Ahead of Saturday’s gubernatorial and state House of Assembly election, the Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation Tuesday cautioned against the use of ethnicity as a weapon in coming Saturday’s governorship election in Lagos state by some politicians.
In a press statement signed by the Director General of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, Akin Osuntokun, the party implored politicians promoting and hoping to profit from ‘weaponising’ ethnic hatred in the state to desist, stressing that the world has moved beyond their primitive antics.
Contending that the world was changing fast, the LP noted that Nigerians must learn to live in peace and celebrate their diversity and called on members to be calm even if they face provocation.
Osuntokun stated that being self-restrained and calm amid provocation is not cowardice or naivety but evidence of higher emotional intelligence, urging LP members not to play into the hands of those in panic mode who want to promote violence so that elections would be manipulated.
He alleged that there had been a contrived ethnic tension in Lagos state since the outcome of the last presidential election, in which its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, performed above the expectations of critics and consequently set some political parties on a panic mode.
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LP added that the panic mode was further accentuated by their knowledge of its real performance in the February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections, not by the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“In Lagos, the fear factor being currently stoked and weaponised is that the Igbos would take over Lagos if LP wins Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections.
“In their desperation, they are even shamelessly questioning the ‘Yoruba-ness’ of our candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, ( GRV) despite the fact that he is from one of the best known families in Lagos, whose ancestral tree can be traced to over 200 years.
This begs the question of how exactly this taking over of Lagos by the Igbos would occur. Would the Igbos physically carry Lagos and transfer the city and its infrastructure to the South-eastern part of the country? Will the Igbos put guns on the heads of the Yorubas in Lagos and ask them to hand over their lands to them because Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is the Governor?
“Will Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as governor denounce his father, grandfather, and his entire Vivour ancestry and find another father and grandfather from Igboland if he wins?, Osuntokun queried.
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