Why 2015 polls can’t usher in desired
Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bimbola Fashola (left), former governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his wife, Senator Oluremi, and wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Mrs. Aisha Buhari at the 14th Lagos Central Senatorial District Town Hall Meeting and presentation of a book, Stewardship Report, held at MUSON Centre, Lagos…yesterday
Eminent jurist, activist and founder of the Nigerian Advance Party (NAP), Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, has said that the 2015 general elections will not usher in the “desired orderly transition.”
Speaking at a forum entitled ‘Discussion on the State of Lagos’, which was organised by the Free Lagos Group yesterday, Braithwaite said the potentials of Nigeria would not be achieved just by wrestling power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Expressing faith that God will intervene in the election, he said: “From above the sky, God Himself is going to re-arrange and restructure Nigeria. Neither the PDP nor the All Progressives Congress (APC) has good fate about the future of Nigeria.
We cannot watch while a cabal sits over the wealth of the country and the rest wallow in poverty.”
We cannot continue the way we run the affairs of this country that makes it possible for rogues to ride roughshod over us.
I still pray and work for a revolution, and unless there is one, the nation’s full potentials will never be realized.
Braithwaite averred that for any meaningful change to take place in Nigeria, the country must first be restructured. “We cannot continue the way we run the affairs of this country that makes it possible for rogues to ride roughshod over us. I still pray and work for a revolution, and unless there is one, the nation’s full potentials will never be realized,” he said.
Braithwaite queried the ideology of the APC, pointing out that it would not work since its major objective is only to win the PDP.
He said: “Wrestling power from the PDP is not the issue. The colossal re-shuffling of a few, their own and cronies is a major problem.”
The elder statesman lamented what he described as weakness of the nation’s judiciary, noting that only a constitution by the people could change things in Nigeria. “The national conference convened by President Goodluck Jonathan was aimed at creating a peoples constitution and for Nigerians to decide how they wanted to be governed. “None of the past leaders had been honest about restructuring the country in a way that will prevent rogues from power. The 1999 Constitution guarantees immunity to steal, kill and the arm of the law cannot touch them,” he said.
Braithwaite alleged that most Nigerian leaders, especially members of the National Assembly, would not want the constitution to be amended.
“The constitution is the grand norm and it is critical for Nigeria to get it right. When there are laws that favour corruption, there is no hope for such country. In fairness to Jonathan, he was a humble man who went ahead to convoke the national conference.
“The President said he would consider sending the outcome of the conference to Nigerians by way of a referendum. My worry is why the President neglected to ask Nigerians to look at the recommendations of the conference and send it for a referendum before the elections? We knew the National Assembly will not support the product of the conference because the constitution is not good for the leaders riding roughshod over the people.”
On the rebuilding of Lagos, the elder statesman urged the people of the state to decide on what to do. He said “the solution is for us to take our destiny in our hands.”
Braithwaite, who noted that the state has always been divided along the lines of good versus bad, said it was sad that the resources of the state were usurped by a few. “Something is going to happen in Lagos at this election, if the state is allowed to keep what it makes. For instance, the state would be better than many countries including London.”
In his address, Prince Demola Adeniji -Adele, a former Commissioner for Sports in the state and convener of the group said it was formed when he realised that one man was enslaving the state. “Our aim is to maintain the free spirit of Lagos that has made the state strive.”
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5 Comments
its very obvious Lagos state need change and by so doing i urge everyone to join hands and vote for GEJ so that he can transform the state to the place it belong as the city of excellence , APC has no plans to move the state forward because the APC has turn Lagos state to a family business and if they are not voted out the state may continue to go down and fall apart in the nearest future.
Funny u… APC has no plan for LAGOS but PDP av. U don’t know wat u r saying
Shola! Shola! Shola! How many times did I call you? Which of the god fathers would you prefer? Tinubu or Bode George? Is it not better for Lagos to be controlled by John D. Rockefeller than to be controlled by Al Capone? Please use your conscience ooo! You get pikin for Lagos oooo! If you want to change god fathers not from innovators to rogue leaders ooo
“The APC Terror Machines in Aguda, Surulere in Lagos”
“The Real Face of Change In Lagos”
In Aguda, Surulere, Lagos, residents are suffering untold hardship because of the egregious insincerity of the APC led-government in Lagos. Nearly two years
ago, the APC-led Lagos State Government descended on Adetola Street a major street in Aguda, Surulere, claiming it was working on it. They did about 2% of the work, destroyed most of the remaining part with their caterpillars and abandoned it. Now, most parts of Adetola, a prominent street in Aguda, are impassable. Next they descended on Brown Road, another prominent street. More than a year ago, they covered one side of the Brown Road with slabs for making gutters and left them there for several months, thereby bringing undue pressure on the remaining part which did not take time to degenerate and become impassable.
Now, as the elections approached (that is February 14, before the postponement), they returned to Brown Road. They cut off virtually all the streets joining the road in the name of constructing gutters; majority of them are still like that, posing great hardship to road users. Then they used their caterpillars and rendered Brown impassable, I mean impassable. Every morning now, for people to drive to work, they would have navigate through several shut cuts to get out of Aguda. It is very horrible. Only God knows the number of people that may have been punished at work or sacked since this terror commenced. And when the elections were postponed, they abandoned the road again. If there is a small rain in Aguda today, you would weep watching little children going to school and workers going to work, even those who are driving. Everywhere will become muddy with read earth soiling all the cars. But the more heart-breaking sight is watching school children getting stuck in the mud and destroying their shoes, with some of them slipping and falling and damaging their uniforms, books and even their bodies. Despite this, the APC workers still left greater part of Brown Road in that horrible state and descended on a short stretch of road between Brown Junction (By Olorunda Presbyterian Church) and Aguda Market, a road that is not up to a kilometer, but a very important escape route for the hapless, trapped Aguda people. For a very long time they have destroyed that one too, making it impassable and locking out residents of the adjoining streets. Soon, they began to place interlocks on the road (a work that should otherwise take about two days), but till now, they are yet to even done half of it, assuming they are still plan to do it. These people are experts in raising and quashing hopes. Their heartlessness is unparalleled.
Next, they descended on Nuro Oniwo Street – another escape route, closed it, and now, to get out of Aguda every morning has become the worst nightmare.
I learnt that nobody can say anything about this, not even Gov Fashola, because the company unleashing this terror on Aguda residents is owned by the wife of the Lagos godfather himself, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, who is contesting to return to the Senate. There is a suspicion that if the APC wins in Lagos, that the work will be abandoned completely so that the new government that renegotiate the contract. This is rainy season will be hell for people living in Aguda.
Now, my question is: why not at least take one road and finish it before descending on others? Why cut off almost every street that empty into these roads, thereby making it very difficult for people to drive out? Why destroy virtually all the roads without sincerely intending to work on any of them, thereby imposing untold hardship on the people? One can only imagine the trauma Aguda people will go through once the rains arrive, given that virtually all the road that take people out of Aguda has been horribly destroyed by these merciless APC tractors, without any of them done. Anyone in Aguda who votes for the APC (the party that has brought the people so much hardship) should have his head reexamined. That is the solid truth.
Wise head. I believe you live in Kano not Lagos
We will review and take appropriate action.