Sanwo-Olu at campaign, promises better tomorrow

Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, kick-started the campaign for his re-election and promised to improve on the infrastructure and economy of the state.

The governor, who stated that his campaign will hinge on his track record of achievements, maintained that the re-election campaign would be about the celebration of the collective progress the state and its people have made in the last three and half years – against all odds.

“I am running on records. Get ready for more,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke at a media briefing in Ikeja, represented by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said if residents voted for him in the coming election, they would be voting for more life-changing projects and programmes he had executed in the last three and half years, adding that he has delivered on his promises, the reason it can campaign boldly.

Also present at the conference were Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi; Director-General (DG), Sanwo-Olu Campaign Organisation, Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Lagos Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egube and other cabinet members of the state government.

“We are building a new Massey Street Hospital, which will be the biggest pediatric hospital in West Africa. A new General Hospital is springing up in Ojo, the first to be built in years. Lagos has the approval to build an airport. The 500-bed mental health hospital and rehabilitation centre is getting set up in Ketu-Ejinrin.

The food hub is also being built. We are building an infectious diseases centre in Yaba. A tech hub is also set to rise in Yaba. The Fourth Mainland Bridge will soon get off the drawing board, with the selection of a contractor to handle the important project.

The Opebi-Ojota Bridge is making progress to ease traffic on that corridor. These are just a few of the pointers to a greater Lagos that is rising,” the governor stated.

He said that in spite of various challenges that confronted the administration, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the NNPC pipeline explosion in Ijagemo, a suburb of Ijegun, owing to activities of pipeline vandals and the sad episode of #ENDSARS protest, the state rose from the rubbles of crises to redefine governance.

“It is for these reasons we have come to the incontrovertible conclusion that the fitting theme of the re-election campaign for Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat shall be, a greater Lagos rising! It is a thematic continuum of what we promised in 2019. We promised our people a greater Lagos. What do we see around us? Abundant evidence of a new city rising from the womb of time. We do not make a false claim of having reached the zenith of our journey. Our contextual usage of the word is as an adjective that suggests an upward swing, an increase and an upward movement,” he said.

“These are the signs Lagosians can see all around the state.

“When we say a greater Lagos rising, we are drawing the attention of citizens to the positive changes taking place all over Lagos. We are making an affirmative statement about the growth of the economy, the breath-taking rebuilding of the state and the fresh hope of citizens following the reopening of the economy after the pandemic,” he added.

While Solomon said the party would be rolling out campaign materials to all nooks and crannies of the state to showcase the achievements of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration, the state Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egbe, said Sanwo-Olu’s re-election bid was proper, noting that Lagos rose in its challenging period.

“You would recall that the journey of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration has been a storied journey of the triumph of the human spirit over challenges. Just a month after his assumption of office, the state witnessed torrential rainfall, which impacted negatively on the state of our roads, causing traffic snarls. Governor Sanwo-Olu rallied his team and launched the #FixingLagosRoads Campaign, an intensive road rehabilitation move aimed at bringing succor to Lagosians.

“As each of these challenges attempted to bring Lagos State on her knees, like a tested General in a war with fierce and phased battles, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu tapped into the indomitable Spirit of Lagos. He reminded us of the capability of the human spirit to rise and triumph over every adversity. Rather than these challenges causing the sprawling Mega City to lie prostrate on her belly, we see the evidential signs of a City rising with best-in-class infrastructure from the ashes of her yesterday just like the proverbial phoenix.

“Even where dilapidated infrastructure once stood as public schools or health facilities, we see new ones rising. While the financial storms are raging elsewhere, hey, it is sunny in Lagos. What do we see? We see the finances of Lagos rising to enable the government embark on landmark projects such as the Blue and Red Rail Projects, which are the first by any sub-national in our clime.”

Muyiwa Adeyemi, Politics Editor, The Guardian Newspaper, Lagos 08033202396, 08020981982