The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Candidate for Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, took his town hall meeting to his home constituency, Apapa, on Friday, saying, government’s clearing the area of its legendary traffic gridlock ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Saturday visit was an act of hypocrisy and wickedness.
He accused authorities of paying
deaf ears to residents and businesses suffering all this while, only to
clear Apapa highways of heavy articulated vehicles because the President
was paying a campaign visit to Lagos.
Agbaje, who lives and runs
his pharmaceutical company in the famous port town of Apapa, promised
that the area’s traffic logjam would become history under his reign.
According
to Agbaje, the disappearance of the usual traffic standstill ahead of
Buhari’s visit tomorrow meant that authorities were wicked and had only
left residents and businesses to suffer deliberately.
“Have you
noticed that there is no traffic jam in Apapa today?” Agbaje asked, when
he addressed the audience at the OC Events Centre on Randle Road, where
hundreds had gathered to engage him in the interactive town hall
meeting.
“Yes!” the gathering shouted.
He asked: “Why? Because President Muhammadu Buhari is coming, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” came the response.
“It
means that these people are wicked people. It means that they are
hypocrites. They have refused to clear this traffic all this time, even
when they knew they had the solution. So because President Muhammadu
Buhari is coming tomorrow, they have cleared the traffic. So when he
leaves, they will punish us again.
“We are saying that the
traffic situation in Apapa becomes a priority. I am an Apapa person. I
stay in Apapa. I work in Apapa. As Governor, I will ensure that this
punishment will stop.”
“Amen!” the crowd screamed.
In
continuation of his state-wide town hall meetings, Agbaje had arrived OC
Events Centre, after a roadshow that wound through the streets, while
members of his campaign team distributed branded gifts to hailing
constituents.
Several party chieftains joined him in the session,
including: PDP Candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly Apapa
Constituency 1, Honourable Ede Celestine Ikechukwu, and his counterpart
from Apapa Constituency 2, Honourable Olawale Ogunyinka.
The
gathering comprised local representatives of: Baales and chiefs, the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Muslim clerics, vulganiser
association, mechanic association, artisans, parents-teachers’
association, non-indigenes and the business community.
Agbaje vowed that his government would spare no means to upgrade the standard of education in Lagos public schools.
He lamented: “It is unbelievable that in 21st Century Lagos, school students still sit on the ground to take lessons.”
However,
he said his education policy would include the training of artisans,
and bring them up to international modern standards in order to help
them improve their skills, income and welfare.
Agbaje also had
scathing words for the APC regime that he accused of withholding the
licences of traditional rulers in order to force them to remain loyal.
His
words: “Many of you Baales here today do not have your titles gazetted.
And this they have deliberately done to serve as a rope they can pull
anytime they want to blackmail and compel you to do what they want.”
However, he promised that things would change.
“Our
style will be different. We shall accord the traditional institution
its deserved honour and role. We shall not resort to arm-twisting in our
relationship with our traditional rulers,” promised the PDP Candidate.
FELIX OBOAGWINA
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AND PUBLICITY, JIMI AGBAJE CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION
Source:- Ripplesnigeria
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