A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Doyin Okupe, has reacted to the crisis going on between Yorubas and Igbos living and doing business in Lagos State.
Okupe, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, wondered why Igbo people living in Lagos should be stopped from casting their votes.
He described the campaign among the Yorubas for Igbo to leave Lagos for choosing a particular political party over another, as deadly and undemocratic.
In a post on Facebook, he wrote, “Whoever started this strange and senseless cry that Ibos must leave Lagos because they voted for political party of their choices are not true Yorubas.
“If they are they must have come from our lowest form of human aberrations. Yorubas by definition and history are the most sophisticated and civilized race in West Africa.
“We are naturally tolerant and we have always welcome strangers with open arms.
“The anti-Igbo protests that we have seen in the last few days in Lagos are barbaric and alien to Yoruba culture.
“Politically the Igbos have stood by Yoruba interests at very critical periods I was at the bedside of MKO Abiola in London and he was budgeting money he wanted to send home to support NADECO structures nationwide.
“I then queried him why the allocation to the east was so much. He replied, ‘Omooba these people(Igbos) are politically our rivals, yet 58% of their people voted for me’
“Also when Babangida led the north to make the whole country concede Presidency to the South West, a situation that brought up two Yoruba candidates for the elections, the Igbos in spite of the fact that they also have same aspirations, they did NOT oppose the Yorubas.
“What is going on in Lagos is evil, sinful, undemocratic and shameful. It must be stopped immediately. This is not who we are as a people.
“Can force a democratic choice on a people?
“Igbos do not own Lagos. You are very right.
“Igbos cannot rule/govern Lagos. You are totally correct.
“Lagos is not no-man’s land. I say, yet again, you are absolutely on point.
“But if an Igbo man stays in Lagos and registered in Lagos, is he free to vote for whoever he likes or wants?
“This is is what I have been asking my fellow Yoruba ethnic irredentists. Can you force any democratic choice on an individual?
“If a group chooses to vote for a particular candidate in an election, how is that a crime?
“Atiku and Buhari are both Fulanis. Many Yorubas told me they preferred Buhari to Atiku.
“No crime in that. In fact, they made it look as if it was a holy war to return Buhari.
“Sanwoolu and Agbaje are both Lagosians and two Yoruba guys. If Igbos say they prefer Agbaje to Sanwoolu, how is that a crime for God’s sake?
“Can someone tell me what I don’t know, please? Samuel O. Ajayi is Asking.”
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