Afenifere: Tinubu’s Loss in Lagos Not Strife Between Igbo, Yoruba

•Urges Sanwo-Olu to make state-wide address 

•Police spokesperson, Hundeyin denies ethnic-profiling allegation

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Sunday Ehigiator in Lagos

A socio-cultural group, Afenifere, yesterday maintained that the loss of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu, in the presidential poll in Lagos, should not be seen through the prisms of ethnicity.

In a statement by Afenifere Leader, Lagos State, Chief Supo Shonibare, the group also urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make a state-wide address to douse the tension that’s currently brewing.

Afenifere maintained that Peter Obi’s victory in Lagos was in spite of the suppression of votes and violence clearly intended to deter perceived potential supporters of the ‘rainbow coalition’ which had adopted him as their joint candidate, from being able to cast their votes.

Insisting that many segments of supporters were prevented from voting, Afenifere noted that there was lack of diligence on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, who it alleged connived with ruling party leaders in many local governments by refusing to upload the election results at polling units.

According to Afenifere, INEC claimed that the same BVAS appliance which had successfully accredited voters, suddenly became inoperable in loading the results.

While thanking all Lagosians and all residents of Lagos State who trooped out en masse to exercise their fundamental right to vote, the socio-cultural association said it had however been inundated with reports of violence in some parts of Lagos, occasioned against non- indigenes.

“Afenifere has observed the results of the presidential elections in Lagos. This result has confirmed the returns from our LGA Chairmen in all the 20 LGAs in Lagos, confirming that Mr. Peter Obi has emerged as the victor of the polls in Lagos.

 “Yorubas are an urbane, accommodating ethnic group that will always eschew violence in expressing their preferred candidate in any democratic process.

“All of us in Lagos must appreciate the fact that our political decisions in exercising our franchise is not an ethnic warfare, strife or contest between Yorubas and Igbos or between Yorubas and any other ethnic group,” the group said.

It pointed out that many Igbos voted for Tinubu in states in the south-east, as many Yoruba people also elected to vote for Obi in Lagos and other states in the south-west.

Afenifere enjoined the commissioner of police in Lagos state to uphold the rule of law and ensure the protection of life and property of all the residents of Lagos.

It also welcomed the statement from the APC Presidential Campaign Council enjoining Lagosians not to resort to acts of violence.

“We also enjoin the Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make a state-wide address to the residents of Lagos State and join hands with Afenifere to assure all residents of their safety and protection of life and property,” the Yoruba group stated.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Police Spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin has denied the ‘ethnic-whistling’ allegation levelled against him by some members of the public while reacting to news of hoodlums who attacked some business owners in Lagos Island yesterday.

Hundeyin had come under heavy criticism by Nigerians in his reactions to news about thugs attacking traders at the Mandilas Market, Lagos Island, shortly after the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi was announced to have defeated the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Ahmed Tinubu, in Lagos State

In a follow-up reaction to the allegation on his Twitter handle, Hundeyin had written, “I urge us not to fall for tribal bigotry. The complaint was that Igbos were being attacked and robbed.

“I investigated and found it true that Igbo traders were specifically being chased away by some hoodlums over the insistence of the traders to open a shop today despite an agreement by all the traders that shops would not open yesterday and today.

“@LagosPoliceNG would not condone that. Patrol teams from three different units were swiftly dispatched there. Our swift response prevented anyone from being attacked or robbed, as widely claimed. Normalcy was restored and officers remained on the ground.

“The complaint brought up was addressed squarely, not shying away from the facts. I urge us not to see things from the lens of tribalism (as I am being wrongly accused of) but from the lens of facts and figures. We are Nigerians.”