The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has told the
Lagos PDP and Olabode George that the Fashola government and the ACN have
nothing to learn from the PDP and President Jonathan on the ban on commercial
operators from some roads in Lagos or in any aspect of governance. The party
said that both the PDP and the failed Jonathan government have nothing but
decay, atrophy, corruption, incompetence and such other symptoms of bad
governance to teach a working well governed state like Lagos and that it is absurd
that someone, even in the acute state of rustiness Bode George is operating at
present, should advise the Lagos State government to emulate the federal
government that has become a symbol of failure in the last thirteen years.
In a release in Lagos, signed by the Lagos State Publicity
Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, the party says it was reacting to the
reported view of Bode George that Governor Fashola should learn from President
Jonathan and the PDP on the issue of restricting commercial motorcycle
operators from some major roads in Lagos. It wondered what message Bode George
wants to send because there is nothing a federal government and a party that
has crumbled the country in nearly fourteen years of irresponsible, corrupt and
mediocre leadership can teach a state like Lagos if not how to visit decay on a
progressive and responsible state.
“Even as we agree that Bode George is rustic and suffers
seriously from a credibility crisis given his sordid record, we presume that he
should make appropriate effort to ensure his words conform to the basic tenets
of reasoning and logic. In advising Lagos State government to emulate the PDP
and the federal government, we are blank on what aspect he was referring to.
Does he recommend the Lagos State government to emulate PDP and the Jonathan
presidency on the sordid mess the PDP has rendered all federal roads in
thirteen years of unmitigated decay? Does he want Fashola to emulate the PDP’s
acrid record in reducing Nigeria to an enclave in Somalia through levying an
intractable security crisis we are facing at present? Does Bode George want
Fashola dn the ACN to emulate PDP’s record shattering unemployment record that
has made youth unemployment so overwhelming in an oil rich nation?
“We want to ask Bode George whether he want the Lagos State
government to emulate the PDP that has unleashed an unsolvable energy crisis
that obtains in the present situation where Nigerians buy fuel at N250 per
liter in the worst fuel crisis the nation stands to face. Is it on a
fluctuating power sector the PDP has made a permanent part of life in Nigeria?
Does Bode George want Lagos to emulate the PDP government’s elevation of
corruption and public stealing to a directive principle of state policy? We can
go on and on to demonstrate that the PDP is a curse to Nigeria and Nigerians
and has nothing to offer Nigerians except tutorials on how to demolish a
vibrant country to a pit of poverty, want and misery.
“Lagos ACN wants to call to mind that we have thrown our support
to the decision of the Lagos State government to restrict okada operations in
certain roads in Lagos principally on the uncountable deaths and maiming that
mount by the day from accidents involving okada operators and on the need to
curb the role of okada in crime cases. But since the decision to ban okada in
Lagos, the PDP had found it an anchor in reviving their dead political dream in
Lagos. They have made the ban on okada the sound bite of their every political
gamble and that is what ostensibly prompted Bode George’s incoherent and
illogical advice. But Lagosians should think deeper before guzzling PDP’s cheap
sentiments. We want to state that from every credible records, the rate of
okada related accidents in Lagos has gone down drastically while crime rates has
also dropped drastically in Lagos since the ban on okada operations in some
states in Lagos. This is apart from the sanity the decision impacted on road
usage in Lagos.
“Lagos ACN recalls that it was the PDP federal government that
first banned okada operations in the Federal Capital Territory and we did not
hear Bode George and his Lagos PDP criticize this move. Over ten PDP states
have gone ahead to ban okada operations in their states and we hadn’t heard a
whimper from Bode George and his Lagos PDP. States like Enugu, Delta, Imo (when
it was under the PDP), Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, etc are all PDP states
which have all banned okada operations and we had never seen or heard Bode
George and his PDP offering even any opinion on this. How come these people
believe that a partial restriction of okada operations in Lagos is now a mortal
sin when PDP states have carried out total ban on okada in their states? What
exactly does Bode George want Lagos to learn from his PDP on this score? In
their desperate bid to clutch any straw to retch up political capital, Lagos
PDP and the PDP are now hooked on okada politics and are inciting sentiments
against the state government in a move that is not only laudable but have been
enforced by PDP states. What a demonstration of self serving hypocrisy!
“It is instructive that Bode George and his Lagos PDP want all
the okada put out of business in PDP states to be shipped to Lagos to
constitute menace and threats to Lagosians so as to realize their long term aim
of making Lagos ungovernable and impede investment in Lagos. It is germane that
investors who predominate in such ever busy areas like Ikoyi, Victoria Island,
Lekki and many other parts of Lagos are listening to Bode George to have a
preview of what PDP wants to do with Lagos in the unfortunate event of power
capturing power in Lagos as they are projecting with this okada politics they
have made the cornerstone of their politics in Lagos at present.
“Lagos ACN wants to
reassure Lagosians that we took the entire decision to enact the new Lagos
traffic law in the best interest of Lagosians and not to punish the people. We
want to assure them that in the ACN, we put people before politics and not
politics before people, as the PDP does. We assure them that in the long run,
we all will benefit from the entire Lagos traffic law and the ban on okada
operations in certain parts of Lagos will serve great benefits to Lagosians. We
urge them to ignore the desperate effort of a failed party like the PDP to
corner their sentiments and sell mischief in the minds of Lagosians for their
selfish benefits, as they are doing at present.”
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