Amidst the tension in Lagos State, following the victory of the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, over his counterpart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC), the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has called on the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to address the residents and assure them of the protection of their lives and property.
The group made this call in a release issued on Monday by Chief Supo Shonibare, the leader of the Lagos chapter of Afenifere. The group welcomed the statement from the APC Presidential Council enjoining Lagosians not to resort to acts of violence and called on the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Mr Idowu Owohunwa, to uphold the rule of law and ensure the protection of all residents and visitors in Lagos.
Afenifere reported that many of its supporters were prevented from voting, and alleged a lack of diligence on the part of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials who, it said, connived with the ruling party’s leaders in many local governments by refusing to offload the election results at polling units, claiming that the same BVAS appliance which had successfully accredited voters, suddenly became inoperable in loading the results.
The group, while acknowledging reports of violence in some parts of Lagos targeted at Igbos, declared that the Yoruba people were an urbane, accommodating ethnic group that would always eschew violence in expressing democratic preferences. Afenifere expressed appreciation to all Lagosians and residents who turned out en masse to perform their civic duty by voting, urging residents to ignore provocative posts on social media, many enabled by agent provocateurs and aimed at fanning the embers of disunity among peace-loving residents and intended to pitch the Yorubas against Igbos.
Afenifere concluded by noting that Igbos voted for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in states in the South-East, and in the same way, many Yoruba elected to vote for Mr Peter Obi in Lagos and other states in the South-West.
Comments are closed.