By Dapo Ajani

On March 23, 2023, a certain Seye Oladejo with the designation of “Lagos State APC Spokesman” appended his name to something that must have been written by a typical poorly paid hack within the ranks of the party’s media hirelings. In a highly grievous manner, the piece featured a disgusting revisionism of the elections. But it must be said that there are many who recognize it as another weak attempt by the party to flood the online media space in order to control the narrative.

Thankfully, there are portions of dated and recent history that no one can revise, no matter how devious, diabolical, spiritual, woke, charismatic or malicious such a person is. There is simply no room for blatant revisionism when analysing events such as the Holocaust, Rwandan Genocide, Nigeria-Biafra War, America’s Invasion of Iraq, Russia-Ukraine War, amongst others too numerous to mention. This is what the All Progressives Congress (APC), especially its Lagos State Chapter, does not understand. There is no amount of op-eds or media storm that can erase the unfortunate event called the Lagos State gubernatorial election which took place on Saturday, March 18, 2023.

Lagosians generally know what happened on that day. The internet is awash with numerous first-hand accounts, pictures and videos of acts of election rigging and thuggery which are the hallmark of the APC. Lagosians know that the APC is skilled at deploying violence to manipulate election outcomes in the bid to gain or retain power, usually at the expense of the voters, some of whom may die, get injured or suffer consequences just for wanting to vote – an otherwise peaceful democratic act.

In another poor attempt to deflect attention and misdirect its gullible followers, the piece kept referring to the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) as “Chinedu,” a name that the candidate himself, Arch. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV) has acknowledged as given to him by a maternal grand-parent, albeit not in any of his official documents. He has also, for the umpteenth time, clarified his official name as Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour. So, you see, for a party to continuously resort to hate mongering for the Igbo ethnic group in Lagos state, simply because the LP candidate’s mother is Igbo, only tells us that we have found ourselves at a sorry impasse that cannot be ignored.

The true cost of the APC’s so-called victory, albeit temporary, is the souls that have been lost, bodies that have been maimed, businesses that have been destroyed, and psychological scars that will not heal. Let us even suspend party affiliation for a moment and lean further into our humanity. How does it even make any sense that at least 200 people who woke up without any medical issue on March 18th could not return home the same way just because they went out to cast their vote? How does it make any sense that an incumbent candidate who is said to have performed well is deploying thugs to opposition strongholds, in a bid to suppress voters with violent tactics? These are common-sense matters to rationalize. Unfortunately, the APC’s ranks do not seem to feature any rational individual who can even probe beneath the surface without resorting to party lines. Quite a sad bunch of people.

To be clear, Seye Oladejo is insignificant and does not matter in the grand scheme of things. His party, the APC, is soon to be put on trial when the disputed governorship election results are interrogated at the constituted Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal. The Labour Party candidate, in following with the firm and peaceful stand of the party’s presidential candidate, H.E. Peter Obi, will ensure to use the justice system to reveal the election for the sham that it was.

It is important to also caution the loose mouths at the APC that inciting ethnic hatred does no good. No Yoruba person can say they had a choice to be “born” as Yoruba. Same can be said for any one born in any of Nigeria’s many ethnicities. Why then does it seem right to stoke hate and violence against a particular ethnic group who have done nothing wrong, except to sojourn far from home to engage in thriving legal businesses and build another home for themselves, especially even as the Nigerian constitution guarantees the safety and protection of such persons?

Dear APC, the hate you give…

Dapo Ajani, GRV Media Office