by Kolapo Olapoju
A participant of the meeting between
Igbo leaders and Oba of Lagos state, has
revealed that the monarch was merely
joking with his utterances and that none
of the persons present took offense to his
words.
The person in question is a Lagos-based
lawyer and industrialist, Chukwudi Atueyi,
who revealed to Vanguard what
happened between Igbo leaders and Oba
Rilwan Akiolu.
Read below his account of events:
“All the Eze Ndi Igbo honorary in
Lagos went to pay HRM solidarity
visit on Sunday and I was
fortunate to be among those
present at the said meeting. What
the Oba said was fully and simply
directed to only the Igbos present
at the meeting who his majesty
considers to be very close to him
and should understand him well
enough.”
“You know when one talks to his
very close friends and subjects, he
tends to be very free with them, so
he was being very free with those
present at the meeting and
wanted us to realize how serious
and close he takes us and our
votes, because he cannot imagine
us giving him our words only to
turn back and do the very
opposite.”
“He did not force us to the
meeting, we were the ones that
went to him on solidarity visit, so it
would be very evil of us to only go
and deceive him there. He only
jokingly (at least as it appeared to
me then) warned the people
present at the meeting who he
considers his own people.
The said warning that we are
supposed to be very conversant
with since we have all the “Ëze Ndi
Igbo” present there, as that was
not the first time we visited him.
We are all already aware of the
Yoruba culture and understood
perfectly what he meant. There
was no specific place he referred
to all the Igbos in Lagos.”
“He was only addressing the Igbos
with him present there whom he
considers his own people and he
simply observed his culture which
we all quite understood and this
explains why there was applause
and laughter at the end of his
speech. We were expected to,
thereafter, talk to our people in
civilized manner to convince them
and canvass for their votes if we
truly believe we are capable of
doing so.”
“The tradition of lagoon water
threat was directed only to those
present at the meeting as culture
demands. Though he appeared
serious but we all understood it as
a joke, that was why we all
applauded him and made fun of it
there.”
“So I suspect serious politics at
play here. I wouldn’t know who
recorded the speech and decided
to play politics with it. It is most
unfair to his majesty to be
portrayed in this manner and I
think I owe it as a duty to speak up
before things get out of hand.” www.YNaija.com

Read through, buh couldn't find where "negotiation" took place, abi shey no be igbo people meet?
This article no complete jhoor.

Spread mat

wakacome:
This oba akiolu statement is the most overflogged issue on nairaland!!!!!!!now it is getting stale

. stale, old news, but nonetheless RELEVANT.. tomorrow when Akiolu makes decisions or influences decisions at a national level to the detriment of any group.. at least people will remember this for reference. you know how short memory of nigerians is

So disappointing