Lagos PDP Backs Okupe, Wants Eko Atlantic City Project Halted

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has opposed the call for President Goodluck Jonathan to sack his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe.

In a statement signed by the party’s state Publicity Secretary, Gani Taofeek, the party stated that it supported the appointment and service of Okupe.

The PDP said it was convinced that the appointment of Okupe into the Presidency at this time was the needed panacea to confront the unpatriotic and destructive criticism of President Jonathan’s transformation agenda for the nation.

“This solidarity is in reaction to the syndicated call for the resignation of the recently appointed SSA, Dr Doyin Okupe. We know that the call is coordinated by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of ACN.

“We wonder why the President’s critics have suddenly become restless if not that they have been ambushed by the appointment of Okupe, who surely will seal up all their sources of information in the Presidency and even match them, intellect for intellect on national issues,” he stated.

The party described “the continued frequent unsubstantiated criticisms and condemnation of President Jonathan’s policies by the ACN as a national embarrassment” to the country

The party decried the incessant surges of the ocean and lagoons in the state, blaming it on the sand filling of the water bodies.

This was in the aftermath of an early morning ocean surge on Saturday, which left close to 10 people dead and several more homeless.

The state chairman of the party, Chief Tunji Shelle, in a statement signed by its state Publicity Secretary, Gani Taofik, called on the Federal Government to stop people from sand-filling the ocean and lagoons in the state, saying they were being encroached on without due Ecological and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

He said: “This is in the overall interest of the country and to particularly forestall further loss of lives and property arising from mismanaging the environment.”

He also blamed the disaster on direct government negligence while faulting the sand-filling of land for the purported Eko Atlantic project, adding that the safety of lives and property had been neglected due to business interests.

“We are very pained by the wanton loss of lives and property prevalent along the coastal lines of Lagos beaches. We sincerely sympathise with the affected families,” the party said.

The PDP called for a stop to the Eko Atlantic City Project and that immediate compensation be paid to the bereaved families who also lost property as a result of the surge.

—Yisa Jamiu