Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Wednesday expressed surprise at recent outburst against the State Government by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government, declaring that if the Government at the center is worried about the transformation going on in the State, it should take it as a wakeup call to rise to the challenges facing the country.
He said: “If it gives them sleepless nights and makes them uncomfortable, I make no apologies for that. That is why I am in Government to succeed and to improve the quality of life of the people as best as I can”.
Governor Fashola who spoke in an interview with Aviation Correspondents at the Presidential Lounge of the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja on his return from a trip to Abuja added “Look, this is party that has spent 12 years trying to provide electricity. We have provided three major electricity plants, the next major one would be finished in the next few weeks. Clearly therefore they are deficient in planning and in implementation”.
Continuing, Governor Fashola declared: “They spent 10 years in building a 400metres Bridge in Ota and on the day of commissioning, instead of apologizing to Lagosians, they were fighting themselves about who would cut the tape. Meanwhile, the road that leads to the Bridge is not finished”.
Governor Fashola said the State Government constructed the Okota Link Bridge which is longer than the Sango Otta Bridge in 18 months, saying those are issues he expects the PDP to come forward and talk about.
“Look at the Apapa/Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway which is their road. It is pothole ridden. The road to the biggest Airport in the country is a national embarrassment. We have cleared Oshodi, asking them to finish their road, so that Nigerians can even begin to change our image to foreigners who come here. These are the issues we expect them to come and address our voters about. We are waiting for them”, Governor Fashola pointed out.
The Governor Fashola also reacted to a statement credited to President Goodluck Jonathan in which he described Action Congress of Nigeria Governors in the South West as rascals, saying the language is un-Presidential.
In his words: “The office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a very high office and I don’t think the kind of language coming from a Peoples’ Democratic Party Presidential candidate is Presidential”.
“I have asked myself if the President is more concerned about who is the Governor of Lagos State or becoming the President. I think if the PDP is ready to swap candidates for the Governorship of Lagos, I will be ready to face him because his candidate is not talking about what he wants to do in Lagos”.
Governor Fashola said he would leave the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to respond to the PDP candidate on issues that are germane to Nigeria as to why federal roads in Lagos State have not been fixed and why Lagosians do not have electricity and have to bear the cost of their own security in spite of the enormous votes every year in the federal budget for security.
In his words: “These are issues that concerns Lagosians and for which their votes would be deployed. The Lagos voters will not vote on the basis of luck. I did not win this office on the basis of luck. It was on the basis of a clear manifesto of the ACN with clear ideas about how to prosper the economy and the hardwork which we have done since 1999 as a people”.
“Election cannot be won by resorting to using denigrating language or by claiming luck. Election requires those who seek elective office to focus on the people over whom they plan to exercise authority and to communicate to them in a clear and practical manner how they intend to improve their lot”.
“I think the PDP led Federal Government has a lot of questions to answer in Lagos State. It is interesting that these remarks are being made from outside Lagos State. I hope that when they come here, they would be able to call us rascals again. If we are rascals, it means with some of the other Governors, he has been presiding over a republic of rascals. I leave him to decide his own choice of words”, he added.
Speaking on the controversy generated by the purported attempt to promote the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Salami to the Supreme Court, Governor Fashola said as a matter of fact, the President of the Court of Appeal has on a number of occasions opted not to be elevated.
He said it is common in the legal profession that if someone is a colleague or classmate, on the day he gets appointed into the court, all those who come after him, even if he was their junior before, he becomes their senior.
“So, if his juniors and colleagues have gone to the Supreme Court and we are promoting him, is there a real promotion there, because he is going to take precedent behind them. If it is a promotion, is that a real promotion, to go and queue up behind those you presided over”.
On his assessment of the just concluded Voters registration exercise, Governor Fashola said “It is not yet Uhuru. We are not at the promise land yet because issues of the credibility of the exercise now come to be discussed”.
He thanked Lagosians for responding to the appeal of the Government to participate and also thanked religious societies, traditional rulers, civil societies members who joined and worked with the State from the beginning to the end by bearing the pain and discomfort and the long hours in the sun to participate in the exercise.
Said he: “We also want to thank the Youth Corps members because the general reports we had about their comportment was that they also endured and sacrificed, adding that it was a strong signal about the readiness of young people to take leadership”
“Now, we have inputed into the system. We’ve submitted our names, our phone numbers and have also submitted our faces and now waiting for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The people must however remain vigilant. The exercise is not over because we are going into the claims and objections”.
“Everybody in every polling unit, ward and area must be able to identify all of those that come on the voters register. That is the way we will clean out the process and ultimately I can hope to say the exercise was successful”.
On the incident that occurred in Ketu on Wednesday, the Lagos State Governor said he has got a preliminary report and has ordered an investigation into it, saying it would be prejudicial to come to any conclusion before investigation is concluded.
Governor Fashola who said he has always preached peaceful coexistence and tolerance, added that incidents that will provoke the temper are bound to happen, but one must be able to control his temper.
“Violence and anger are not options for people who want to develop. It is not a strategy but a sign of weakness. It is only superior thinking that endures. Violence is only a flash that evaporates. Anger management is something we must develop”.
He reiterated that the burning of two Lagbus meant that those who participated have also succeeded in burning their assets because the buses were procured with tax payers money and are collective assets for our benefit.
“So if we bought buses with money and some people burn it, have they really contributed to our development? The buses are not made here. Even if we had money now, we cannot replace them today. They serve hundreds of Nigerians everyday so with those two, we have hundreds of Nigerians going into pains and inconveniences”, Governor Fashola explained.
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