Did Oba Akiolu’s threat work for Ambode?
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Unlike the previous election, where Pa Ikechukwu Okonkwo had encouraged all his children to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28 presidential election, this time, he handed down a warning to all members of the family never to be involved in the gubernatorial election in the state.
The septuagenarian, and his family stayed back in their three-bedroom apartment in Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, to monitor reports from his large screen television while the April 11 gubernatorial election lasted.
Even though some people believed the recent Oba Akiolu’s tirade was only a mere joke, Pa Okonkwo did not want to leave it to chance as according to him, “When a king makes a pronouncement on what bothers on his interest and even swears to it, it is better to abstain than to take a risk.
“I will not take chances; traditional rulers are powerful. They can do anything in the name of culture and tradition.” Okonkwo, without apology said: “What people don’t know is that if he meant it, it may not necessarily be dying in the lagoon.
It could be a philosophical statement which may manifest in the form of ill-luck or inexplicable occurrence at a later date on those who go against his wish, especially when people said he swore by his throne.
I warned my children to stay at home and watch how it will end.” Pa Okonkwo may not be alone on this line of thought; other Igbo residents in the state had different ideas on how the Oba’s threat affected their voting pattern or contributed to the turn-out of the last election in the state.
If the Igbo actually came out for the election, did they vote out of anger and emotion? Did it cause voter apathy among Ndigbo or spur them to vote against the Oba’s wish? “Vote Akinwunmi Ambode or be drowned in the lagoon within seven days!
The Oba’s threat came like a bolt out of the blue and it resonated throughout Lagos and the length and breadth of Nigeria and became the subject of discussion here and there.
Political observers believe that the pattern of voting in the presidential election, especially from the South-East, could have given the monarch much concern about how the Igbo in the state could sway the votes for Agbaje and therefore he handed down the threat.
Whether a mere joke or not, with the outrage that greeted the development, political analysts therefore expected protest votes from Igbo voters against the APC candidate.
And scared of this the APC almost went on their knees to plead with Ndigbo to disregard the Oba’s threat and maintained that he spoke for himself and not the APC.
The fear of protest vote swinging the pendulum for PDP’ Jimi Agbaje was palpable. Would the Igbo vote in Agbaje? Alas, that was not to be. Instead, not only that the Oba’s candidate won, the margin showed that many Igbo might not have voted.
And as a matter of fact, many stayed away from the voting centres. There were those who really felt threatened by the threat of the Oba and those who lost interest after President Jonathan was routed in the Presidential election.
Like Pa Okonkwo, many felt that the threat could not be treated with kid gloves, thereby abstaining from the process entirely.
Some of those who spoke to Saturday Vanguard maintained that the royal outburst of ‘drowning threat’ was just a media creation and a huge joke after all.
They said that much as it was dismissed as a joke, it was inconsequential. An Igbo domestic worker to one media executive, when asked why he refused to cast his votes said: “I wanted to vote for the PDP because I was tired of APC in Lagos, but I was scared of the Oba’s threat.”
Even when reminded that as a Christian he needed not to be afraid of such threat, he maintained that it was safer not to vote than to be weighing the efficacy or otherwise of the Oba’s fetish dispositions.
“Oga, we are all Christians but in a matter like this it is better not to give chances to anything,” said. This was at Amuwo Odofin. “Many of my friends decided same way, just stay away,” he added.
