Nigerian Police has dismissed a threat to the Igbos in Lagos, by the Chairman of Lagos Parks and Garages, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as, ‘MC Oluomo,’ and called it a “joke”.
MC Oluomo, the leader of the state’s transport union, had days ago threatened that Igbos who will not vote for All Progressives Congress in the Saturday’s governorship and state house of assembly election in the state, should stay at home.
Governorship and State House of Assembly elections will be held on Saturday and MC Oluomo’s APC is angling to avoid an embarrassing loss it suffered at the hands of the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential election.
When asked about the police reaction to MC Oluomo’s threat, Force Spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi, during an interview with Channels TV Friday night, He responded, “This person involved, MC Oluomo himself, I saw a video he did with one Igbo woman whose name was mentioned in the video of the threat, that it is not true. That he was making a joke with one particular woman and the woman came up to say it is not true. They are just throwing banters. It is a joke.
“So let us take it like joke, like he has said. He has come out to debunk that it is not true. Let us leave it that way that it is not true. It is a joke between two persons in that area at that particular point in time.”
MC Oluomo, who commands the militant wing of the ruling APC in Lagos, issued the threat in a viral video on Thursday.
In the video, he urged Yorubas to go out to vote early on Saturday, adding that “we have begged them. If they don’t want to vote for us, it is not a fight. Tell them, Iya Chukwudi, if you don’t want to vote for us, sit down at home. Sit down at home.”
Following several criticisms received from the people, who also called for his arrest and prosecution for threatening to disenfranchise citizens from exercising their civic right, MC Oluomo in another video on Friday admitted he made the controversial statement but it was a joke.
“I was only joking ; I am not threatening any Igbo person.”
“I was discussing with my sister, Iya Chukwudi. I was referring to her that Iya Chukwudi, if you are not voting for me, sit down at home and the next thing I saw was the video on social media,’ he said.
A woman who also claimed to be Iya Chukwudi, spoke in the video, saying she is friends with MC Oluomo.
However, the Nigerian police in Lagos had on Friday, in a statement by its spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin, said they are working to unmask those behind MC Oluomo’s offensive video.
Meanwhile, many people believe MC Oluomo’s threat could scare potential voters away from exercising their franchise on Saturday, as the incumbent governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu fights for re-election.
The situation, which came after the APC suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Labour Party during the February 25 presidential polls in the state, despite violence and intimidation of voters.
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi defeated APC flag bearer, Bola Tinubu in Lagos, with a total score of 582,454 votes against the former two-term Lagos governor’s 572,606 votes in his home state.
However, Tinubu was subsequently declared winner of the election after total results from 36 states were collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Mr Obi’s unprecedented victory in Lagos has positioned his party’s candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, as a major contender of Mr Sanwo-Olu of the APC in the Saturday’s election
