Go Pick Your Voter’s Cards, Sanwo-Olu Tells Lagos Residents

•Commences reconstruction of N9bn Igbosere high court destroyed during #EndSARS protest

Segun James and Wale Igbintade

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has appealed to the residents of the state, who are of voting age to pick up their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) from the various Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices in their localities.

 He made the appeal yesterday, when he stopped by at INEC office in the Sura area of Lagos Island Local Government Area to pick up his reprinted PVC alongside the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and some of his cabinet members.

Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a few months ago redesignated his location and updated his details, having moved his polling unit from Ikoyi to Lagos Island, ahead of next year’s governorship election.

 The governor reminded the people that it was only when they collect their PVCs that they would be able to exercise their franchise during next year’s general elections.

 He said: “Today, INEC officially started the collection of PVCs and because I did a redesignation of my address of where I was and where I am now, I had to move my polling unit.

“I am here to demonstrate to all our citizens that I have complied. I have come to pick up my reprinted Voter’s Card and I want to enjoin everyone to use this opportunity to go out and pick their PVCs.

“I have collected mine and you can see that I am at the INEC office here, and it is peaceful. Within two minutes they sorted it out and I signed to collect my own. So my advice is for all of us that still have our PVCs uncollected to please come out and do the rightful thing.

“It is only with this that you can participate in next year’s election. I wish all of us the very best and as we go into this exercise, I hope that it is something that is worth it very seriously as another civic responsibility.”

Sanwo-Olu expressed confidence that Lagosians would do the right thing by re-electing him during the governorship poll based on his administration’s performance during the first term.

“We will win because we believe Lagosians will do the right thing. And it is also because we believe that we have earned it; we have worked very hard and will continue to do that.

“We will continue to do our very best to ensure that we earn the trust and the commitment of our people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu yesterday flagged off the reconstruction of high court of Lagos State, Igbosere which was burnt in the wake of the violence that trailed the October 20, 2020, #EndSARS protests across the nation. The reconstruction of the Phase 1     of the court was expected to cost about N9 billion, and was estimated to be completed within 18 months.

Sanwo-Olu, while flagging off the reconstruction project, lamented that the edifice that was built during the colonial era was destroyed during a needless protest.

He said “The is a significant event that we cannot gloss over, and not let history be put in proper perspective, and put the record straight. Igbosere High Court is not just an historic edifice, but it was, and will come back to be the oldest facility that continue to discharge justice in our country, and in the state of Lagos.

“It was an edifice that has existed before any of us here today, but we all remember the event that happened about two years, and two months ago. The needles protest that befell our city on nothing that we knew nothing about, nothing that we caused, nothing that was generated by us brought us down.

“It is part of our history, but as a resilient people, no matter how many times we fall down, we would rise up and come back bigger and better. The reconstruction of Igbosere High Court is life, and direct and we will all be alive to see its completion.”

The governor added: “I was at the Igbosere premises a month before it was burnt by hoodlums, thinking of how to renovate and expand the the edifice, not knowing that it will be burnt down.

“We have assembled a well thought-out team, this is a team that we took out of government, because we do not want the bureaucracy of government to becloud it, led by Dr. Yemi Cardoso, to lead private and public sectors professionals that have distinguished themselves in their chosen careers to advice the government on the rebuilding exercise.”

Sanwo-Olu also commended the Judges for their patience and understanding and their cooperation with the executive.

Speaking the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba recalled that the Sunday preceding the 2020 Legal Year ceremony, himself and some Judges came to inspect Igbosere high court complex to wrapped up preparations, and observed that the foyer would no longer be suitable for the legal events, and should be extended.

Justice Alogba said throughout the burning of the high court complex the statue of justice and the two statues of lions in from of the court were not affected.

In his remarks, the Attorney General of Lagos State, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo said October 2020, would continue to be remembered as a sad day in the history of the Nigerian Judiciary.