''Forgive Akiolu and move on," Buhari tells Igbo

The President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), has urged the Ndigbo and other non-indigenes in Lagos State to forgive all that has been said against them and move on for the sake of peace.

Buhari said this during a rally in Lagos to address the comments made by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu.

Akiolu has been under fire since Monday when he reportedly threatened the Ndigbo in Lagos to either vote for the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, or perish in the lagoon.

The Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday asked Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to suspend Akiolu forthwith.

However, the President-elect described Lagos as home for all, adding that the time had come for Nigerians to look past ethnicity in the general interest of peace and unity. PUNCH reports that he said:

''I admire what your governor has done in terms of mobilising revenue to sustain Lagos development. I have a lot of respect for Governor Fashola for his hard work, commitment to the state and the country. There is no doubt that Lagos is a mini-Nigeria. We are all here and it has been mentioned by previous speakers that everybody (tribe) is adequately represented in Lagos. 

So, I assure you. If you vote for the continuity of APC in Lagos, you stand to gain more. It is in your interest that you vote for the APC. 

Please when you go home tell your neighbours, relatives and even the opposition to please bury the hatchet. Let them fall in line and vote the APC. 

When we were coming in our bus, Fashola told me how Lagos State had been spending to maintain the federal infrastructure here such as buildings, roads and other institutions. I had promised before that if I won the election and became the President, I would make Lagos my priority. Governor Fashola is already holding to me to that promise so I would like the incoming governor to listen carefully and make sure he makes me honour my undertaking.”

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