The President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has urged the
Ndigbo and other non-indigenous in Lagos State to forgive all that has
been said against them and move on for the sake of peace.
Buhari said this during a rally in Lagos to address the comments made by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu.
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 Peoples 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.
