The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organization has said Spokesperson of the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organization, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The campaign organisation stated this while commending the people of Kogi State for coming out with a massively unprecedented crowd in solidarity with its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, at the State Rally held in Lokoja on Saturday.
The massive support demonstrated by the people of Kogi State, especially the youths, towards Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) further confirms their decisiveness to vote in Atiku Abubakar as the next President of Nigeria.
Our Campaign appreciates the support of various groups including professionals in various fields, government workers, traditional institutions, faith-based groups, business community, traders, artisans, transporters, farmers among others towards Atiku Abubakar and the PDP.
The people of Kogi State amply demonstrated that Kogi, just like majority of the states of the federation, is home to the PDP and that Atiku Abubakar will record a sweeping victory across Kogi State and others to emerge victorious at the first ballot at the close of the February 25th presidential poll.
Our campaign salutes the courage, resilience and energy which the youths of the State displayed at the rally, which signposts their preparedness to come out enmasse to vote for Atiku Abubakar on February 25, 2023 and to stand in defence of their votes to the very end.
The people of Kogi State, like majority of millions of Nigerians in other States, have rejected the incompetent, violent, corrupt and anti-people All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and they are eager to vote in Atiku Abubakar and the PDP which embody their hope, aspiration and determination for a better nation.
The Campaign charges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to note the feelings and aspirations of the majority of the people and take steps to ensure free, fair, secure and credible elections across the nation.
The Atiku/Okowa Campaign however urges Nigerians to continue to mobilize for Atiku Abubakar ahead of the elections while reminding those that are yet to pick up their Permanent Voters’ Cards to do so in the collective desire to end the misery which the All Progressives Congress (APC) has come to represent.
In a related development, the special assistant on Public Communication to Waziri Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, has said Tinubu is the worst civilian governor in the history of Lagos State.
Shaibu, who said the best governor of Lagos is Lateef Jakande who was governor from 1979 to 1983, said, “Tinubu cannot be the best product from Lagos. That title belongs to the late Lateef Jakande who was a disciple of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Jakande built the Lekki-Epe Expressway from scratch, effectively opening up the Lekki Peninsula axis. Jakande constructed the Alausa Government Secretariat and Governor’s Office, the Lagos State University (LASU) and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).
“He built all the low-cost housing units in Lagos. Some of the housing units include low cost estates at Amuwo-Odofin, Ijaiye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule Nla, Epe, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, Badagry.
“Jakande built all the general hospitals in Gbagada and Ikorodu as well as LASUTH. He also built 20 health centres in the state. Jakande also constructed most of the primary and secondary schools in Lagos that still stand today.
“Available records stated that Jakande built 11,000 classrooms between March and August 1980 and by 1983, he had built over 22,000 classrooms with 40 pupils per class. The then governor, in exhibiting his passion for education, established a Teacher Training College and a College of Education (COE).”
He declared free education at all levels despite inheriting an empty treasury from the military. In fact, not only was schooling free, he also provided free educational inputs to students including textbooks, exercise books, and others.
The Muslim Students Society of Nigeria captured Jakande’s legacy perfectly last year when it said, “No governor in Lagos has been able to match the achievements of the late Jakande in the educational sector… Till date, his housing policies still remain reference points for successive governments.
“He was such an outstanding administrator that his tenure as a governor remains a yardstick for good governance in the state.”
All these he achieved in just four years. Besides, until his death, the late Jakande lived a modest life around Coker Street, Ilupeju and refused to corner the resources of the state.
The short-lived third Republic which produced Michael Otedola lasted for barely a year and so cannot be assessed fairly.
But what did Tinubu achieve as governor of Lagos? He claims that he met an Internally Generated Revenue of N600 million in 1999 and moved it to N5 billion a month.
This has been fact checked by the CDD Election War Room and has been discovered to be false.
The verdict reads, “Data from the Central Bank statistical bulletin as quoted by Research Academy of Social Sciences showed that Lagos generated N14.6 billion in 1999. This amounts to an average of N1.22 billion monthly.”
Tinubu also claims Lagos was “a jungle, an uncivilised place” when he took over in 1999. This is pure falsehood since Lagos was the headquarters of the stock exchange and the private sector since the 1960s.
His claim that the entire state had just one ambulance when he took over in 1999 is also impossible to believe and is specious at best.
Tinubu’s strategy is based on falsehood. He paints a grim picture of Lagos he inherited, describing the state as a jungle and then exaggerates the little achievements he made in his eight years in office but Nigerians must not be fooled.
In four years, Jakande built several low cost housing estates and reduced the state’s housing problem while on Tinubu’s watch the World Bank says two out of every three Lagosians live in a slum. Is this the kind of development he wants to replicate at the center?
Interestingly, while Jakande invested in schools, Tinubu relocated the Lagos State Polytechnic in Ketu to Ikorodu and then appropriated the land to TVC, his television station. Indeed there is a difference between leaders and dealers.
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