Follow Us on Google
Philip Nwosu and Ismail Omipidan
The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has chided those propagating the slogan ‘O to ge’ (Enough is Enough) in Lagos, explaining that even though the slogan was used to dislodge the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in Kwara State, it was not applicable in Lagos.
Tinubu also said he was disturbed over the violence that broke out two weeks ago in Okota, Lagos, during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
Speaking with journalists after voting at polling unit 047, ward 3, in Alausa, Tinubu said that in Lagos, the people should consider ‘O to pe’, translated as “it’s worthy of praise”. He said there was a limit to copying concepts from other states, expressing confidence that his party would emerge victorious in the exercise. His words: “The ‘O to ge’ slogan is for Kwara; Lagos is not Kwara, and there is a limit to copying. Lagos should be ‘O to pe’, not ‘O to ge’. We are going to win because we are the only party in Lagos State, others are pretenders; they come and they will go away. Leopard cannot change his skin.
“Lagos belongs to the progressives; we are progressives and we will remain progressives. For Lagos, it has been tremendous development since I was the governor. Before then, the highest internally generated revenue (IGR) was N600 million per month; now it is over N30 billion.
“No other state has achieved what we have achieved — financial independence as Lagos State; they all depend on allocation from the Federal Government. Lagos State today will not depend on any allocation before we take care of capital needs. We build roads and bridges everywhere from Oregun to many parts of the state.
“The real estate value of Lagos state has exponentially increased more than any other state in the federation. We are the fifth largest economy in Africa. Let me see that governor who will do better than that.”
Tinubu argued that the violence that broke out two weeks ago in Okota, Lagos, during the presidential and National Assembly elections was an isolated incident, saying it was not enough to categorise the election as one that was violent.
“I take exception to what happened in Okota two weeks ago. I am very upset about that incident placing Lagos as if we are violence-prone. We have about 1,325 polling units in Lagos State and only five units were affected in Okota. That should not mean that the election was a failure in the state.
“If we should rate it, the election should be about 97 per cent rate of success if right mentally. An incident in Okota should not be used to generalise the whole election in Lagos State. The success rate should have been the story not the ugly incident that should be the story,” the former governor said. He said the state would continue to be home for all irrespective of wherever they came from.
“We will continue to welcome everybody to Lagos State. We cannot stop people from coming to the state. If Lagos is not good enough, they won’t come. If the state is plagued with disease or insecurity or unemployment, people won’t come. Those leaving their states to come to Lagos are welcomed, they are not a threat,” he added.
He appealed to the media to desist from hyping negative stories, insisting that such attributes would not bring about the necessary progress.
“For the media, how can five units out of 1,325 units constitute a violent election and were given hype that Lagos is violent; we cannot do justice to that. In terms of security, Lagos has always been ready to celebrate democracy and is violence-free. “The security officials are doing well and the INEC has started well too with the logistics well managed. The voters came out en masse,” Tinubu said.
