Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, says the Peoples Democratic
Party governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, is not qualified to rule a
cosmopolitan state like Lagos.
He, therefore, urged the people of the state to vote for the All
Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who he
described as an achiever.
The governor said this at an APC rally in the Kosofe Local Government
Area of the state on Monday.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who took 15 minutes to analyse Agbaje’s
manifesto titled, ‘Bold Ideas’ said Agbaje’s manifesto was filled with lies.
Fashola said it was unfortunate that Agbaje could berate the state
government for having the largest debt profile among other states when the
Federal Government still owed Lagos over N50bn.
He said, “We are trying to get out of the mess at the federal level and
their apprentice governor wants to put us in more mess. The PDP-led Federal
Government cannot even look after the police. I am the one funding their
police. The Alausa Immigration Passport office was built furnished and equipped
by the state government.
“All the 33 expansion joints on the Eko Bridge were not touched by the
Federal Government and that is why you were hearing strong vibrations on the
bridge but now it is smooth. It was the Commissioner for Works, Obafemi Hamzat,
that did the 33 joints.
“Today all the federal roads have been abandoned and we are the ones
repairing them. Today they owe us N51bn. They have not paid. So we do their job
and this same apprentice wants you to vote for him.
“I have been on this job for eight years as governor and four and a half
years as the chief of staff, that is the experience I have. Ambode was in
government before me at the local government level and worked with me for six
years. He knows what to do.
“Their candidate calls his plans bold ideas but I call them bold
inexperience. He says he wants to give you Internet hotspot. Tell him to beg
his boss in Abuja to give us electricity. You can’t have internet without
electricity. He has no bold ideas but bold ignorance and bold inexperience.”
The governor berated Agbaje for saying that 70 per cent of Lagos was a
slum.
He said his government had transformed several slums in the state.
“He says we have not been developing slums. What was Oshodi? What does
it look like now? Obalende now has 24-hour streetlight and a bus terminus. Who
cleaned it up?” he said.
Fashola said Agbaje’s promise to boost the ocean economy showed that the
PDP candidate did not know about the developments in the state.
He said, “He promised high-speed ferry but he doesn’t understand ferry
service. There is no such thing as a high-speed ferry. What you have are called
water taxis and they run between 22-25 nautical miles and which is 55 km per
hour and that is not high speed so he does not know what he is talking about.
“Ferries run about 39/40 nautical miles and that is 70 km per hour and that
is not high speed. What he didn’t tell you is that today, we are running over
20 ferry routes in Lagos such as Ijegun, Ikorodu, Ebute Ero, Egba, Badore, Epe
and so on. Tell him to enter the ferry so that he will learn. Today we have 131
licensed ferry operators.”
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Politics