Oba Of Lagos Rejects LP Governorship Candidate, Adopts Sanwo-Olu

The Oba of Lagos, Riliwan Akiolu on Thursday declared his support for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Oba Akiolu stated this when the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, visited the Iga-Iduganran palace to make his intentions known.

The monarch who commended Rhodes-Vivour for his courage to contest, however, insisted that Sanwo-Olu would win the governorship election scheduled for the 18th of February, 2023.

He said: “I declared my support for Sanwo-Olu because I believe in him and the Lord has said it is Sanwo-Olu who will win.

“For you Gbadebo, the future is open to us. God will not kill you, there is nothing wrong in you contesting. All of those contesting are my children. God should help us to make the state better. When Sanwo-Olu wins, the government will involve all of us, there is no winner takes all, and God will grant him long life.”

Aba Akiolu speaking on the LP candidate’s visit to the palace described it as a walk in the right direction, he said, “He is a citizen of Nigeria, it is his right to come to his father since I’m the father of all. It is however said we are equal in the eyes of God but we are not equal in the love of God.

“I have also advised him as a young man. Politicians don’t fight, they only disagree, there’s nothing wrong with him wanting to be governor, but I have told him where I stand. He should not relent after this contest but I am fully behind Sanwo-Olu.”

On the alleged statement that ‘Lagos is a no man’s land’, the monarch said such should not be heard of and urged Lagosians to eschew any act of electoral violence but embrace peace in discharging their civil duty.

He said, “By the grace of God, there is no reason we should quarrel with ourselves. The people should come out en-masse and be very peaceful while performing their constitutional duties. There should be no harassment of anyone, we are all part and parcel of this country.”

The monarch on Thursday also enhanced that Nigeria’s future is bright and will begin to witness positive changes when the President-elect, Bola Tinubu assumes office.

He also enjoined politicians to keep to their electoral promises to the people as ‘they are answerable to God’.

He added that the endsars protest would not have turned out the way it did if the government had played its part.

Adekoyejo Rhodes while speaking on behalf of the LP candidate reiterated the party’s commitment to ensuring a peaceful election.

Rhodes said, “It’s not about fight, let the election go in peace, if God says they win, we would accept, we just want to make sure everything goes peacefully.”