|
1
|
Jimi Agbaje [PDP]
|
9/10
|
|
2
|
Akinwumi Ambode [APC]
|
7/10
|
|
3
|
Jacobs Kayode [ Mega Progressives Party]
|
5/10
|
|
4
|
Akele Ayodele [ National Congress Party]
|
3/10
|
|
5
|
Bola Ogunseye [ Alliance For Democracy]
|
3/10
|
|
6
|
Ishola Aregbesola [ Action Alliance]
|
1/10
|
|
7
|
Abiodun Popoola [ Labbour Party]
|
6/10
|
Brilliant ideas to make Lagos a better city were in abundant
supply at the 2015 Lagos State Gubernatorial Debates at the Archbishop Vining
Memorial Cathedral in Ikeja on Thursday, as candidates vying to become the next
governor put across their plans to the public.
Education, urban transportation, security and alternative
ways of generating revenue for the state, and the economy dominated the
discussion. Though some of the contestants clearly showed that they have no
business vying for the governorship position of Nigeria’s centre for commerce,
the overall performance surpassed previous debates.
The contestants relied on statistics from the government,
World Bank and the United Nations to buttress their points. One thing was clear
to the thoroughly thrilled audience: Except for a few candidates, whoever
emerges winner in the February 21 election, Lagos would be in good hands if the
words said Thursday are matched with action.
The event kicked off few minutes past 11 a.m. but the pew of
the large church was already completely filled with members of the public and a
good number of others, who couldn’t find seats, remained outside.
The debate, which was organised by the Lagos West dioceses
of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion in conjunction with the Dioceses
of Badagry and Lagos Mainland, was moderated by the Bishop Theologian of the
Church and former Chaplain of Lagos State University, Dapo Asaju, who is a
professor of Theology.
The panellists for the debate were President, Nigerian Guild
of Editors, Femi Adesina, Managing Director Excel professional Services
Limited, Oladimeji Alo, and Managing Director, Business World Newspapers, Ray
Echebiri.
Bishop of Dioceses of Lagos West, Olusola Odedeji, while
appealing to the contestants to shun violence, told them that election is an
order to serve and there should be reason for violence.
“Voters are king. The society should be the ultimate winner
when election is conducted without fear or favour,” he said.
“Politics is not alien to religion. You would be leading
people across religious divide. If one part of the nation hurts all of us are
in pain,” he said.
Below is our analysis of what the candidates presented as
their plans for the state and our assessment of how well they performed.
Candidates are rated on the scale of 1-10 based on how articulate they
presented their plans and the practicality of some of their ideas. The scores
only represent basically PREMIUM TIMES’ impression of how the candidates
performed.
1. Abiodun Popoola, Labour Party
The surprise participant of the day is the Labour Party
candidate. While other parties were represented by their substantive
governorship candidates, Labour party was represented by its deputy governor
candidate, Abiodun Popoola. Mr Popoola explained that the party’s governorship
candidate was in Abuja for an urgent assignment and couldn’t attend. Mr.
Popoola reeled out ideas that were so radically brilliant for a running mate
that one had to wonder if the gubernatorial candidate was a super human.
Mr. Popoola was articulate and his plans for the state
appeared well-rehearsed and delivered with the confidence of a star performer.
He announced his entry into the race by declaring that Lagos can no longer
afford mediocre leadership since a number of countries look upon the city as a
beacon of hope in the continent.
Mr. Popoola, a career banker and pastor, said his party
represents the teeming majority of poor Lagosians. He said his party’s main
vision for the state is anchored on Education, Security and infrastructural
renewal. Making reference to the high failure rate in the school certificate
examination in the state, he said education in the state is in shambles. He
promised a complete review of the educational policy and promised the
re-introduction of school inspectors to monitor ensure standard are adhered to.
He lambasted the Nigerians for paying too much emphasis on music and the
entertainment industry while science and other developmental aspect of the
society suffers.
On free education he said: “The problem with Nigeria are
people who went to free schools.” He said professors of the Lagos State
University should be flogged for asking for more subventions from the
government. He said as professor they should learn to think outside the box for
sources of funding the universities.
He was confident and articulated his point clearly. Mr
Popoola’s performance at the debate underscored the need for the smaller parties
to be more visible and articulate with their plans as some them have ideas that
are particularly novel and worth trying.
Score: 6/10 | ******
2. Ishola Aregbesola, Action Alliance
Mr. Ishola was the class clown today and the butt of all
jokes. He obviously hadn’t given the thought of becoming a governor any serious
consideration. He seemed as one of those political jobbers who seek elective
offices hoping to be called aside by the top parties and compensated with
appointments.
He started by cracking up the audience. He announced that he
did not prepare for the debate because he was not formally invited. He
explained that he had only attended the debate as an observer but his name was
mentioned as a participant so he decided to join the other contestants. He
spent the first 10 minutes granted each contestant reeling out his life history
and could only manage to say he would ensure free education in the state is
legislated before his time ran out.
Score: 1/10 | *
3. Bola Ogunseye, Alliance for Democracy
Mr. Ogunseye put out an impressive showing. He said he
speaks French professionally and retired as a personal adviser to the Chairman
of Shell. He said Lagos has been taken over by mafia gang who ask for
protection money of all kinds before people could do anything including
starting a petty business. He promised to break the extorting antics of the
mafia if elected into office.
He promised to follow the tenet of late Premier of the old
Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo. Using statistics, he reeled out a long list of
micro businesses he would establish if elected. He said the cost of rent is a
huge burden on Lagosians, he promised to reduce that cost by building low cost
houses and easing access to certificate of occupancy in the state.
Mr. Ogunseye said he would use government patronage to
create 50,000 millionaire in the city yearly. On infrastructural development,
he promised to build what he called Local Area Mono Rails. He explained that
the rail would transport Lagosians within inner cities with ease.
On SME and Youth involvement he said: “We would take the
youth as the core of SME growth. We think it is time to re-direct the energy of
our youth to development flow.”
Score: 6/10 | ******
4. Jimi Agbaje, Peoples Democratic Party
By miles Mr. Agbaje was the star of the debate. He literally
took other contestants to the cleaners with the masterful delivery, use of
statistics and data from government and other international organisations.
Unlike the raucous response some of the contestants elicited from the audience,
any time Mr. Agbaje spoke, the audience stayed quiet.
He started by saying being a small scale business man
himself, he knew what it takes to run a small scale enterprise and his
government would give priority attention to SMEs in the state.
Mr. said his vision for Lagos is for it to be a mega city
where a Lagosian would live in a secure and prosperous environment. “I want to
build a Lagos where people can realise their aspirations,” he said.
He said the incumbent government is paying lip service to
the development of primary education: “All that we do with education is to pay
recurrent expenditure 80 per cent of the budget of education is spent on
recurrent expenditure. The government spends 3 per cent of its budget of
primary education. This is poor,” he said.
He said he would revitalise vocational skill and education
so people with vocational education don’t mere end up as roadside vulcanizers
and welders of burglary proofs.
He promised to create an all-inclusive Lagos that represents
the cosmopolitan nature of the state: “What makes Lagos bubble is the fact that
it brings people from everywhere. The day you begin to deport Lagos becomes a
village.”
He also tactically directed all his responses to the
policies of the incumbent, APC government. This was a smart move as it placed
his policies side by side with the incumbent’s and allowed the listener to
quickly appraise the better.
Score: 9/10 | *********
5. Akinwumni Ambode, All Progressives Congress
As the candidate of the incumbent party, Mr. Ambode was
placed on the defensive most of the time and this affected his performance
during the debate. However, he gave a good account of himself. With a boyish
smile permanently stamped on his face, if he was worried by the attacks and
taunts directed at him by the other contestants he did not show it. While he
spent most of time explaining how he would make the policies of the incumbent
administration better, he did not articulate so much of his own original ideas.
He said public service is a noble service and promised to
bring the wealth of experience he had garnered from over 25 years of public
service to running the state.
“I am an accountant you can count on me. My call to you is
to stand up and be counted.”
He said his vision for Lagos is that of leadership and
accountability, good governance and quality service.
Mr. Ambode promised to build an educational trust fund to
carter for unemployed youths in the state. He also promised to build studio
apartments for the teeming youth of the state to ease the housing difficulty in
the state.
Score: 7/10 | *******
6. Akele Ayodele, National Congress Party
Mr. Ayodele spent most of his allotted time talking attacking
the incumbent. He has a personal history with the party. Former governor of the
state, Bola Tinubu, who is the national leader of the APC, fired him from the
state civil service for his unionist activities. He seemed to have allowed
personal differences to dictate his delivery.
He however promised to provide portable drinking water
throughout the state wondering why Lagos that is surrounded by water cannot
provide portable water for its inhabitants. He promised to reduce insecurity by
providing employment for the youth.
Score: 3/10 | ***
7. Jacobs Kayode, Mega Progressives Party
Mr. Kayode did not disappoint at all. He had spent less than
30 seconds talking before he started drawing loud applauses from the audience
due to the brilliance of some of his policies. He pushed for radical reform in
education, teachers’ welfare and infrastructural development.
Score: 5/10 | *****
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