Dear Lagosians,
First let me thank you all for turning out to
vote on the 28th March 2015 and for doing
so peacefully to make history by electing the
All Progressives Congress candidates in the
Presidential and National Assembly
elections.
Once again, I must address you as we
approach Saturday’s elections, when you will
be electing a Governor who will continue
after me and consolidate on the progress we
have built together.
You will also be electing members of the
State House of Assembly who will make laws
on your behalf to assist the Governor and his
team in the Executive arm.
Although your votes will be cast for one
political party or the other, let me remind
you that you will actually be voting for your
wellbeing, security, prosperity and future.
You will also be voting for the future of your
children. You will be choosing candidates
and a party that you will entrust your lives
to.
Think hard, think clearly, think deeply. Ask
yourselves a few questions.
Who has shown a better record and example
of protecting and securing you between the
political parties?
Which of the parties cares more when
disasters happen?
What is the record of the parties as it relates
to the promises they have made to you in
the past?
Which of the parties do you see regularly
and which one do you see once in a while?
Which of the parties do you see when your
life or property is threatened by epidemics
like Ebola or by unfortunate accidents like
plane crashes?
Which of the parties is showing that you can
become home-owners without knowing
anybody?
Which party has responsibility for providing
electricity for you, and which one is taking
up the responsibility to light up your streets
and communities at night?
Which of them cares more about your
children and their safety?
Indeed ask yourself; which of the parties
threatened you with thugs on that sad
Monday of March 16th and which is seeking
to protect you by supporting the police; with
patrol vehicles, fuel and other equipment?
Ask yourself when last you saw the Federal
Fire Service in Lagos. The proud men and
women of the Lagos State Fire Service have
taken over admirably.
Ask yourself who should be supporting the
police and who is actually doing it?
Dear Lagosians, your choice of who to vote
for will be easy if you answer these
questions within yourself honestly.
Indeed, you have clear choices to make
between parties that use your resources to
develop your society and community on the
one hand, and the party that chooses to
bring money to you for distribution when
election beckons.
So you can choose between schools for your
children, hospitals for your community,
roads for your transportation or in the
alternative, you can choose to have these
services monetized once in four years.
Remember, that choices have consequences
and your vote will decide the choice that
shapes your lives.
Dear Lagosians, it is tempting to take the
right and opportunity to vote for granted. It
is tempting to think that it is too much
trouble.
I agree that the process can be made much
easier. But it is no excuse to refuse to vote.
Out of 5.8 million registered voters and 3.8
million PVC collections, only about 1.5
million turned out to vote, on the 28th March
2015.
Think of all the pain, the effort, the sleepless
nights it took to get the PVCs to you. Think
of the best way to show that the effort was
not wasted or in vain.
It seems to me that the best way is to have
all these 3.8 Million voters come out to vote.
By refusing to vote, you surrender decision
making to a few and you will be bound by
the consequences of your choices.
By refusing to vote, you do a great disservice
to many who have lived before you, who
fought very hard at great personal costs to
themselves, to earn you this right.
By refusing to vote, you dishonour the
sacrifice of patriots before you who fought
for the right to vote.
Remember that when they were fighting for
the right to vote, they were not fighting for
yesterday, they were fighting for today and
tomorrow.
They have handed today to you and I, can we
secure tomorrow for the next generation?
Remember that since the capital of Nigeria
was moved from Lagos 24 years ago in
December 1991, Lagos has been abandoned
by the Federal Government.
Ask yourself when the last major new road in
Lagos was built by the Federal Government.
It was the 3rd Mainland Bridge completed in
1990.
The assets the Federal Government left
behind almost became a burden but for our
resilience to maintain them. Today the
Federal Government is owing Lagos N51
Billion which remains unpaid.
This is not in accord with the spirit of the
promise made to Lagos when the Federal
Government first declared Abuja as the
capital in 1976.
The Head-of-State at the time, the late Gen
Murtala Muhammed, said then and I quote
him:
“…Lagos will, in the foreseeable future,
remain the nation’s commercial capital and
one of its nerve centres. But in terms of
servicing the present infrastructure alone
the committed amount of money and effort
required will be such that Lagos State will
not be ready to cope.
(But we have coped at great sacrifice)
“It will even be unfair to expect the state to
bear this heavy burden on its own. It is
therefore necessary for the Federal
Government to continue to sustain the
substantial investment in the area. The port
facilities and other economic activities in the
Lagos area have to be expanded.
“There is need in the circumstances for the
Federal Government to maintain a special
defence and security arrangement in Lagos
which will henceforth be designated a
special area. These arrangements will be
carefully worked out and written into the
new constitution. Kaduna and Port Harcourt
are to be accorded similar status and
designated as Special Areas…”
Sadly, no Federal Government and indeed
not the PDP Government has done anything
to redeem that promise for the 16 years it
was in power or to protect Lagos.
Instead of assisting Lagos, they attacked her.
If you remember FERMA, in 2006, the same
PDP seized your Local Government money
and resisted the attempt to bring
Government closer to you by creating more
local Governments.
On Monday 16th March 2015, the same PDP
continued in their tradition of assaulting
Lagos. Their supporters took over a major
road in Lagos and threatened your peace and
security.
On Wednesday 18th March 2015, the
President-Elect, Muhammadu Buhari came
to Lagos and said Lagos will receive
compensation for the role she has played in
maintaining Federal Government Assets.
Yesterday on Tuesday the 7th of April 2015,
he was here in Lagos in his first political
engagement since he became President-
Elect and he reiterated his commitment to
support Lagos.
This is what I will vote for. This is what I urge
you to think about as you vote on Saturday.
This is the place that every Nigerian calls his
home. It is the home of displaced people. It
is the place where the homeless arrive and
are made welcome.
It is the place where generations of Nigerians
have arrived without knowing anybody but
have, through the opportunities and
inclusion, become somebody.
This is the place where the Late Chief
Adeniran Ogunsanya and Owelle Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe consummated the handshake across
the Niger and played politics without
bitterness.
Tell those who try to divide us that our
greatest strength has always been our
diversity.
Tell them that you feel safe here, and that I
have continuously assured you of your safety
as the basis of our mutual co-existence.
Tell them that our waterways have been
assets of prosperity and sustenance, for
transport, recreation and fishing and they
will remain so.
Let nobody now attempt to re-write that
history for you.
When they reel out false statistics about
Lagos, please ask them the statistics about
the places they governed for 16 years.
When they reel out statistics, please remind
them that those statistics don’t stand in
isolation, they are the burden of a whole
nation and many parts of West Africa that
Lagos state bears.
When they promise you heaven and earth,
remember their broken promises on power,
security and many more.
Ask them to show you a plan, if they can
produce one, which is doubtful, ask them
whether they have implemented it
elsewhere.
Tell them that you have seen the Lagos
Development plan for 2012 – 2025, that the
Lagos Light Rail Project, the Adiyan Water
Works Phase II of 75 Million gallons a day,
the solar power for all schools and many
more which are part of the plans for you and
your children and which are already being
implemented.
Tell them that you will vote to keep a plan
that you can see, that is already working,
instead of a plan that you have not seen.
Ask them what happened to Vision 20:20, to
the 7-Point Agenda and to Transformation.
Tell them that your bird in hand will not be
traded for a dozen unseen birds in the bush.
Tell them that this election is not about
money, tell them that it is not about
ethnicity and it is not about religion.
Tell them that this election is about the
place you call your home, the place you earn
your living and the place where your
investments are the safest.
Tell them that you will not play ethnic or
religious politics with your survival. Tell
them that you will not vote with anger.
Tell them that you will vote with common
sense and for experience.
Tell them that you have seen Lagos survive
without Federal support, and you wish to see
her flourish with Federal support.
That will be the most historic thing you will
have done, putting Lagos in the centre with
your votes.
History and tomorrow beckons. Don’t turn
your backs.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State.

www.omojuwa.com/2015/04/this-is-what-i-urge-you-to-think-about-as-you-vote-on-saturday-read-governor-fasholas-letter-to-lagosians/

Well said baba fasho.ambode noni.jk just kidding

Wash wash wash



Jaykay we know! Jaykay we want!

As far as most Lagosians are concerned, Akin Ambode is the next governor of Lagos. JK is just kidding as usual.

I wonder why APC supporters always run away from talking about Tinubu. The money Lagos has made in the last eight years is enough to build Dubai.





Let them no Jimi is his own man. He's no Tinubu stooge!



Jaykay we know! Jaykay we want!

This election is btw ambode and agbaje,Ambode just doesnt look convincing. Right from the debates in 07, we knew fashola was going to do well. HE did very well in his first term and just below average in his 2nd term taking into account the huge debt profile of the state and the igr.

adeoladrg:
I wonder why APC supporters always run away from talking about Tinubu. The money Lagos has made in the last eight years is enough to build Dubai.





Let them no Jimi is his own man. He's no Tinubu stooge!



Jaykay we know! Jaykay we want!

Jimi is his own man?
You're JK right?
Don't let ex-convict Bode George or koro hear this.

l

we have decided
Jimi Agbaje is our next Governor nothing anything can do about that no q mount of propaganda by thief-nubu n APC. can Stop Jimi Agbaje victory on Saturday
Change is Here...Jimi Agbaje the Liberator of. Lagosians from Thief-nubu empire

tinubu and fashola struggling to hide their loot from being exposed by jk