Akiolu not APC’s spokesman – Tinubu, Igbokwe

Akiolu not APC’s spokesman – Tinubu, Igbokwe

A former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said the Oba of
Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, is not a member of the All Progressives Congress and
cannot speak on behalf of the party.
Tinubu said this at a rally in Iganmu, Lagos, while reacting to the controversial
comments of the monarch on Tuesday.
The APC National Leader, who noted that he was the first Yoruba governor to
ever appoint an Igbo commissioner, said the Peoples Democratic Party, having
failed to win last week’s presidential elections, were desperately trying to pull the
APC into the Akiolu controversy.
He said the Coordinator of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, Ifeanyi
Ubah, and the PDP leader, Bode George, were only making baseless accusations
against the APC.
Tinubu said, “The oba is not a politician. His job is to accommodate all political
parties, whether PDP, APC or SDP. So, what did he (Ubah) go and do at the
palace?
“To you Igbos, don’t we pay your children’s school fees like others? Or is it the
palace that pays for it? When we conducted an exam and a spelling competition,
an Igbo boy, Ebuka, from Anambra, came first and he became the governor for
one day.
“Those that won the competition three times in a row were Igbo. Ebuka was sent
to Switzerland computer school and then Obafemi Awolowo University. We did not
say he was an Igbo boy and he would not enjoy. He became an executive in
Oando and he is now in Canada.
“Another boy, Felix, won and went to Switzerland and OAU. We paid his
scholarship; we did not deny him because he is Igbo.”
In a separate statement, the Lagos State APC Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe,
said the monarch spoke out of anger.
He urged his kinsmen not to take out their anger on the APC governorship
candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who knew nothing about the incident.
The statement read, “Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos is not a card-carrying member
of APC. He is not a leader in the APC. He does not speak for the APC. He did not
speak for Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state.
“He did not speak for our national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He did not
speak for the incoming governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. His Royal Highness is at
liberty to speak for himself and he spoke for himself only.
“Lagos APC appeals to Ndigbo not to take the statement as the position of the
party in Lagos. We passionately appeal to Ndigbo not to carry the statement
credited to Oba Akiolu too far so as not to put a knife on things that have held us
together for more than 50 years now.
“If out of annoyance, you throw your cap away, a mad man will take it and use it
forever.”