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The Nigerian Police have dismissed a threat by notorious Lagos thug, Musiliu ‘MC Oluomo’ Akinsanya as a “joke”.
MC Oluomo, leader of the state’s dreaded transport union, had days ago threatened that Igbos who will not vote for All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s governorship election, should stay at home.
Governorship and state House of Assembly elections will be held on Saturday and Mr Akinsanya’s APC is angling to avoid an embarrassing loss it suffered at the hands of the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential election.
Force Spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi, during an interview with Channels TV Friday night, was asked about the police reaction to MC Oluomo’s threat.
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.”
Peoples Gazette reported how MC Oluomo, who commands the militant wing of the ruling APC in Lagos, issued the threat in a viral video on Thursday.
In the viral video, MC Oluomo charged 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.”
Criticised by citizens 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,” MC Oluomo said. “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.”
A woman who claimed to be Iya Chukwudi also spoke in the video, saying she is friends with MC Oluomo.
Earlier on Friday, the Nigerian police in Lagos in a statement by its spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said they are working to unmask those behind MC Oluomo’s offensive video.
However, many 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.
This comes 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.
In the presidential election, Labour’s Peter Obi defeated APC flag bearer Bola Tinubu in Lagos. Mr Obi polled 582,454 votes against the former two-term Lagos governor’s 572,606 votes in his home turf.
Mr Tinubu was subsequently declared winner of the election after total results from 36 states were collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, Mr Obi’s unprecedented victory in Lagos has positioned his party’s candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, as a major challenger of Mr Sanwo-Olu of the APC in the Saturday’s election.
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