Chima Amaechi
Activist and national convener, Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), Razaq Olokoba, believes that Saturday’s Lagos governorship election would herald the victory of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Olokoba, who is also a political analyst, hinged his assertion on what he believes is the economic progress the state has made under the leadership of the party since 1999.
What is your assessment of the forthcoming governorship election in Lagos?
Without mincing words, it will be a ‘one way traffic’\ election as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), will carry the day. The party will walk over the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), because the standard the state has attained, no reasonable person would want to experiment with toddlers in governance.
What were the factors you considered before making this assertion?
Well, the state has been consistently witnessing rapid and all round development since the advent of this nascent democracy in 1999 under a progressive government and the feat has never been a one-man show. It has been a collective responsibility of all since the time of Bola Tinubu who is the arrow head of the progressive tendencies in the state as well as in the whole country.
Tinubu has been adopting the style of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in executing people oriented programmes. I am a member of the Civil Society and Tinubu usually consults us and is still consulting us till date on how to move the state to the next level. And during the time of Babatunde Fashola, the avenue for consultation was still very much open for effective interaction and engagement. And thank God for Tinubu’s foresight, Fashola came out to be the best candidate to succeed him at that time.
Can you say same thing about Sanwo-Olu’s emergence?
Sanwo-Olu’s emergence was a direct response to the demands of Lagosians guided by the principle of party supremacy. In Lagos, residents are faithful voters who can differentiate between good and bad governments and President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory on February 23, was a clear testimony that Nigerians are aware that the PDP lacks the capacity to handle a sophisticated state like Lagos.
Remember that in the whole of the continent of Africa, Lagos is one of the only three metropolitan cities. The other two are Cairo in Egypt and Johannesburg in South Africa. Nigeria should have attained that status as a nation if not for the misrule of the PDP for 16 years.
So Lagos voters should not be derailed. They should rise up against the PDP to give the APC’s Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat ticket a resounding victory for the sake of more dividends of democracy for all and sundry. Lagos will fail and fall if we give it to the PDP and we must not allow that to happen.
What gives you the assurance that Sanwo-Olu will perform?
Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, are highly competent to take the state to the next level going by their landmark achievements as Commissioners for Establishment and Training and Works and Infrastructure Development respectively under Fashola. They will not only replicate that but step it up to take Lagos State to the enviable standard befitting any Mega City in the whole world. I can make bold to say that nobody, no Nigerian, either in Lagos or anywhere in the country that would give his vote to the PDP because they know the atrocities the party committed during its 16 year’s misrule during the period they drained the nation’s economy.
What contributions is your group planning for the election?
As an organisation that comprises of 70 civil society groups to be joined by hundreds of other pro-democracy societies, we are working seriously round the clock to make sure that Sanwo-Olu is democratically elected this Saturday and sworn-in along with his deputy, Hamzat, on May 29.
Lagos, with its complexity should not be given to a political green horn and toddler in governance. And from all proven indications, Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat have passed our integrity test and have been given clean slate of health as the duo capable of taking the state to the Next Level. And we seize this medium to appeal to the people to troop out en masse to vote for the APC candidates in peaceful and orderly manner devoid of any rancour. Violence, we must remember, breeds nothing but chaos.