The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, has
dismissed the speech presented by President Goodluck Jonathan at the
inauguration of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, campaign, in Lagos on
Wednesday, saying it had become obvious that the president could no
longer rule the country.
Speaking in Benin City, the Edo State
capital on Thursday during the Edo Town Hall meeting, the governor said
the president spent close to an hour delivering his speech without being
able to explain what he had done in the last six years had been in
power or what he would do if re-elected.
Mr. Fashola, who spoke after
the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC,
Femi Osinbajo, unfolded the party’s programme, said Mr. Jonathan did not
only exhibit unnecessary anger but was critical of his predecessor
without unfolding his plan for the country.
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“Today, you have
listened to a vice presidential candidate telling you in 29 minutes many
things you will never hear at a rally because the time for such
discussions doesn’t exist for many Nigerian want to interrogate people
making empty promises, the governor said.
“But we chose to be
different because we are bustling with ideas. We know ideas can change
things. He (Osinbajo) has spoken to you for 29 minutes. He has been on
this assignment for only three weeks and he has discussed power with
you, he has discussed employment with you, he has discussed agriculture
with you, he has discussed welfare scheme, health care, youth
development with you without reading any speech. He has been there for
three weeks only and he has not been yet elected.
“Now what is
on the other side (PDP), because I spent about an hour listening to the
president in my state? For almost the same period I saw a very angry
president. I saw a president who is lamenting about people judging his
performance and blaming all those who ruled before him, forgetting that
he has been on this job for six years.
“And he kept saying ‘they
say we don’t have a plan’ and for almost 45 minutes he did not reveal a
plan on security, he did not reveal a plan on corruption. I listened to
him. Now after six years without being able to articulate what he has
done and what he will do but blaming everybody and forgetting that he is
the Commander-in-Chief. If the kitchen is becoming too hot as it’s
becoming obvious he must get out of it.”
Mr. Fashola, a
member of the APC, who will complete his second tenure as governor in
May, said the coming election would be about job approval.
He
said, “This election is going to be about job approval. It is not about
where you come from; it is not about how young he is; it is job approval
after six years. Are you happy with your situation?
“So if after six
years he has not been able to explain to you what he is doing with your
time, with your resource – 52 % revenue formula, do you want to
continue another four years.”
The governor said unlike the
PDP presidential candidate, Mr. Osinbajo was a man who had not done the
job but able to explain his party’s agenda just three weeks after he was
named a vice presidential running mate.
He said he knew Mr.
Osinbajo very well having served as attorney general and commissioner
for justice in the administration of former Governor Bola Tinubu the
same time he (Fashola) served as Chief of Staff.
“I know this
man. He was AG of Lagos State when I was Chief of Staff to Governor
Tinubu. People have introduced him as a pastor, yes he is. But he is
also a professor of law. He became a professor at 33 or so. So he has
taught many lawyers and he still teaches. He also goes to court and he
still preaches religion. That is the versatility of the man,” he said.
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“What
many people do not know, which the PDP people agreed – God bless the
soul of Late Umaru Yar’Adua, who said the election that brought him to
power was flawed they rigged everything that was ‘riggable’. It was
Professesor Osinbajo that challenged all of us saying ‘we can’t let this
thing go without a challenge.
Let us go and go get forensic
expert because I believe that the ballot papers was thumb-printed not by
legitimate voters and he brought somebody and one by one it showed
where either the same person voted 100 times… they used palm kernel.
That is the capacity of the man who wants to be your vice president.”
Earlier, Mr. Osinbajo had asked the audience to vote for change in the coming election.
“We
must change everything that affects us in Nigeria and this is our
opportunity. February 14, 2015 is that opportunity. We have no choice
but to make a change. There is no time to waste. We have a great
opportunity to change this country,” he said amid cheers from the
audience.
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The APC vice presidential running mate said the
priority of the APC “is first employment because we need to get the
young people back to work”.
He said, “If we continue at the rate we
are going, we will have more people out of work; we would have doubled
the people out of work now by 2016. We are churning out people from the
university and institutions but we are not engaging them. It is
important that we find solution.”
Mr. Osinbajo explained that the
party’s manifesto has outlined how it would tackle the power challenge,
education, and other issues.
He said, “Let us not assume that
running this country is rocket science, that running this country is
difficult. It is not. Other countries that have less resources than us
are well run. All we need to do is to put people who know. I pray that
God gives us the opportunity to run this country and the country will be
unrecognisable in one year.”
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