Bola Badmus- Lagos
Ahead of the governorship and state house of assembly elections holding across the country this Saturday, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, has described the Number 1 seat in the state as not meant for an inexperienced person.
The incumbent, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is seeking a re-run on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), with other governorship candidates being Dr AbdulAzeez Olajide Adediran popularly called Jandor contesting on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, Mr Gbadebo Chinedu Rhodes- Vivour standing on Labour Party (LP) platform, among others.
Omotoso made this assertion on Tuesday evening while speaking with newsmen at a media conference which took place in his office, urging Lagosians not to trust the destiny of Lagos to people who cannot handle the pressures or do not have what it takes to take the state to the next levels.
The commissioner, who pointedly declared that Lagos State is not “Moi Moi” bean cake, warned that Lagosians would have themselves to blame if they put the state in the hands of people with no experience.
“If we put the Lagos state in the hands of people with no experience, we will all have ourselves to blame for it.
“Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu is running on his record. All of the people that are running don’t have his record. You should ask them what they have done before. Based on that, you can begin to weigh them and see the person who is best fit for the job. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has done a lot in Lagos State and he deserves a second term.
”In terms of Infrastructure, if you talk about roads, for example, he has done about 270 roads and counting. In terms of education, he has completed about 147,000 education projects in the state. If you talk about health, everybody has seen what he did during the COVID-19 pandemic. How he worked hard to ensure that Lagos didn’t go down with that pandemic, so much so that what Lagos State government did under the leadership of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu now became a global example of how to fight such pandemic.
‘‘I believe that if you look at all of these things, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu is the most competent person to lead Lagos State to the Promised Land, at this time. Lagos is the pride of Nigeria. It is the smallest state in Nigeria and despite that, it has one of the highest populations of the states in Nigeria,” Omotoso stated.
“Lagos is said to have about 25 million people on a limited space of land surrounded by water. For anyone to adequately provide infrastructure for this large number of people is not an easy task.
“In terms of experience, expertise and performance, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu remains the best person for the job. He is the most experienced and he is the most qualified,” he added.
Speaking further, Omotoso debunked the report that Lagos State deputy governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, was attacked at the APC Secretariat sometime ago, describing such as lie from the pit of hell, even as he urged the media to disregard the report.
“The deputy governor was never attacked at any time. The report is a lie from pith of hell. The deputy governor goes to the secretariat all the time, whenever he needs to. It is true that there could be saboteurs in any large organisation. Ours is not an exemption.
“The APC is the largest political party in Lagos State. It is also the largest political party in Nigeria. Wherever you have human beings congregating, there are bound to be people who for one reason or the other, their interests are not properly aligned to that of the organization. It is nothing to worry about,” the commissioner said.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
