FASHOLA'S MISRULE OF LAGOS STATE
If there was one aspect of Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola's life that Lagosians and indeed Nigerians did not know, it was his vituperative and cantankerous nature which recently came to the fore. Gov. Fashola became suddenly very rude, combustive and combative demonizing President Goodluck Jonathan in no small measure with the ultimate aim of winning Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu's approval for APC's Vice Presidential slot. Gov. Fashola rubbished President Goodluck Jonathan with the hope of becoming Nigeria's next Vice President but Gov. Fashola's rage and ranting never impressed Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who himself was eyeing that slot. Apart from Sen. Tinubu's personal agenda, the former two-time governor has sworn never to place Gov. Fashola in any executive position because of the near-fatal friction that exposed Gov. Fashola's obstinate rivalry with his former boss. In all the APC satelite States Sen. Bola Tinubu does not brook any deviation or independence from his orders.
Tinubu's godfatherism does not allow flouting of his orders, even if he makes you Nigeria's President, he will impeach and humble you. Gov. Babatunde Fashola's score card for 8 years is a chronicle of bourgeois administration that ruled and catered for only the elite class to the detriment of the forgotten and down-trodden poverty class. Political godfatherism is nourished by the mob class that does the dirty job for the sustenance of godfatherism. For the godfather to survive there must be a regeneration of Franz Fanon's, 'Le damn de la terre' the wretched and hopeless citizenry who are permanently on call to steal, to kill and to destroy, to rig elections by disrupting them and carrying ballot boxes for stuffing and to do other biddings of the godfather. And Gov. Babatunde Fashola did just that throughout his 8 wasted years of misrule. One of the crudest methods of Gov. Fashola's reign was to encourage a massive exodus of tertiary students from schools in order to maintain the status quo and retain Lagos state as one of the most educationally backward states in southern Nigeria.
This Gov. Fashola achieved by increasing the State University School fees from N25,000,00 to N250,000,00 for Arts students and N348,000.00 for medical Students. This was in Nov. 2011. and till date Lagos State University has not recovered from the massive withdrawal and depletion it suffered as a result of the astronomical leap in school fees.
It is however shocking that as a child who grew up during Chief Obafemi Awolowo's mad zest for the compulsory education of every child in the 1950s, that Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended up with very little or no education and at best a dubious one.
It goes without saying therefore that this catastrophic and astronomical leap in school fees could have only been forced on Gov. Fashola who himself is a beneficiary of both Federal and state govt. bursary awards in the University of Benin where he graduated in Law in 1987 and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) with the flip of a summersault. Both Tinubu and Fashola severally confirmed that nothing on earth could reverse the school fees. And of course in all APC States the war on education is unrelenting. Oshun, Ogun and Edo States are very good examples where School fees in state universities have exceeded the N100, 000.00 mark.
And yet all Federal Universities still pay under N20, 000.00 (Twenty Thousand Naira only). Of course Nigerian parents must be ready to pay about N800,000.00 (Eight Hundred Thousand Naira) per child as APC does not believe in education which is a sine qua non for a rapid all-around development.
And yet Sen. Bola Tinubu and Gov. Fashola just need to look back and allow the great strides and monumental achievements of the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo to inspire them. Chief Obafemi Awolowo who is rated as one of the world's best economic planners raised the ante and made it impossible for other regional governors in the colonial era to catch up with the west. And very few Nigerians will challenge these figures of literary levels in Nigeria. In the S/W during Chief Awolowo era literary level was about 80%, in the southeast it was about 60% while it was about 20% in the North where most of these are graduates of teachers training colleges.
But today, through the corrupt mechanism of Sen. Tinubu's godfatherism which has turned Lagos to be the Area Boys capital of the world the literacy percentage instead of increasing has dropped to about 75% in the S/W while the South East has nutched up 10% to make 70% while the north too has gone up by about 8% to hit 28% to almost tally with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar's projection of 30% literacy level in Northern Nigeria. While the North is very comfortable with its level of literacy, the dyed-in-the wool Awoist are very angry about the dropping level of education which they computed should have hit about 95% if the Awolowo fiscal discipline was maintained in the southwest till date.
Gov. Fashola must realize that the people are entitled to some social benefits from the state like potable water, education, housing, good roads and security. Gov. Fashola should be honest to tell Lagosians how many kilometers of roads he has tarred in the last 4 years.
Education is out of the cards already and Housing also is not within the reach of the common man. Gov. Fashola is an elitist governor surrounded only by the bourgeoisie. For instance how many middle class workers can afford N7MN to buy a 3-bedroom flat as obtains at the Ojokoro Housing Estate and other parts of Lagos.
This unreachably out priced houses will surely be bought by those made millionaires by government largesse and these will in turn rent or lease out these houses at cut-throat rates. And the government is aware of these antics and some of these houses are bought back by the top government officials who sell them to themselves.
The plight of the common man has never been of the least interest to the Tinubu dynasty. All laws in Lagos are implemented to secure the comfort and ascendancy of the elite bourgeois class. The decision by Gov. Fashola to ban motor cycles popularly known as Okada is one of the most insensitive, wicked and unpopular decisions taken throughout his 8 years reign. When the Kenyan Prime Minister Mr. Raila Odinga visited Governor Fashola last year, he told his host how okadas have been organized into strategic economic partnership to achieve optimum economic integration for the low income earners. Gov. Fashola and General OlusegunObasanjo are brewed in the same hue. They are two of a kind who do not plan anything good for the common man.
Even in civilized climes like India, China, Pakistan etc the Okada Rider is allowed to fend for himself. If some of the above countries can even allow trucks, carts and bicycles to vie with cars, buses and trains it puzzles good reasoning why okada should be banned because according to the Governor “Okadas cause frequent accidents”. The Governor who has overlooked all the economic benefits of okada contributions in society is only holding out because of his class consciousness and pride to scheme the poor and struggling okada rider out of existence.
Let Governor Fashola go round Lagos and he will see almost a million. Okada riders, okada spare part dealers, okada mechanics and consider the economic disaster he has created in the homes of these one million inhabitants. Many of the Governors critics also posited that he banned okada to reduce unwanted non-Yorubas in Lagos State reasoning that most Lagos youths have dropped out of Lagos State University to pursue their businesses in the motor parks. Lagos State and all APC states are like slave farms for Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a kind of ATM (Automated Teller Machine) where he slots in his card and draws out billion of naira everyday. The very desperate APC leader has now been crowned the almighty godfather of southwest politics. He slots in candidates into all positions in Lagos State and all APC States, Local Government Councilors, Local Government Chairmen and their Deputies, House of Assembly members, Speakers, Deputy Speakers, state commissioners etc. Nobody becomes anything especially in these APC States without Tinubus 100% clearance.
The great grandmaster of “demoslavery” has already chosen his Federal Ministers in a chimerical day-dream that will disappear on Feb. 14, 2015. like a mid summer nights dream.
Lagosians should unequivocally and without much ado reject the money making chicaneries of Tinubu and embrace change at the February polls to free themselves from Tinubu's slave market mentality. Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu shot himself in the foot and made a great political blunder by anointing Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who is the weakest link in the chain of his 12 Apostles who are the prospective gubernatorial candidates. This shameful and overt act of political obscenity has become Tinubu's political trade mark and as he has already positioned Prof. Oshinbajo to add to his array of ATMs from the eloquent Federal Reserve if unfortunately his wicked dreams come to pass.
Lagosians should vote enmass for Chief JK Agbaje who is the better positioned and more experienced of the two candidates, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu must be ready to pay the supreme prize for overlooking highly experienced politicians like Chief Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Chief Ganiyu Solomon, Dr. Leke Pitan and Dr. Obafemi Hamzat. Akinwunmi Ambode is Tinubu's weakest link just like Judas Iscariot was the weakest link in the 12 Apostles and he finally betrayed Jesus Christ, just like Mr. Ambode will betray Lagosians if we vote him governor out of ignorance and a suicide instinct.
It is very unfortunate when Gov. Fashola bangs his chest and constructs such a ginormous statue for himself and boasts that he can defend his stewardship as Governor of Lagos. All Lagosians know that TInubu is the de jure Governor of Lagos State and Gov. Fashola is just a surrogate dummy to occupy the gubernatorial seat.
Governor Fashola will be most remembered for broken and potholes-filled roads, sending our students out of university by increasing school fees,
Zero infrastructure, no pipe born water so every Lagosian has to provide water for himself. The governor talked about agriculture and employment having an impact on the citizens of Lagos State. What is Gov. Fashola's main agricultural produce. Is it cocoa, palm oil, sorghum or cashew nuts.
As for employment apart from the very corrupt LASTMA (Lagos State Transport Authority) officials and the Environmental, sanitary inspectors, where is Fashola's record of employment.
As a result of over evaluation of houses in Lagos, there is no landlord who finds it convenient to pay Fashola's highly over inflated tenement rates. And yet Fashola deceives Lagosians that Lagos Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is less than N60 bn monthly while financial experts believe that Lagos IGR is well over N80BN and most of it is shared in Alausa. This is a secret Tinubu and Fashola share in common. Conservatively tenement rate alone will fetch more that N6BN on an average assumption of two thousand naira per house for say 3 million houses.
Most of Fashola's Beautification Projects including flowered boulevards and interlocking roundabouts have fallen into disuse. Gov. Fashola's only legacy would have been education which he has so brutally decimated. And an uneducated youth as in the North is like our boko haram bomb ticking and waiting to explode.
Let Lagosians not be taken in by Fashola's hurried and temporary reversal of the Lagos State University School fees from N250,000.00 to the original N25,000.00. But a vote for Mr. Ambode is a vote for illiteracy because Sen. Tinubu will ensure an immediate upward swing for LASU school fees and this time up to N500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira).
Lagosians should vote wisely. They should vote massively for the PEOPLES GOVERNOR, Chief JAYKAY Agbaje who is a successful, versatile and experienced politician of repute.
Yes JK can bring a positive permanent prosperous CHANGE to Lagosians. Yes JK CAN
Written by Ben Nanaghan
E-mail: [email protected]