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What Buhari Told Ndigbos Yesterday about Oba Akiolu’s Anti-Igbo Comments

Punch reports that Buhari has pleaded with all Igbos in Lagos state to move on and forgive all that has been said against them for the sake of peace. This he said during a rally in Lagos to address the comments made by the Oba. Recall that Akiolu has been under fire since Monday when he reportedly threatened the Ndigbo in Lagos to either vote for the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, or perish in the lagoon.

The People’s Democratic Party on Tuesday asked Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to suspend Akiolu forthwith. However, the President-elect described Lagos as home for all, adding that the time had come for Nigerians to look past ethnicity in the general interest of peace and unity.

He said, “I admire what your governor has done in terms of mobilizing revenue to sustain Lagos development. I have a lot of respect for Governor Fashola for his hard work, commitment to the state and the country. There is no doubt that Lagos is a mini-Nigeria. We are all here and it has been mentioned by previous speakers that everybody (tribe) is adequately represented in Lagos. So, I assure you. If you vote for the continuity of APC in Lagos, you stand to gain more. It is in your interest that you vote for the APC.

“Please when you go home tell your neighbours, relatives and even the opposition to please bury the hatchet. Let them fall in line and vote the APC. When we were coming in our bus, Fashola told me how Lagos State had been spending to maintain the federal infrastructure here such as buildings, roads and other institutions. I had promised before that if I won the election and became the President, I would make Lagos my priority. Governor Fashola is already holding to me to that promise so I would like the incoming governor to listen carefully and make sure he makes me honour my undertaking.”

The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said Lagos was responsible for building the opposition and ensuring that it finally took control of the centre. He said it would be a great injustice for Lagos to become an opposition state after working so hard to build a bright future.

Also speaking, a former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, said Akiolu was not a member of the APC and could not speak on behalf of the party. Tinubu, who noted that he was the first Yoruba governor to ever appoint an Igbo commissioner, said the People’s Democratic Party, having failed to win last week’s presidential elections, had been desperately trying to pull the APC into the Akiolu controversy.

He said the coordinator of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, Ifeanyi Ubah, and the PDP leader, Bode George, were only making baseless accusations against the APC. Tinubu said, “The Oba is not a politician. His job is to accommodate all political parties whether PDP, APC or SDP. So, what did he (Ubah) go and do at the palace? Is the Oba a politician? “To you Igbo, don’t we pay your children’s school fees like others? Or is it the palace that pays for it? When we conducted an exam and a spelling competition, an Igbo boy, Ebuka, from Anambra, came first and he became the governor for one day.

“Those that won the competition three times in a row were Igbo. Ebuka was sent to Switzerland computer school and then Obafemi Awolowo University. We did not say he was an Igbo boy and he would not enjoy. He became an executive in Oando and he is now in Canada. Another boy, Felix, won and went to Switzerland and OAU. We paid his scholarship; we did not deny him because he is Igbo.”

However, in a statement issued yesterday by the Lagos state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofik Gani, the party said it had also alerted the security agencies to hold the monarch responsible for any attack on non-indigenes or PDP members in Lagos. The PDP even reiterated the need said for the Lagos monarch to be on suspension till after Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections in order to guarantee free, fair and credible elections in the state.

The statement read in part, “The governor is thus a conspirator in this threat to life and must also be held accountable for any violence in these elections. We have at this point been vindicated about the desperation of the APC to retain Lagos State at all cost, including the All Progressives Congress’ plan not to concede the imminent defeat on April 11. The positions of the PDP are coming on the heels of the now viral threat issued by the Oba of Lagos to Ndigbo that they must vote for the APC governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, or be drowned in Lagos water.”

Despite the alleged threat to their lives, PDP urged Lagos non-indigenes and others to be part of Saturday’s voting exercise.

Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe, said in a separate statement yesterday that the monarch spoke out of anger. Igbokwe urged his kinsmen not to take out their anger on the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who knew nothing about the incident. The statement read, “Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos is not a card-carrying member of APC. He is not a leader in the APC. He does not speak for the APC. He did not speak for Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State. He did not speak for our national leader, Bola Tinubu. He did not speak for the incoming governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. His Royal Highness is at liberty to speak for him and he spoke for himself only.

“Lagos APC appeals to Ndigbo not to take the statement as the position of the party in Lagos. We passionately appeal to Ndigbo not to carry the statement credited to Oba Akiolu too far so as not to put a knife on things that have held us together for more than 50 years now. If out of annoyance you throw your cap away, a mad man will take it and use it forever.”

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When I Assume Office, Don’t Expect Miracles - Buhari

President elect, Muhmmadu Buhari, has asked Nigerians not to expect him to perform miracles once he assumes power come May 29th.

General Buhari, who spoke with the BBC, said the war against insurgency is an ongoing, noting that “for five, six years, the Nigerian enforcement law agencies, including the military, couldn’t secure 14 Local Governments.

“How can I promise miracles when I come? But with the cooperation of our neighbours Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the international community, and the commitment we are going to get from the military, I think it will take us a much shorter time to deal with it”, he said.

On his other major campaign promises to decisively fight corruption and unemployment, the President elect said: “I made that promise and I hope Nigerians will give me the opportunity to see whether my effort will be good enough or not.”

He however, admitted that the tasks are enormous but would be dealt with.

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“Pray For Buhari, Osibanjo Not To Die In Power” – Prophet Who Predicted GEJ’s Defeat

Popular Osun State-born Prophet, J.K. Hephzibah, otherwise known as Baba Peculiar, who predicted the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential election in one of his prophesies, has disclosed that the President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, needs fervent prayers from Nigerians in order not to die in power like President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The respectable cleric made this known on Saturday in Lagos while addressing national issues.

According to Hephzibah: “One of my seven-point messages to the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, that is been packaged to be released during my miracle night in Lagos in a few days time is that Nigerians should pray for President Buhari in order to avert his death.

“I saw the new president in my vision being kept somewhere for most of his followers to rule this country.”

Baba Peculiar, in his predictions, further said Buhari, as loved by many, is not the messiah to save this country.

He said he would just rule for a period of time to pave the way for God’s chosen person that will take Nigeria to the Promise Land.

The cleric added: “I see Professor Yemi Osibanjo ruling this country, while General Buhari will just be there like a ceremonial head.

“In fact, Osibanjo also needs to be careful because he would be assassinated by an ex-military Head of State.

“God told me he is giving the mandate to Jimi Agbaje of PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) in Lagos State, but the power that is in APC (All Progressives Congress) will try to upturn the election in their favour and if care is not taken, this may lead to crisis.”

The notable prophet, in his conclusion, urged all men of God to pray for Buhari in order for him to complete is term.

“I implore Nigerian men of God to avoid being used by politicians.

“By doing so, they are playing God and the consequence will not be palatable,” said Hephzibah.

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We Feared Jonathan will Not Accept Defeat – Buhari

Up to the time Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was announcing the results of the March 28 presidential election on Wednesday, fear of uncertainty engulfed the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

However, it was not a fear occasioned by any conceivable loss of the election because with the result already trickling in the previous day, the camp knew the APC was coasting home to victory. But it was the uncertainty that President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, would reject the results and invoke a military intervention to stop Buhari from ascending to the presidency.

The otherwise, after all, smacked a big surprise to APC, Buhari and his campaign organization.

And for conceding defeat and subsequently calling to congratulate the president-elect even before the last result was officially announced, Jonathan did not only carve a niche for himself but also launched into the community of patriots and statesmen.

These were thoughts expressed by the Director, Media and Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization, APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shehu, who was central to the election of Buhari by way of information dissemination and management, said that the campaign was the fiercest he had ever witnessed since he debuted into partisan politics.

He said: “I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.

“Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced. This is the most life threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it.

“So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief.

“Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government.

“Look, everyone felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on YouTube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him.

“This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They had said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won.

“But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.”

Shehu assured that the president-elect would not avenge the attacks on his person by the allies of Jonathan, saying there was enough work to do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians than pursuing mundane things.

Source: Vanguard

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