Public address by Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola to
Lagosians on April 11th Guber elections.
First let me thank
you all for turning out to vote on the 28th March 2015 and for doing so
peacefully to make history by electing the All Progressives Congress candidates
in the Presidential and National Assembly elections. Once again, I must address
you as we approach Saturday’s elections, when you will be electing a Governor
who will continue after me and consolidate on the progress we have built
together.
You will also be electing members of the State House of
Assembly who will make laws on your behalf to assist the Governor and his team
in the Executive arm.
Although your votes will be cast for one political party or
the other, let me remind you that you will actually be voting for your
wellbeing, security, prosperity and future.
Think hard, think clearly, think deeply. Ask yourselves a
few questions.
Who has shown a better record and example of protecting and
securing you between the political parties?
Which of the parties cares more when disasters happen?
What is the record of the parties as it relates to the
promises they have made to you in the past?
Which of the parties do you see regularly and which one do
you see once in a while?
Which of the parties do you see when your life or property
is threatened by epidemics like Ebola or by unfortunate accidents like plane
crashes?
Which of the parties is showing that you can become
home-owners without knowing anybody?
Which party has responsibility for providing electricity for
you, and which one is taking up the responsibility to light up your streets and
communities at night?
Which of them cares more about your children and their
safety?
Indeed ask yourself; which of the parties threatened you
with thugs on that sad Monday of March 16th and which is seeking to protect you
by supporting the police; with patrol vehicles, fuel and other equipment?
Ask yourself when last you saw the Federal Fire Service in
Lagos. The proud men and women of the Lagos State Fire Service have taken over
admirably.
Ask yourself who should be supporting the police and who is
actually doing it?
Dear Lagosians, your choice of who to vote for will be easy
if you answer these questions within yourself honestly.
Indeed, you have clear choices to make between parties that
use your resources to develop your society and community on the one hand, and
the party that chooses to bring money to you for distribution when election
beckons.
So you can choose between schools for your children,
hospitals for your community, roads for your transportation or in the
alternative, you can choose to have these services monetized once in four
years.
Remember, that choices have consequences and your vote will
decide the choice that shapes your lives.
Dear Lagosians, it is tempting to take the right and
opportunity to vote for granted. It is tempting to think that it is too much
trouble.
I agree that the process can be made much easier. But it is
no excuse to refuse to vote.
Out of 5.8 million registered voters and 3.8 million PVC
collections, only about 1.5 million turned out to vote, on the 28th March 2015.
Think of all the pain, the effort, the sleepless nights it
took to get the PVCs to you. Think of the best way to show that the effort was
not wasted or in vain.
It seems to me that the best way is to have all these 3.8
Million voters come out to vote.
By refusing to vote, you surrender decision making to a few
and you will be bound by the consequences of your choices.
By refusing to vote, you do a great disservice to many who
have lived before you, who fought very hard at great personal costs to themselves,
to earn you this right.
By refusing to vote, you dishonour the sacrifice of patriots
before you who fought for the right to vote.
Remember that when they were fighting for the right to vote,
they were not fighting for yesterday, they were fighting for today and
tomorrow.
They have handed today to you and I, can we secure tomorrow
for the next generation?
Remember that since the capital of Nigeria was moved from
Lagos 24 years ago in December 1991, Lagos has been abandoned by the Federal Government.
Ask yourself when the last major new road in Lagos was built
by the Federal Government. It was the 3rd Mainland Bridge completed in 1990.
The assets the Federal Government left behind almost became
a burden but for our resilience to maintain them. Today the Federal Government
is owing Lagos N51 Billion which remains unpaid.
This is not in accord with the spirit of the promise made to
Lagos when the Federal Government first declared Abuja as the capital in 1976.
The Head-of-State at the time, the late Gen Murtala
Muhammed, said then and I quote him:
“…Lagos will, in the foreseeable future, remain the nation’s
commercial capital and one of its nerve centres. But in terms of servicing the
present infrastructure alone the committed amount of money and effort required
will be such that Lagos State will not be ready to cope.
(But we have coped at great sacrifice)
“It will even be unfair to expect the state to bear this
heavy burden on its own. It is therefore necessary for the Federal Government
to continue to sustain the substantial investment in the area. The port
facilities and other economic activities in the Lagos area have to be expanded.
“There is need in the circumstances for the Federal
Government to maintain a special defence and security arrangement in Lagos
which will henceforth be designated a special area. These arrangements will be
carefully worked out and written into the new constitution. Kaduna and Port
Harcourt are to be accorded similar status and designated as Special Areas…”
Sadly, no Federal Government and indeed not the PDP
Government has done anything to redeem that promise for the 16 years it was in
power or to protect Lagos.
Instead of assisting Lagos, they attacked her. If you
remember FERMA, in 2006, the same PDP seized your Local Government money and
resisted the attempt to bring Government closer to you by creating more local
Governments.
On Monday 16th March 2015, the same PDP continued in their
tradition of assaulting Lagos. Their supporters took over a major road in Lagos
and threatened your peace and security.
On Wednesday 18th March 2015, the President-Elect, Muhammadu
Buhari came to Lagos and said Lagos will receive compensation for the role she
has played in maintaining Federal Government Assets.
Yesterday on Tuesday the 7th of April 2015, he was here in
Lagos in his first political engagement since he became President-Elect and he
reiterated his commitment to support Lagos.
This is what I will vote for. This is what I urge you to
think about as you vote on Saturday.
This is the place that every Nigerian calls his home. It is
the home of displaced people. It is the place where the homeless arrive and are
made welcome.
It is the place where generations of Nigerians have arrived
without knowing anybody but have, through the opportunities and inclusion,
become somebody.
This is the place where the Late Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya
and Owelle Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe consummated the handshake across the Niger and
played politics without bitterness.
Tell those who try to divide us that our greatest strength
has always been our diversity.
Tell them that you feel safe here, and that I have
continuously assured you of your safety as the basis of our mutual
co-existence.
Tell them that our waterways have been assets of prosperity
and sustenance, for transport, recreation and fishing and they will remain so.
Let nobody now attempt to re-write that history for you.
When they reel out false statistics about Lagos, please ask
them the statistics about the places they governed for 16 years.
When they reel out statistics, please remind them that those
statistics don’t stand in isolation, they are the burden of a whole nation and
many parts of West Africa that Lagos state bears.
When they promise you heaven and earth, remember their
broken promises on power, security and many more.
Ask them to show you a plan, if they can produce one, which
is doubtful, ask them whether they have implemented it elsewhere.
Tell them that you have seen the Lagos Development plan for
2012 – 2025, that the Lagos Light Rail Project, the Adiyan Water Works Phase II
of 75 Million gallons a day, the solar power for all schools and many more
which are part of the plans for you and your children and which are already
being implemented.
Tell them that you will vote to keep a plan that you can
see, that is already working, instead of a plan that you have not seen.
Ask them what happened to Vision 20:20, to the 7-Point
Agenda and to Transformation.
Tell them that your bird in hand will not be traded for a
dozen unseen birds in the bush.
Tell them that this election is not about money, tell them
that it is not about ethnicity and it is not about religion.
Tell them that this election is about the place you call
your home, the place you earn your living and the place where your investments
are the safest.
Tell them that you will not play ethnic or religious
politics with your survival. Tell them that you will not vote with anger.
Tell them that you will vote with common sense and for
experience.
Tell them that you have seen Lagos survive without Federal
support, and you wish to see her flourish with Federal support.
That will be the most historic thing you will have done,
putting Lagos in the centre with your votes.
History and tomorrow beckons. Don’t turn your backs.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State.
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