The Baale of Gbara in Jakande, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State has threatened to deal with residents if they failed to vote for the ruling All Progressives Congress, which he described as his party.
In a leaked audio, the monarch was heard telling the residents that they must vote APC if they wanted to keep living and doing business in the community.
“The people that will be friends with us are those with PVC, the people that will be doing business and making a profit here will only be the people that have their PVCs and are willing to vote for our party, APC, nothing short of that,” the monarch said during a cabinet meeting held on Monday, January 30, 2023.
“If you have any other party in mind, as a Nigerian, I’m not holding you, just make sure you are far away from Igbara. Just give the gap very well from Igbara. If you want to vote LP, you want to vote PDP, not be here.
“This one is a directive, as I’m talking to you, even my being a person is at stake. The status of my children is at stake. So I won’t allow you to jeopardise my future and that of my children.”
Although Nigeria runs a presidential system, it still retains monarchs of the various ethnic groups that make up the country.
The traditional rulers no longer exercise sovereignty but only ceremonial powers.
However, they remain a potent moral force with grassroots validity among their subjects.
In 2015, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, threatened the Ndigbo community in Lagos with death if they vote for the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Jimi Agbaje.
Akiolu insisted that Igbo residents in the state should cast their votes for the governorship candidate of then APC gubernatorial candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, or “perish inside the lagoon”.
