Agbaje Orders Igbos To Push APC Into Atlantic Ocean

 

The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has urged Igbo across the state to push the All Progressives Congress ‘into the lagoon’ by voting for him on Saturday. 

 

Agbaje said this while addressing Igbo traders at the Alaba International Market on Thursday. 

 

The PDP candidate urged them to ignore the threats made by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, that if they do not vote for the APC governorship candidate on Saturday, they would die in the lagoon.
“Nobody can push you into the Atlantic Ocean. Rather, you should use your votes to push the APC into the Atlantic Ocean by voting massively for the PDP on Saturday,” Agbaje said.
He urged the people to ignore the scare tactics being marshalled by the APC, saying, it was the antics of a drowning party.

Agbaje said, “Election is like a snake. You have to make sure you win by killing the snake completely by using your votes to drive the APC out of power. The reason why they are harassing you is because they fear Igbo votes. They will try to do ‘shakara’ for you but you must vote massively for the PDP and protect your votes.”

Agbaje, who was accompanied by his running mate, Alhaja Safuratu Abdulkarim; and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, said the APC had become arrogant because the party had been in power for too long.

He said, “In the last 16 years, the APC has been full of arrogance. This arrogance must end once and for all. Saturday is the time to say enough is enough.”

Counselling the audience to eschew violence and refuse to be intimidated at the polling venue, Agbaje urged them to guard their votes.

He said, “God is on our side and power will change hands on Saturday and life will be better for you and your businesses. There will be no oppression again because this election is about freedom from bondage.”

Following the uproar caused by the alleged comments by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, where he reportedly threatened Igbos resident in Lagos to vote for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a representative of the palace has released a statement regarding the issue.

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A Brief History of Religious Tension in Nigeria: The Boko Haram Antecedents

 Early religious conflict in Nigeria

Religious conflict in Nigeria goes as far back as 1953. The Igbo massacre of 1966 in the North that followed the counter-coup of the same year had as a dual cause the Igbo officers' coup and pre-existing (sectarian) tensions between the Igbos and the local Muslims. This was a major factor in the Biafran secession and the resulting civil war.

Maitatsine

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a major Islamic uprising led by Maitatsine (Mohammed Marwa) and his followers, Yan Tatsine that led to several thousand deaths. After Maitatsine's death in 1980, the movement continued some five years more.

In the same decade the erstwhile military ruler of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida enrolled Nigeria in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. This was a move which aggravated religious tensions in the country, particularly among the Christian community. In response, some in the Muslim community pointed out that certain other African member states have smaller proportions of Muslims, as well as Nigeria's diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

Establishment of Sharia

Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, Sharia has been instituted as a main body of civil and criminal law in 9 Muslim-majority and in some parts of 3 Muslim-plurality states, when then-Zamfara State governor Ahmad Rufai Sani began the push for the institution of Sharia at the state level of government. This was followed by controversy as to the would-be legal status of the non-Muslims in the Sharia system. A spate of Muslim-Christian riots soon emerged.

In the primarily Islamic northern states of Nigeria, a variety of Muslim groups and populations exist, who favour the nationwide introduction of Sharia Law. The demands of these populations have been at least partially upheld by the Nigerian Federal Government in 12 states, firstly in Zamfara State in 1999. The implementation has been widely attributed as being due to the insistence of Zamfara State governor Ahmad Rufai Sani. 

The death sentences of Amina Lawal and Safiya Hussaini attracted international attention to what many saw as the harsh regime of these laws. These sentences were later overturned; the first execution was carried out in 2002. 

Blasphemy and apostasy

Twelve out of Nigeria's thirty-six states have Sunni Islam as the dominant religion. In 1999, those states chose to have Sharia courts as well as Customary courts. A Sharia court may treat blasphemy as deserving of several punishments up to, and including, execution. In many predominantly Muslim states, conversion from Islam to another religion is illegal and often a capital offence. 

Demographic balance

According to a Nigerian study on demographics and religion, Muslims make up 50.5% of the population. Muslims mainly live in the north of the country; the majority of the Nigerian Muslims are Sunnis. Christians are the second-largest religious group and make up 48.2% of the population. They predominate in the central and southern part of the country. 

For reasons of avoiding political controversy, questions of religion were forgone in the 2006 Nigerian census.

The Begging Issue

We all foresaw what was coming; but refused to do anything- hypocrisy and ignorance playing their part. Unfortunately enough, the daring consequence of our sheer negligence and myopia is the birth of the monster, Boko Haram.

Read more from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/