[img]http://ogala.files./2012/01/thumbnail.jpg?w=620[/img]

Dear Lagosians,

For the past few days, I have monitored the developments related to the public protest against the increase in the pump price of petrol.

During that period, I have at the invitation of my colleagues in the Governor’s Forum responded to an invitation from the Presidency.

My role since last Monday till date has been to find a ground of compromise that stabilizes the polity, protects our democracy and prevent any loss of lives.

Inspite of these efforts, we were not wholly successful in preventing the loss of the life of a young Nigerian, AdemolaAderinto who was sadly shot.

I am truly saddened by that ugly development. While I condole with his family, I pledge the commitment of our Government to bring the alleged perpetrator to justice.

I have decided to address you today in view of the very disquieting developments that occurred overnight especially the deployment of soldiers across Lagos.

I have the highest respect for members of our military, especially because they have made a contract with all of us that they will willingly lay down their lives whenever it becomes necessary to do so, in order to protect us.

This covenant is instructive, because soldiers did not sign up to stop us from expressing our grievance about things that we are displeased about.

It is not disputable that the citizens who have gathered in several parts of Lagos like Falomo, Ikorodu and Ojota to mention a few have largely conducted themselves peacefully, singing and dancing while they expressed their displeasure at the way that we have taken decisions that affect them.

That in my view should not offend those of us in Government. The majority of these people who represent diverse interests have not broken any law. If they have, it is my opinion that in a constitutional democracy, it is the police that hasthe responsibility for restoring law and order if civil protests threatens the breach of the peace.

This is not justification for sending out soldiers to a gathering of unarmed citizens. Every one of us, or at least majority of us who hold public office danced and sang before these same people when we were seeking their votes.

Why should we feel irritated when they sing and dance in protest against what we have done?

For me this is not a matter for the military. The sooner we rethink and rescind this decision the better and stronger our democracy will be.

If anything, this is a most welcome transformation of our democracy in the sense that it provokes a discussion of economic policies and this inevitably may result in political debate.

I therefore urge the reconsideration of the decision to deploy soldiers and implore the President and Commander-in-Chief to direct their withdrawal from our streets, I must also emphasize that the rights of free speech and protest is not absolute. They impose the duty not to break the law, breach the peace, endanger human life or destroy property whether public or private.

They also impose the duty to respect the rights of others not to support our protest and indeed to support what we oppose. At the end of the day, it is a contest of ideas in which the most persuasive will get the endorsement of the majority of the people we serve.

I am convinced that our democracy is mature enough to accommodate this. We must do our best to ensure that it does.

God bless you all.

BabatundeRajiFashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State

Monday, January 16, 2012

http://ogala./2012/01/16/fashola-ask-jonathan-to-withdraw-troops-from-lagos-streets-full-speech/

Very true and well scripted

Tell that man who thinks he's the president to shut his mouth, and concentrate in areas where the constitution allows him to operate!

thats the truth. That serious tampering on our freedom of expression.

Thats my governor. I love you.

Thank you Fashola. Eko o ni baje.

What is the problem with GEJ? Why is he afraid of people talking and expressing their grievances  ? These guys were not breaking any rules for God's sake neither were they carrying any weapon  

[b]Lets Break This Down A Little

When Ever There Is An Increase In Pump Price Of Fuel There Is Always Protest > Negotiations > Agreement Reached.

Fact #The Pump Price Of Fuel Was Suppose To Sell At #100 After the Removal Of Subsidy

Now If This Was To Follow, The Usual Process Would Have Followed (Like Whats Happening Now) Protest > Negotiations > Agreement Reached.

The Pump Price Was Raised To #141

The Protest Face Is Concluded, Negotiations Ongoing And An Agreement To Be Reached.

The President Stated That The Price Is Now #97

If The Price Was Set At #100 From The Very Start And The Protest Followed, Reducing To #97, Would Have Made No Sense To The Masses at All,

The Plan Was > Set It At #141, > Let Them Protest, > We Set It Back To The Targeted Price Of #100 (Thats A Big Margin To Them (the masses), Taking It From #141 To #97)

In The Actual Sense The Pump Price Is Still At #100

Lets Come Down to The Masses Level

If An Okada Man Was Buying One Litre Of Fuel @ #97 And He Pays #100 Who would Give Him Change Of #3?


IS LABOUR GOING TO AGREE AT THE SET PRICE OF #97?

IF SO THE CASE, PROTESTERS/PROTEST WHERE JUST THE PUPPETS USED TO FINISH THE GAME PLAN
ANOTHER MANIPULATION BY GOVERNMENT ON THE PEOPLE.

PROTESTERS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES WOULD HAVE DIED IN VAIN.

If The Price Stay At #97 We Loss And FG/CABALS WIN

#Should We Allow Them Win? And Our Labour Be In Vain?


TAKE THIS MESSAGE TO THE NLC, TUC AND FG

occupynigeria2day@yahoo.com

[/b]

fashola should keep quiet?since he can not mantain law and order in his state,i think military should better take over?Nonsense

This is to show that we are not in democracy but military.
Wonders shall never end. Army on the streets, when there is no state of emergency.
so where will the police be? In the rooms (as thieves)

Nice statement.
Except that we did not get to read something similar from Governor Fashola when Lagos State government decided to brutalize protesters at the Lekki Toll gate a few weeks ago using armed policemen.
Hypocrite!

O boy, Fashola went to Abuja wt other governors to agree on n97, and here is asking FG to do wht.  This fash guy no get respect, abi lagos no be part of nigeria (una don chop bellyful abi?).  Which one u want, 24 hrs curfew or state of emergency.  Abi fash no no say agberos hv bn stealg, destroying pple's property, taking the laws into their own hands.  Wasn't he there when bakare and co were haulg scandals at the presidency and inciting people to anarchy? Fash beware, b4 the military take over completely and leave u emptiest treasury eva for lagos state.  To be forewarned,

Any attempt or group of attempts by any person or group of persons in Lagos to undermine the authority of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be decisively dealt with. Period!

Slyr0x:


[b]I have decided to address you today in view of the very disquieting developments that occurred overnight especially the deployment of soldiers across Lagos.

I have the highest respect for members of our military, especially because they have made a contract with all of us that they will willingly lay down their lives whenever it becomes necessary to do so, in order to protect us.

This covenant is instructive, because soldiers did not sign up to stop us from expressing our grievance about things that we are displeased about.

It is not disputable that the citizens who have gathered in several parts of Lagos like Falomo, Ikorodu and Ojota to mention a few have largely conducted themselves peacefully, singing and dancing while they expressed their displeasure at the way that we have taken decisions that affect them.

That in my view should not offend those of us in Government. The majority of these people who represent diverse interests have not broken any law. If they have, it is my opinion that in a constitutional democracy, it is the police that hasthe responsibility for restoring law and order if civil protests threatens the breach of the peace.

This is not justification for sending out soldiers to a gathering of unarmed citizens. Every one of us, or at least majority of us who hold public office danced and sang before these same people when we were seeking their votes.

Why should we feel irritated when they sing and dance in protest against what we have done?

For me this is not a matter for the military. The sooner we rethink and rescind this decision the better and stronger our democracy will be.

If anything, this is a most welcome transformation of our democracy in the sense that it provokes a discussion of economic policies and this inevitably may result in political debate.[/b]

Words from a wise man. Retardeen , over to u.

Kabikala:

Nice statement.
Except that we did not get to read something similar from Governor Fashola when Lagos State government decided to brutalize protesters at the Lekki Toll gate a few weeks ago using armed policemen.
Hypocrite!

God bless you, if he had his way na the same military that him for use!

muami:

Any attempt or group of attempts by any person or group of persons in Lagos to undermine the authority of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be decisively dealt with. Period!

Will u STFU. how do non-violent protesters undermine this authority? even if there are security challenges, what happened to MOPOL?

@occupy2day:

If An Okada Man Was Buying One Litre Of Fuel @ #97 And He Pays #100 Who would Give Him Change Of #3?

This argument does not hold water.

People usually buy petrol by stating the amount (in naira) that they want. They don't have to state it in terms of litre.

In other words, you can buy N100, N500 or N850 worth of petrol and the pump will automatically dispense to you the appropriate quantity in litres.

I have at the invitation of my colleagues in the Governor’s Forum responded to an invitation from the Presidency.

Hidden insurbodination.


The people that flooded Ojota and other areas of Lagos represent less than 8 percent of people residing in Lagos majority of whom supports the fuel subsidy.
It is also important to note that the lives of these majority have been threatened by the actions of these few miscreants over the last few days. Any sensible
commander in Chief will take action to forestall total break down of law and order. It is Cheerful to note that the ACN TINUBU/FASHOLA now appreciates
that Lagos (including them) is under Nigeria and that Nigeria have a CIC in the person of the able Goodluck Ebele Azikiwen Jonathan .

Diligence:

O boy, Fashola went to Abuja wt other governors to agree on n97, and here is asking FG to do wht.  This fash guy no get respect, abi lagos no be part of nigeria (una don chop bellyful abi?).  Which one u want, 24 hrs curfew or state of emergency.  Abi fash no no say agberos hv bn stealg, destroying pple's property, taking the laws into their own hands.  Wasn't he there when bakare and co were haulg scandals at the presidency and inciting people to anarchy? Fash beware, b4 the military take over completely and leave u emptiest treasury eva for lagos state.  To be forewarned,

LI[b]AR! List about 3-4 addresses where Agberos have destroyed and looted.
I think the Niger Deltans are the most racist Nigerians. Any small disagreement with their views, you are suddenly an ENEMY.
The same Lagosians that massively voted GEJ now needs to be shot for voicing their disagreement. Such poor judgement.
Anyways, I hope the Niger Deltans vote will be sufficient for GEJ come 2015 since its now US vs THEM. Thats all theyve been claiming since the protest started.[/b]

God bless Fashola. I support his call for withdrawal of soldiers 100%.

Nice speech from Fashola, even though it is highly unrealistic. The soldiers are likely to be around for a week or two.

dplordx:

LI[b]AR! List about 3-4 addresses where Agberos have destroyed and looted.
I think the Niger Deltans are the most racist Nigerians. Any small disagreement with their views, you are suddenly an ENEMY.
The same Lagosians that massively voted GEJ now needs to be shot for voicing their disagreement. Such poor judgement.
Anyways, I hope the Niger Deltans vote will be sufficient for GEJ come 2015 since its now US vs THEM. Thats all theyve been claiming since the protest started.[/b]

God forbid. The Retardeen told us he will be there for just one tenure.

Now the presence of soldiers made a southwest governors to address the people.

Politricks!!!!

Abeg phone the president, am not interested in all this playing to the gallery.

What happened when your govt impose toll on lekki epe express and protests ensued?

In as much as i do not support military presence but kindly direct your complain to GEJ.

Timehin:

Now the presence of soldiers made a southwest governors to address the people.

Politricks!!!!

Abeg phone the president, am not interested in all this playing to the gallery.

What happened when your govt impose toll on lekki epe express and protests ensued?

In as much as i do not support military presence but kindly direct your complain to GEJ.

Are u sure he didnt register his displeasure to the retardeen when he was told in Abuja that soldiers will be deplored?

Slyr0x:

I therefore urge the reconsideration of the decision to deploy soldiers and implore the President and Commander-in-Chief to direct their withdrawal from our streets, I must also emphasize that the rights of free speech and protest is not absolute. They impose the duty not to break the law, breach the peace, endanger human life or destroy property whether public or private.

They also impose the duty to respect the rights of others not to support our protest and indeed to support what we oppose. At the end of the day, it is a contest of ideas in which the most persuasive will get the endorsement of the majority of the people we serve.

". . .it is a contest of ideas in which the most persuasive will get the endorsement of the majority of the people we serve"
This - directed at helmsman incapable of selling ideas either to the masses or his cabal - is like asking Sarah Palin to identify Nigeria on a map.

Beaf:

Nice speech from Fashola, even though it is highly unrealistic. The soldiers are likely to be around for a week or two.

On what basis?

GEJ SHOULD ABDICATE , He didn't even know how to put things right

Nigerian army troops are very ugly!

Kabikala:

Nice statement.
Except that we did not get to read something similar from Governor Fashola when Lagos State government decided to brutalize protesters at the Lekki Toll gate a few weeks ago using armed policemen.
Hypocrite!

To call fashola a hypocrite is even an understatement.

That's why a clueless person shouldn't be given the power of the C-in-C especially when theirs nothing to check the excessiveness of a President and unilateral veto power, setting wrong priorities, flexing against the masses and drinking to stupor.
His first lady has run away since the beginning of the strike under the pretext that she was going for medicals rubbish.

As far as I'm concerned, just like I stated in other threads

1. The protest in Lagos has somewhat turned to violence, in a democratic society, people have the right to freedom of expression, however, in as longs as the expression doesn't involve to hurting others who do NOT respect opposing views, then I'm fine.

2. The Army in Lagos are there to protect the lives and properties of the citizens, although it's quite unfortunate that they have resorted to manhandling folks who are unarmed. Perhaps, I think they should focus ALL THEIR ENERGY on these hoodlums rooming the streets of Lagos, breaking into properties and seeking whom they will set ablaze, NOT some peaceful protesters.

In order words, nicely illustrated wording from Fashola, but I think this is coming at the late hour because Fashola had an opportunity right from last week Monday to begin appealing to people for peaceful protest, he should have ensured security to the least minimum , but he did not. Anyway, I respect his honest opinion, I will agree with his statement, but I think it's double standard, anyway, the army is there to stay regardless of what has happened in the past week.

GEJ is completely finished for the rest of his term in office,i.e. if his govt survives till then,

What happened to those who occupied the toll gate? Did My friend who I respect a lot remember this sermon when he forcefully sent them packing?