Exclusive! Deportation: Why Fashola begged Ndigbo

Posted by African Examiner Ayo Balogun, Featured, Latest Headlines, News Saturday, October 12th, 2013

Ayo Balogun, Lagos

It has been revealed that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Nigeria apologized to the Igbo over the recent deportation of some Igbo to Anambra State because of next month’s election in the state.

The governor’s apology was simply to save the face of the All Progressive Congress (APC) from defeat in the coming election as the opposing party had successfully painted APC as anti-Igbo party.

A top source in the Lagos State Government said Fashola would not have apologized to the Igbo as his action was in the right direction, but for the forthcoming election in Anambra State, he apologized to show that the APC is not anti-Igbo.

Our source stated that Governor Peter Obi had turned the deportation issue to politics in a bid to discredit the APC’s governorship candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige.

The source added that the APC is leaving nothing to chance as it sought to wrest power out of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), thus the need to apologise to the Igbo and give APC a chance in the Anambra election.

However, the Aka Ikenga 25^th Anniversary was seen as the best place for the governor to apologise to the Igbo and he reluctantly tender an apology even when he was not fully convinced of the need to tender such apology.

In his campaign in Lagos, Ngige had accused the Anambra State Government of trying to rope him in the deportation saga in a bid to scuttle his governorship ambition.