18th October, 2011
The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has described as shameful volte face the decision of the Lagos State PDP to contest election in the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs in the state after several years of sabotaging the desire of Lagosians for more local councils.
The party sees the decision as self-serving and a demonstration of the fact that the PDP, as a party, is ogling for Lagos just for the power to loot the state, as they have been doing every other state and the Federal Government.
In a statement signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, in Lagos, the party said Lagosians are aware of the antics of the PDP in the state, which has employed every means since 1999 to frustrate the creation of additional local governments in Lagos, as well as the development of the state.
It urged Lagosians to massively reject the PDP, which has shown that it does not know what good governance means by their awful performance at the federal and state levels since 1999.
“We recall that at a time, the members of Lagos PDP were championing the cause of urging their party leaders at the federal level to illegally withhold the allocations that were meant for Lagos State for the fact that Lagos created additional councils to meet the needs of their people. We recall that listening to that call, the erstwhile Obasanjo government not only withheld the allocations of Lagos local governments but also employed every known means to disrupt the running and peace of Lagos State.
“We recall that for several years, and despite the Supreme Court ruling declaring that act illegal, the PDP and the Obasanjo government subjected Lagos workers to tremendous hardship and frustrated development activities in Lagos in their futile effort to arrest the legitimate desire of Lagosians for more local governments.
“Lagos ACN recalls that in line with this unwarranted assault on Lagos, the Lagos PDP, with the full backing of their national body, decided to boycott local council elections in Lagos for the mere fact that such exercises were conducted in the 37 development areas created by the Lagos State government to facilitate development in Lagos. We recall that the Lagos PDP has, up till very recent times, been fighting to pressure the PDP Federal Government to withhold local council allocations in Lagos based on its position that the councils are illegal and even as almost all PDP state governments operate development councils.
“We are aware that the PDP is still committed to arresting the development of Lagos, with its position that the LCDAs are illegal and should not be allowed to operate.
“We are, therefore, surprised that the same Lagos PDP has decided to contest election in the local governments and LCDAs when they are yet to renounce their resolve to stifle the LCDAS. We therefore wonder what they intend to do with these LCDAs they still describe as illegal and are committed to frustrating. We would have expected that in principle, Lagos PDP would have insisted in contesting elections only in the 20 local government areas. So, we wonder what their game plan is by deciding to contest in the LCDAs and still insisting they are illegal.
“Lagos ACN, therefore, urges all Lagosians to see the antics of the PDP and reject the party in the forthcoming council election. We urge Lagosians to bear in mind that the PDP, either at national or the state level, is not committed to the progress and development of Lagos. We, therefore, urge Lagosians to totally reject the PDP at the coming local government elections because by going into elections in councils it is yet to endorse; it wants to reap where it never sowed.