{"id":37555,"date":"2015-04-07T16:19:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T15:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=37555"},"modified":"2015-04-07T16:19:50","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T15:19:50","slug":"oba-of-lagos-should-apologise-to-igbos-now-says-falana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/oba-of-lagos-should-apologise-to-igbos-now-says-falana\/","title":{"rendered":"Oba of Lagos should apologise to igbos Now says Falana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17174\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), \u00a0 on Tuesday,\u00a0 said\u00a0 Oba Rilwan Akiolu&#8217;s diatribe was a \u00a0\u00a0diversionary threat to igbos, which he described as\u00a0\u00a0 unacceptable and \u00a0a mockery of the political objective of national integration.<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">He then \u00a0told the Oba\u00a0of Lagos \u00a0to apologise to the Igbo people in Lagos \u201cwithout delay\u201d over his controversial statement.<\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">During a courtesy visit by Eze Ndigbos (Igbo traditional rulers) of all the local governments in Lagos at the Oba\u2019s Palace on Sunday, Mr. Akiolu had said that Igbo residents in the state should cast their votes for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Akinwunmi Ambode, or \u201cperish inside the lagoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17191\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt is illegal as it clearly offends Section 42 of the Constitution which has prohibited discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, religion, political opinion, creed or sex,\u201d said Mr. Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cAlthough the Oba lacks the power to cause anyone to \u2018die in the Lagoon within seven days,\u2019 the threat constitutes a violation of the fundamental right of thousands of citizens to life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cIn the case of Director-General of State Security Service v Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 N.W.L.R (PT 595) 314 it was held by the Supreme Court that \u2018It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives every Nigerian citizen the right to move throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof. It also guarantees to the citizen the right not to be expelled from Nigeria nor be refused entry or exit therefrom.\u2019<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17183\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cSince the residency right of every citizen is constitutionally guaranteed the Igbo people in Lagos should discountenance the threat of Oba Akiolu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17190\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">The monarch came under severe criticism on Monday, as christian groups and opposition politicians lambasted him for his utterance.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17189\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">Mr. Falana reminded the Oba that Lagos had continued to provide accommodation for Nigerians from all walks of life, a reason he said accounted for the absence of \u2018abandoned properties\u2019 in the state after the civil war.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cFrom time to time, armed militants and other misguided youths who unleash mindless violence on \u2018non indigenes\u2019 have always been called to order by the Government and the people of Lagos State,\u201d Mr. Falana said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17188\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cIndeed, the human-rights community has always kicked against discriminatory policies and ensured that all victims of human rights abuse are defended and protected regardless of their ethnic identity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cAs a senior lawyer, Oba Akiolu ought to have realized that the Electoral Act has not conferred powers on any traditional ruler or any other authority to sanction anyone for voting for a candidate of his or her choice in any election conducted in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cAfter all, before the just concluded presidential election the Oba adduced reasons why he could not endorse the presidential candidate of the APC, General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.). He was not harassed or intimidated for exercising his freedom of choice.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1428413247277_17184\" style=\"color: #000000; text-align: justify;\">\u201cSince the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended has banned any form of hate campaign the Oba is advised to withdraw the threat credited to him and apologize publicly to the Igbo people without any delay.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), \u00a0 on Tuesday,\u00a0 said\u00a0 Oba Rilwan Akiolu&#8217;s diatribe was a \u00a0\u00a0diversionary threat to igbos, which he described as\u00a0\u00a0 unacceptable and \u00a0a mockery of the&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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