AS the electorate in Lagos prepare for the governorship election tomorrow in the state, the threat by the Oba of Lagos appears to have thrown a major spanner in the works of the APC’s candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, as the next governor of the state.

Oba Rilwanu Akiolu reportedly threatened an assemblage of Igbo leaders that the Igbos will sink in the lagoon if they do not vote for the APC’s standard bearer at the polls.

But this may have boomeranged, notwithstanding, the party’s last-ditch efforts to salvage the situation and placate those angered by the monarch’s utterances.

This is because many Nigerians have risen to the awkward challenge posed by the Oba’s unexpected and undemocratic imposition of a candidate on a tribe whose citizens have every right to live and make a democratic choice in any part of Nigeria.

The Oba’s statement has rightly drawn the umbrage and indignation of Igbo leaders and people nationwide as well as the consternation of Nigerians, especially at this point in time when the nation is enjoying the unbelievable peace and serenity that followed the last presidential elections.

To some, the Lagos monarch’s comments were a guided missile to cause confusion and pandemonium in the ranks of the Igbos who have been calling on APC governors in the state to allow the Igbos enjoy more of the dividends of democracy in a state that they feel they have given enough of their toil to enjoy such benefits. In this respect, the Oba’s royal decree to the Igbos may have positioned the PDP as the hope and succour of Lagosians.

Of course, the major beneficiary of this avoidable crisis is the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Jimi Agbaje.

Implicit in this prognosis is that prior to the monarch’s outburst, the people of Lagos, or the majority of them, seemed to have made up their mind to part company with the APC and its candidate of continuity.

This could have been a tacit agreement and modus operandi of some people, including those who present themselves as key APC stalwarts who openly campaigned for the APC in broad daylight, but planned at night how to jettison the yoke of the party in the state by voting and ensuring that the PDP wins the election.

It is note-worthy, however, that the Oba was said to have disowned the statement on the ground that he had been quoted out of context.

While some people may believe the rejoinder, it remains doubtful whether the political damage has not already been done to tip the balance of voting in favour of the PDP legislative and gubernatorial candidates. It remains a 50-50 debate as to, if the retraction of the alleged threat, was not only an after-thought, but a pathetic effort   to close the stable after the horse has bolted

An obvious lesson here is that the Oba and all traditional rulers who are similarly not inclined to make a secret of their preferred political candidates should be aware that in a democracy, choice is the weapon of the masses to vote politicians in or out of power.

Democracy is one man, one vote and has no room for royalty even though it respects tradition and culture as long as they do not clash with modernity and innovation, the engine oil of political and economic development and stability.

The Oba’s threat to the Igbos, instead of persuasion, is an anathema to modern politics and democracy as, by virtue of his exalted   position, he is expected to be father to all, including the Igbos he told roundly that he was not begging to toe the royal line and vote in the APC candidate.

As for Agbaje, whom the Oba said was his blood relation and foreclosed his emergence as governor in this dispensation, he should take solace that every cloud has a silver lining.

To some voters in Lagos State, it is stunning that the Oba’s attitude does not authenticate the notion that blood is thicker than water. It is equally disconcerting that the monarch, by his reported statements, seems to have betrayed his contempt for the democratic process.

Else, he has no reason to have attempted to force any group of Nigerians to support his preferred candidate. Every Nigerian is entitled to his choice of political candidate.

This, the voters in Lagos, can prove tomorrow, when they exercise their political franchise to determine the next governor of Lagos State.

•Shaba, a public commentator, wrote from Lagos.