handedly picked the governorship candidate of a major political party in a cosmopolitan state like Lagos is disturbing on so many levels. Yet, I’m afraid he is absolutely right, he played no small role in the emergence of Mr. Ambode as the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate for governor of Lagos. That is how far removed we are, as a country, from imbibing the true principles of democracy. Indeed, in a true democracy, it will be almost impossible for any single individual – no matter how highly placed – to pick a candidate in a position to exert enormous influence over so many. The very possibility of this turns the basic tenet of democracy on its very head – a government of the people by the people and for the people. But we are making progress and I suspect democracy is a journey and we shall continue to fake it until we make it. To be sure, the true confessions of the Oba has made it imperative that we must review party primaries and selection of candidates for elective offices. If it must remain a government of the people, the people must remain participatory every step of the way, including if most importantly, the primary selection process. In the United States, for instance, party primaries are conducted same way and manner as general elections, but mostly along party lines. It is unimaginable that President Obama would have had any chance against the Clinton political machine and the Democratic Party Establishment if it was solely up to the party establishment to decide. That is enough for digression.
Undoubtedly, Oba Akiolu is a man, who wears his ego on his sleeve. Goaded by his own ego and the urge to over indulge in rhetorical flourishes, the Oba made the verbose proclamations in the tape.
First, to make such a grand threat as declaring that Igbo who fail to vote APC would die in the Lagoon is akin to God ordering Pharaoh to let his people go or ‘I will your own children.’ Although, in contrast, God had a moral purpose for so ordering unlike Kabiyesi whose motive is self-serving at best. To arrogate himself to playing god, analogically as here, says a lot about the Oba than the Igbo he sought to chide. It highlights the outer limits of a man so overtaken by his own ego as to arrogate himself to a status where he dares to rationalise he is in a position to dictate to an entire tribe the place and manner to exercise their franchise.
Second, singlehandedly claiming ownership of Lagos raises weighty constitutional and socio-political issues. On the one hand, the rights of proprietary and ownership of property are stringently enshrined and protected in our National constitution. Thus, I am unapologetic in insisting that any property anyone has laboured to acquire in any part of the country, if any part of the world, is statutorily protected to the exclusion of all others, including all local traditional stools in place – this is subject, of course, to rights of kola nut and or ground rent, which is inherently a recognition of who the indigenous landlords are. The notion that one needs to kowtow to Oba Akiolu’s whims in order to enjoy progress in Lagos, then, flies in the face of legal logic. Nor does this line of argument make one a ‘Lagos is a no-man’s-land’ adherent. It is simply an affirmation of universally well-established rights adhered to by all peoples.
The Igbo come to Lagos, take risks in economic pursuit, turn around and trade the product of their labour in constitutionally protected transactions – conveyance of property – they ought to be commended for this and not vilified. I challenge anybody to deny the economic contributions of the Igbo to Lagos. I am a Nigerian with proprietary interests in New York State – I do not owe the Mayor anything short of paying my taxes and all statutory fees.
Relatedly, our national constitution equally guarantees the right of citizenship to every citizen. By this right, every Nigerian has full right to reside in any part of the country they choose with attendant privileges. These include the right to reside in a particular state or locality and work to earn a living, purchase, property, exercise legal franchise of voting and to be voted for. These sacred rights and privileges are fundamental citizens’ rights and are ought not shrink at the whims of any vested interest. Nor does their enforcement diminish the authority of any traditional stool, such as the Oba’s – and it should not. But, when Oba Akiolu decided to pontificate to the Igbo how to vote and added “…what you people could not do in Onitsha, what you cannot do in Aba or anywhere…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 finish!!”, he crossed a line of demarcation established in our constitution.
On the other hand, the potential social-political conflagration from these kinds of outbursts is better avoided in the overall good of all. I have a lot of respect for Prof. Pat Utomi, having observed his conduct over time. Yet, I was simply disappointed when he tweeted the following in response to Oba Akiolu’s threats: “The arena of politics slippery slope [sic]. The remarks by the Oba of Lagos are inappropriate but all who know him know he talks so in jest.” There are yet others who have suggested Kabiyesi literally may not be questioned nor challenged. Well, my view is Hitler first started with similar rants until it took on the life of German Nationalism and resulted in the extermination of at least six million Jews. Coincidentally, we are watching the same kind of nonsense take place in South Africa where the crazed ranting of the Kwazulu king has driven fringe elements into the most abhorrent violence against other Africans. Their crusade is pivoted on the same kinds of xenophobic notion – we own South Africa and these foreigners are a threat to our way of life.
Days after Oba Akiolu’s outburst, some film maker, Kunle Afolayan, tweeted: “It is a fact that most of d[sic]pirates I see selling CDs and DVDs are Igbo. 1[sic]even threatened me after I seized my film from him. why?.”
A Texas-based medical doctor, Adeniran Abraham Ariyo (ordinarily, you would expect him to have a refined mind by reason of education), has been whistling on social media for massacre of the Igbo in Lagos until they are forced back to the East. And according to Mr. Utomi and the Oba’s apologists, these are mere jests that we ought to ignore. Simply put, we don’t need the kinds of loose talk that appeal to our worst instincts, as opposed to appealing to our better angels – the consequences will be too dire for all of us. In spite of inevitable rivalry, the Yoruba and Igbo have always co-existed peaceably with mutual respect, this ought not be disturbed.
Further, I wish to point out that the most disgraceful of the incident was the plight of so-called Eze Ndi Igbo in Lagos, who sat down and cheered the Oba while he dished out his threats. These are the functional equivalent of modern day Uncle Toms, who must capitulate for the most selfish motivations at the expense of an entire ethnicity. They are Esaus of the Igbo Nation whose gluttony force them to sacrifice their future and dignity for a mere plate of porridge. Granted, we fought and lost a war and subsequently became a suspect class in our own country, but we have to get it together sooner or later if we are to be deserving of the respect we seek. And for those fringe degenerates who are too quick to campaign for the Igbo’s exodus back to the East, I say beware what you ask for you may get it one of these days. During the so-called Abiola exodus (oso Abiola in Igbo parlance), many were those who begged for the Igbo to come back.
Finally, I am compelled to submit that the Oba’s vituperation was borne out of deep-seated prejudice – “for there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face, but out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” – otherwise, if this was a political stunt, it is far from clear who he was pandering to; his outburst was and remains a political poison pill. I suspect that the sum of the advantages of our diversity far outweighs our prejudices. As one noble soul once succinctly opined while championing his campaign for world peace: “So, let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least, we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” God helps us all to constructively understand our differences and reinforce our common interests.
• Phillip Okey Igwe, Esq.
A constitutional lawyer based in Lagos & New York.
source;Sun
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