Nine Lagos Guber Candidates Step Down, Declare Support for Sanwo-Olu

•Lagos governor running on experience, track record, says aide

Segun James

Barely five days to the gubernatorial election, nine governorship candidates and the leadership of their political parties in Lagos State have stepped and declared support for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The candidates under the auspices of Alliance of Registered Political Parties, formally endorsed and declared their support for the re-election bid of Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat in the March 18 governorship election in the state in view of his achievements in the last four years.

The political parties included the Young Progressive Party, (YPP), APP, Action Democratic Party (ADP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), NRM and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), at an event held in Lagos.

According to them, Lagos State was best in the hands of a competent and experienced leader like Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Speaking on behalf of the political parties, governorship candidate of YPP in Lagos state, Adebayo Ajayi, said “We are here to make known our minds on the forthcoming election in Lagos state.

“I wish to welcome you to all this gathering convened by the Alliance of Registered Political Parties (ARPP) comprising nine registered political parties namely APP, ADP, APM, NRM, YPP, NNPP, ZLP, SDP and PRP, to formally declare our support for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for another term of office.

“ARPP is a group of nine committed and patriotic registered political parties in Lagos State that is interested in the good works of the state government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and desire continuity and realisation of the dream Lagos of this administration.

“We reached this decision sequence to our thorough analysis of all the good works and rapid development in Lagos.

“We cannot sacrifice the various landmark achievements of the present administration scattered in the state on the altar of the bitter politicking.

“The governor’s consistency as a progressive democrat is worthy of commendation and continuity. He has delivered on his social contract to the good people of Lagos state.

“It makes a whole lot of sense for Lagos State to be in tune with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidency at a time like this to achieve our age long desires and lofty aspirations.

“From this end, the governorship candidates of the Alliance namely governorship candidate of YPP, Ajayi Adebayo, Chief Adeyemi Abiola (APP), Adenipekun Adekunle (ZLP), Kupoluyi Funmi, (APM), Ishola Bamidele, (ADP), are stepping down their governorship ambitions to declare their support for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

“This support is borne out of love and desire for a greater Lagos which BOS has set the pace and serve to drive it to fruition.

“We however wish to seize this opportunity to inform and urge all our supporters across Lagos State to vote massively on Saturday, March 18, for Babajide Sanwo-Olu as governor and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat for second term.”

Also speaking at the official endorsement, ZLP Lagos state chairman, Adekunle Adenipekun said the endorsement became necessary to continuity and greater Lagos.

He said, “History is taking place today. Today is the day when political parties in Lagos come together to make history as political parties officially declared their support for the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, has said the decision of Sanwo-Olu to seek  second term in office, was to consolidate on his achievements and performance in Lagos.

He described Sanwo-Olu as the most experienced among all the governorship candidates in Lagos State.

In an article he penned, Akosile wrote: “Sanwo-Olu, an exemplary public sector reformer and astute politician, known for his love and passion for the public service, has shown leadership in Lagos by giving the electorate a great deal in steering the ship of the nation’s commercial city in the right direction.

“As the 15th Lagos Governor, and having worked closely with three previous governors – Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Raji Fashola, and Akinwunmi Ambode in different capacities, Sanwo-Olu understands the State and the various challenges facing the mega city.

“His knowledge of challenges confronting residents made his administration to adopt a six pillars policy programme tagged T.H.E.M.E.S in solving the identified problems through good governance. The six pillars are; Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st Century state; Entertainment and Tourism; Security and Governance. Each of these six pillars is carefully thought-out as the Government’s priorities in delivering solutions across sectors.”

According to him, Sanwo-Olu, in his speech at the swearing-in on May 29, 2019, spoke passionately about his plans for the State, especially his dream of building a Greater Lagos.

“This passion seemed to have motivated his quest for good governance. The governor, without any iota of doubt, has delivered significantly on his campaign promises during his first term in office. His achievements are visible in different sectors and have been commended by people within and outside the state.

“A little above seven months when the Sanwo-Olu administration had barely settled down, COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the entire world and Lagos became an epicentre of the airborne disease.

“The governor showed leadership in rising up to the occasion and responding to the pandemic. As Incident Commander, he protected the citizens of the state by ensuring that the ravaging infection was well managed.

“Sanwo-Olu, with the assistance of his Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, and other stakeholders controlled the spread and ensured that those who contracted the virus were well attended to. He was the first governor to come up with a clearly defined containment strategy and response, which was later adopted by the presidency for the national response plan.

“This intervention by the Sanwo-Olu administration made Nigeria the fourth best country in the world which impressively curbed the spread of the COVID-19 virus according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).”

He pointed out that Sanwo-Olu also displayed great leadership during the #EndSARS demonstration, a youth-motivated civil action against police brutality, which was later hijacked by hoodlums.

“The campaign, which started peacefully, turned violent after it was hijacked, leading to violence and destruction of many private and public properties in Lagos State. Rather than allowing Lagos to be brought to its knees by the ugly incident, Sanwo-Olu rose up to the challenge by championing “Rebuild Lagos” plan.

“The administration’s traffic management and transportation blueprint has significantly brought the dream of Lagos to have an efficient and reliable intermodal system of transportation to a reality.

“Sanwo-Olu’ government has invested hugely in waterways and a light rail system as alternatives to road transportation.

“The Governor’s administration started the 37-km Red Line rail project from the scratch and the project is at completion stage. At full operation, the Red Line will move about a million passengers daily.

“The administration also injected huge resources into the 13-km Blue Line rail, commissioned in January by President Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure mass mobility from Mile 2 axis into the Island.

“To ease traffic gridlock in the metropolis, Sanwo-Olu’s administration built and completed Agege-Pen Cinema dual carriage flyover with adjoining roads in Agege, and also commissioned the Lagos-Ogun network of roads with bridge in Agbado-Oke Odo LCDA.

“He also carried out Junction Improvements and Reconfiguration at the 18 traffic spots, including first and second Lekki Roundabouts, Allen Avenue, Ajah and Igando. All these are done to reduce traffic gridlock in the state.”

He pointed out that in the last three and half years, Sanwo-Olu had constructed and rehabilitated over 1,000 roads while others were at various stages of completion.

“The plan for construction of the 4th Mainland Bridge is also on course. The incumbent administration also started the Opebi-Ojota Link Bridge, which is expected to be completed this year. “The First phase of the six-lane rigid-pavement 18.75km Lekki-Epe Expressway, stretching from Eleko Junction all the way to Epe T-junction, is completed and delivered to the good people of Lagos residing in the Lekki-Epe axis.

“The Sanwo-Olu administration has also provided thousands of LAGRIDE cars, First and Last Mile buses, and Large Capacity buses and boats for waterways to ease transportation in Lagos.

“Sanwo-Olu believes no resources should be spared in providing quality health care to the residents, which is why the State Government delivered secondary health facilities, such as Mother and Child Centers (MCCs) in Eti-Osa, Igando, Epe and Badagry. Lagos Government is building New Massey Children Hospital, which will be the biggest children hospital in West Africa. There is also an ongoing construction of General Hospital in Ojo and development of a mental health facility in Ketu Ejinrin,” he said.

Continuing, he stated: “Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) and Lagos State College of Education (LACOED) have been upgraded to universities. Lagos now has three State-owned universities, courtesy of Sanwo-Olu’s education reforms.

“It should be noted that there has been no disruption of academic activities across Lagos’ tertiary institutions since Sanwo-Olu took over; all issues that relate to students, staff and lecturers’ welfare are promptly attended to.

“One of the cardinal programmes of the Governor is Making Lagos a 21st-century economy. In this regard, Sanwo-Olu has recorded a milestone in provision of requisite infrastructure. The recent handover of Lekki Deep Seaport project is a pointer to this. Lagos has also secured an approval for the development of Badagry Port and an international airport in Lekki. All of these will boost Lagos’ economy when completed.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu has also made significant progress in Housing sector, as the administration commissioned over 7,000 flats in about 17 housing units in different parts of the state in the last three and half years, while more housing schemes are expected to be delivered in the coming months.

“The Sanwo-Olu administration has done so much in the area of agriculture and food security, with initiatives such as the Agro Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project, designed to build the capacity of players in the rice, aquaculture and poultry value chains.

“The government has also strengthened the capacity of farmers through the Lagos Agripreneurship Programme (LAP), the Sea Food Festival and the Eko City Farmers Food Market.”