2019 Election: Northern Groups Warn Oba of Lagos on Interfering in Politics

The vocal Oba Akinolu of Lagos has been cautioned about his utterances concerning the political direction of Nigeria in 2019.

Two northern groups, the Northern Emancipation Network (NEF) and Adamawa Think Tank (ATT) have warned the king of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu to desist from interfering in the 2019 presidential elections.

Recall that the Oba of Lagos recently said that he would not support some certain corrupt people to contest for presidential elections come 2019.

There have been indications that Oba of Lagos might have been attacking former vice-President Abubakar Atiku, when he said some people served under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and converted national properties to their own.

Premium Times reports that in two separate statements signed by Abdul-Azeez Suleiman for NEF and Danladi Dan Asabe for ATT, the groups said the recent utterances of Oba of Lagos amount to a “clear breach of the tenets of royalty and nobility."

Suleiman said: “Besides, it is unthinkable how a person who was disgraced out of the police service would have the audacity to unjustly accuse others of corruption.

“We challenge him to provide clear proofs of his allegations otherwise he remains a discredited and lying member of the royal class and a disappointment to nobility and those who hold the institution dear."

“We remind the Lagos monarch that those in glass houses don’t throw stones about. We categorically tell the monarch that he lacks the capacity to influence any political event even in Lagos, not to talk of influencing any national event."

On his part, Mr. DanAsabe said the Oba was just playing politics, “seeing that politicking for 2019 will soon begin”.

Asabe also said: “Atiku relies on the support of all Nigerians as he goes about his politics and cannot help those who harbour unnecessary fears.”

Suleiman also said that Nigerians are not in a hurry to forget the way the Lagos Oba told the Igbo community in Lagos “to go die in the lagoon during the build-up to the 2015 elections".

“This shows that it is not the first time he will shed the garb of royalty and put on the clothing of motor park tout.”

Meanwhile, the Arewa Youths Forum (AYF) has accused northern governors of colluding with some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to make political gain in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The group released a statement signed by its national president Comrade Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, the group alleged that President Buhari’s extended leave has accorded some northern politicians the opportunity to cash in at the extent of the region’s development.