Fashola Donates Vehicles To Police, Wants Violence-Free Polls

LAGOS, Jan 31, (THEWILL) - Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) today asked politicians in the country to shun the politics of guns and machetes in the 2011 electioneering campaigns, saying the process should be free of violence in the state.

Fashola expressed the view during the handing over of 100 patrol vehicles and 50 motorbikes equipped with communication gadgets at the state house in Alausa, saying such campaign would not promote peace and development.

At the handing over, Fashola said Lagos residents “are now looking forward to the commencement of electioneering campaign, a campaign that would be a carnival of ideas and superior programmes.

“That is the kind of campaign we will have in Lagos State and that is the kind of campaign that the police and other security agencies in the state will appreciate rather than a campaign of guns and machetes,” he said.

While handling over the patrol vehicles to Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, Fashola urged the police not to use the facilities to harass and torment the civil populace they are expected to protect.

Fashola also warned criminals to stay off Lagos metropolis, saying the state “has become a no-go area for them. If you commit a crime, Lagos is not safe for you because we will apprehend you and bring you to justice.”

He warned those using commercial motorcycles (Okada) to commit crimes that the state government with the new motorized bikes “will make it impossible for them to operate and succeed. We have provided the police with 50 motorbikes to run them out, chase and prosecute them.”

Fashola recalled that these facilities were procured solely by the state government from the supplementary budget passed by the state House of Assembly in 2010 and added that the toll free emergency and distress lines (767, 112) introduced two years ago now process 60,000 distressed calls daily.

On his part, Akpoyibo promised “to make judicious use of the facilities and thanked the state government for the gesture. This will be my final official assignment as the Lagos state police command but I can assure the state governor that my successor would maintain those facilities.”