Obi Condemns Ethnic, Tribal Narratives Ahead Of Lagos Governorship Election

The Obi-Datti Campaign Organization has condemned the ethnic and tribal narratives that have characterized the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Lagos state.

The Director-General of the Campaign Organization, Akin Osuntokun, in a statement sent to THE WHISTLER on Tuesday said stocking ethnic tensions and weaponizing tribe, especially against Igbos, was primitive for a cosmopolitan place like Lagos.

Osuntokun noted that there has been a contrived ethnic tension in Lagos State since the outcome of the last Presidential election following the victory of Peter Obi at the presidential polls.

The DG held that more Yoruba voted for Obi during the presidential elections, adding that Lagos, as the commercial capital of the country and former political and administrative capital, is naturally a magnet for people and businesses looking for greener pastures.

“Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmad, performed above the expectations of our critics and consequently set some political parties on a panic mode.

“This panic mode is accentuated by their knowledge of our real performance in the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections, not by the results announced by INEC,” the statement read.

“In Lagos, the fear factor being currently stoked and weaponized is that the Igbos would take over Lagos if Labour Party wins Saturday’s Governorship and State Assembly elections.

“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 infrastructures 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 handover 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?

“These desperate politicians have played up the changing demographics arising from the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos and falsely concluded that the huge population of the Igbo was responsible for the APC losing the state on the February 25, 2023 elections.

“The truth is that more Yorubas than Igbos voted for our presidential candidate on that day because they want good governance and for Lagos to be freed from the stranglehold of a criminal syndicate.

“In our increasingly globalized world, it is difficult to find pristine communities or primitive communal societies in which everyone in the community is related by blood. Given the status of Lagos as the commercial capital of the country and its history as a former political and administrative capital, it is naturally a magnet for people and businesses looking for greener pastures.

“Remarkably, those fanning the embers of ethnic discord in Lagos – just to avoid their party being humiliated a second time – are themselves non indigenes of Lagos.

“The Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council implores politicians promoting and hoping to profit from weaponizing ethnic hatred in Lagos State to desist because the world has moved beyond their primitive antics. The world is changing fast.

“We must learn to live in peace and celebrate our diversity. For members of our party, the Labour Party, and the Obidient family, we urge that you remain calm and peaceful –even in the face of provocation. Being self-restrained and calm amid provocation is not cowardice or naivety but evidence of higher emotional intelligence.

“We should not play into the hands of those in panic mode who want to promote violence so that elections would become manipulable and fulfil their desire of claiming victory through the back door.”