Bode George condemns planned reopening of Lekki toll-gates

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has faulted the planned reopening of Lekki toll-gates by the Lagos State Government, demanding that they should be dismantled.

He said after the dismantling, a monument should be erected in honour of those who reportedly died in the October 20, 2020 shooting of #EndSARS protesters and necessary compensations paid to the families of the deceased.

He charged the state to scrap the tollgates in the interest of EndSARS victims.

George, who spoke at a press conference in his Ikoyi office in Lagos, said the uprising witnessed in the state during the #EndSARS protests was a reflection of the “rage and anger” of the youths with the current governance system, which he said, was not working.

He said: “It is rather sad and sickening, in this time of grave moral challenges, when the ordinary Lagosians can hardly find three square meals a day; when the commuters cannot afford the fare of transportation; when parents cannot afford the sky-rocketing school fees for their children; when the ordinary tenants can hardly pay their yearly rent, behold, that the government of Lagos State has chosen to impose more burden on the average Lagosians.

“It is cruel, insensitive, vicious, totally unacceptable. It is a mis-governance of the worst scale.”

George, who said he was speaking as an elder statesman and not as a party man, further said in a statement: “We must seize our destiny in our hands. We cannot continue like this. With all our growing problems, with all our deepening challenges, Tinubu and his acolytes still insist on imposing the toll-gates on us. We say No! We say No! We say No! O to ge o! O to ge o! O to ge o!

“Lagosians have awoken. Barely two years when they mowed down innocent youths at the Lekki Toll-gates, when innocent youths, young men and women shed their blood for the unity of this nation. Tinubu through his surrogates have decided to bring back the toll-gates. It is a bad hasty decision at a very bad time. 

“We, at Omo Eko Pataki, will ensure through all legitimate, legal and valid means that the truth prevails, that righteousness is validated; and the majesty of the light is brightened across our state.

“We seek no fight with anyone, but justice. We seek no quarrel with anyone, but the truth. We seek no engagement with anyone, but the accommodation of what is right, and what is just.” 

“Our appeal is to the greater input of the human kind. We do not ask for mercy; we ask for justice. We do not ask for help; we ask for justice. We do not ask for beggarly pleas; we ask for what is right.

“Sanwo-Olu and the cabal that put him into office as exemplified by Bola Tinubu have now showed greedy, avaricious intentions. Is the over N400 million that they collect daily from the toll-gates more important than the well being of our people? 

“And tragically enough, we do not know how this humongous amount is dispensed.  It is never reflected in the Lagos State budget.  It is never accounted for in the summative totality of the Lagos treasury.  This itself is a flagrant abuse of public office.  

“The dumb idea to bring back the toll-gates on that very hallowed grounds where patriots fell is tantamount to an egregious provocation. It is a combustible material, a seed of discord that will bring nobody any good.”