Nigerians in Diaspora Blast Oba Akiolu

Nigerians in diaspora, under the umbrella of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), have flayed the Lagos monarch, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, for his threat against the Igbo people resident in the nation’s major commercial city.

The group, who took their protest to the International Criminal Court (ICC), The Hague, Netherlands and Nigerian High Commission, in London, stated that the Oba’s threat of throwing the Igbo people into the Lagos lagoon should his preferred candidate. Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode of All Progressives Congress (APC), lose in the April 11 governorship polls, cannot and must not be swept under the carpet.

The protesters described the threat as a hate speech that can be likened to that which triggered genocide in Rwanda, as well as that which led to the violence that caused the massacre of innocent members of the National Youth Service   Corps NYSC) and many Nigerians in the 2011 elections and, therefore, called on the ICC to investigate it before a genocide took place.

Pointing out that Ndigbo were always at the receiving end of any crises even when they do not have any form of involvement in such ugly developments, spokesperson of the group, Mazi Chris Nsoedo, the said time had come for the government of Nigeria to be proactive, in preventing unwarranted incessant attacks on the South Easterners that were predominantly of the Igbo nation origin.

He maintained that Ndigbo were known for their positive contribution to their host communities, regardless of the hostilities, as exhibited by the Lagos monarch. Nsoedo prayed the Federal Government to decisively deal with the propagator of such hatred.

The TAN group, while congratulating the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, urged him to avoid seeing any particular ethnic group as his enemy, since he was not elected president of a section of Nigeria.

In a related development, the group commended the National Co-ordinator of TAN Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, for championing the liberation of the Igbos in Lagos and called on other notable and affluent individuals of Igbo extraction to join hands with him to ensure that Ndigbo were respected and accorded their rightful place in the country.