Fashola addresses Lagosians on Saturday's governorship election

 

Public address by Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola to Lagosians on April 11th Guber elections.

Dear Lagosians,

First let me thank you all for turning out
to vote on the 28 th 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.

You will also be voting for the future of your children. You will be choosing candidates and a party that you will entrust your lives to.

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 16 th 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 16 th 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.