30th May, 2014
As the race for Lagos governorship in 2015 gathers momentum, more activists have backed the decision of organised labour and civil society activists to drag the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, into the fray.
The activists had at a recent meeting held in Lagos decided to back Opeifa for the Lagos top job. The commissioner has, however, not given any hint of his intention to run for governor.
They attributed their decision to the commissioner’s impeccable record of achievements in the transportation sector.
According to the President, Lagos State Taxi Drivers and Cab Operators Association, Prince Tajudeen Adetoro, Opeifa is the best man for the job after Fashola.
He called on the All Progressives Party, APC, to think seriously about Fashola’s successor because Lagosians will not accept a non achiever as governor.
Adetoro identified Opeifa as one of Fashola’s commissioners who can match his high performance in office.
“Kayode Opeifa is the man with the energy, the drive and vision to take Lagos to the next phase of development. Look at his achievements in the transportation sector. He has stabilised the sector. He has introduced standards. Every achivement recorded by the Fashola administration in this sector was achieved through the doggedness and resilience of Opeifa. He is also intelligent and a workaholic like his boss. Take a drive through Oshodi, Idumota, Mushin, Lagos Island, Yaba, Iyana Ipaja and other areas of the state, you will see his imprints. Order has been restored to the transportation sector,” he stated.
In his own comment, son of the Late Gani Fawehinmi, Mohammed, said Opeifa has done a lot to restore sanity to Lagos roads, adding that if the civil society and labour think he should succeed Fashola, so be it. ”I think Opeifa has done extremely well. Like other performing commissioners in Lagos, he has etched his name in the minds of Lagosians as a hard working man. He is qualified to be governor,” he stated.
The President, Lagos State Barbers and Hairdressers Cosmetology Association of Nigeria, Olanrewaju Atanda, described Opeifa as an actualiser with a strong vision for an orderly society. “Whatever success Fashola has recorded today in the transport sector was the work of Opeifa. I think he is a visioner like Fashola. Nobody can argue with the fact that Lagos is working as a result of the sanity on our roads now. There is now a traffic law that has put into check all forms of indiscipline on the roads. Let’s give it to him, he is trying his best. I believe he will perform better than all those aspirants making noise in the papers,” he stated.
Another activist, Comrade Omolola Itunu of the Women for Leadership Change also lent her voice on the clamour for Opeifa to join the governorship race. “That man knows Lagos like the back of his hand and he is a grassroots man. Look at how he sanitised Oshodi motor park. Whoever thought that order could reign in Oshodi the way it is now. Opeifa did it, so I am all for him to be governor. I believe he will perform better than Fashola if he becomes governor,” she said.