The South-West chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described the allegation of incompetence levelled against President Goodluck Jonathan by Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, SAN as uncharitable, self-serving, and hypocritical, saying; “Governor Fashola and his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) must first remove the logs in their eyes before attempting to remove the specks in other people’s eyes.”
Governor Fashola had declared that President Jonathan-led federal government lacked the requisite knowledge and capacity to tackle Nigeria’s problems, saying that there is the need to effect a change at the centre in 2015 for the country to achieve positive development.
Reacting, PDP Zonal Publicity Secretary, Hon Kayode Babade, in a statement issued today described Lagos State under Fashola and his god-father, Bola Tinubu as monumental failure, saying; “they must first tell Nigerians what they have done with the over N40 billion that Lagos State gets as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) monthly.”
The statement read; “the first question Governor Fashola should be asked is whether he has done well in Lagos State with the huge resources at his disposal.
“The fact is that after the country, Lagos is the number two richest state in Africa. In the last five years, between the state and the local councils, average of N50 billion is realised in a month, making N600 billion annually. Yet, nothing is being done with the huge resources available to the state.
“With the wealth of Lagos State, shouldn’t Fashola have turned the State into what Singapore, a country of less than six million people is; if he is a genius and development hungry as he wants Nigerians to believe? Why is Lagos the third worst city to live in the whole world? If Fashola and Tinubu could not fix Lagos in 14 years, what magic do they want to perform if Nigeria is put in their hands?
“Isn’t it also a fact that Lagos State owes the highest debt apart from the federal government. Lagos State was said to have, as at 30th June 2012, accumulated an external debt profile of $517,677,672 (more than half a billion dollars).
“Rather than using this huge wealth to develop the state, they have been using it to prosecute elections and electoral cases in other states in Nigeria and countries in Africa.
“Resultant effect of this misgovernance in Lagos State is the complete failure of governance in the State, as the only time government is seen in the State is when taxes are to be collected.
“Aside when government wants taxes, Lagos residents are on their own. They build their own houses, sink their own boreholes to get water, construct their own access roads, provide their own security by constructing street gates and employing vigilante to guard them, send their children to private schools and visit private hospitals or herbal homes when they are sick.
“So, can Fashola tell Lagosians what he has done with their money?
