Author: oduduwanews

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday demanded a special economic status for Lagos, saying the progress and prosperity of Nigeria is inextricably linked to the progress and prosperity of Lagos State.

The Governor also demanded for a State Police and entrenchment of true fiscal federalism in Nigeria.

Governor Sanwo-Olu made the demands at the opening of the two-day Senate zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution under the leadership of Senator Oluremi Tinubu, held at Marriot Hotel, Ikeja in Lagos State.

The Governor also commended the leadership and members of the National Assembly for responding to the concerns of Nigerians on the need to carry out a review of the 1999 Constitution to reflect current realities.

“For us in Lagos State, the issues of State Police and fiscal federalism are at the top of the priority list for us, in this ongoing review process. Equally fundamental, particularly for us in Lagos State, is the issue of a Special Economic Status for Lagos, considering our place in the national economy and the special burdens we bear by virtue of our large population and limited land mass.

“I believe the need for this Special Status has been sufficiently articulated and justified. It suffices for me at this point to restate that this request is by no means a selfish one, but one that is actually in the interest of every Nigerian and of Nigeria as a nation.

“The progress and prosperity of Nigeria is inextricably linked to the progress and prosperity of Lagos State. A Special Status for Lagos State therefore must be a concern not only for the people of Lagos State alone, but for all Nigerians.”

Governor Sanwo-Olu also called on all Nigerians within the zone being covered by the Senate Committee on Constitutional amendment to embrace the opportunity of the zonal hearing so that their voices and opinions will count in the amended constitution that will emerge.

He said: “This constitutional amendment process will provide Nigerians the opportunity to express their minds on the issues they want to see reflected in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, either by way of amendments to existing provisions, or entirely new provisions.

“This is another opportunity to build on the work that has been done so far. I should note that many of the issues that have been agitating the minds of the various stakeholders in the Nigerian project are already in the public domain. However, this Zonal meeting provides an opportunity to articulate and express them again, in the hope that this particular process will produce favorable outcomes.

“According to the National Assembly, the primary issues on the table for this Public Hearing include: Increased Participation of Women and Vulnerable groups in governance, Local Government Administration and Autonomy, State Police, Fiscal Federalism and Revenue Allocation, Judicial Reforms, Electoral Reforms, Residency and Indigene-ship, Constitutional Roles for Traditional Rulers, and many more.”

Governor Sanwo-Olu who commended the leadership and members of the National Assembly for responding to the concerns of Nigerians on the need to carry out a review of the 1999 Constitution to reflect current realities, assured them of the Lagos State Government support in any way necessary to make the assignment easier and highly rewarding for all Nigerians.

Speaking at the events representatives of several states, town, communities, associations and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) spoke passionately on several issues that have to do with States creation, gender equality and special status, among others.

CAPTIONS:

PIX 1 L-R: Senator Olamilekan Solomon; Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Senator Ibikunle Amosun during the opening of the senate committee zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 constitution at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.

PIX 2 L-R: Senator Olamilekan Solomon, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Senator Ibikunle Amosun during the opening of the senate committee Zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 constitution at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.

PIX 3: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu (fifth right), flanked by Senator Ibikunle Amosun (fourth right); Senator Oluremi Tinubu (fifth left), followed by Senator Olamilekan Solomon; Senator Tokunbo Abiru and others during the opening of the senate committee Zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 constitution at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Oyo State chapter, has congratulated the newly sworn-in Local Government Chairmen and charged them to replicate Governor Seyi Makinde’s policies and programs at the grassroots.

The party also maintained that it is optimistic about PDP’s victory in the rescheduled election in Ido local government billed for May 26, stressing that the track record of Honourable Sheriff Adeojo as one of the finest stock of politicians and public administrator in its fold will surely earn the party a resounding victory.

The ruling party in the state gave this charge on Tuesday 25th, May, via a signed press statement by Oyo state PDP’s Spokesman, Engr Akeem Olatunji, and made available to newmen.

Governor Makinde, according to the press statement has shown the desired political will expected of a responsive government to turn the fortune of Oyo state around for the best.

Olatunji in the statement maintained that Governor Makinde has continued to match his words, especially every policy statement with commensurate action which is clearly evident in both human and infrastructural development in the state.

The party explained that the council Chairmen must see their new offices as a call to service and must justify the trust and faith reposed in them by the people of the state who defied all odds to come out in large number on May 22 to cast their votes for them.

“The Executive Governor of Oyo state, our own ‘Mr Talk and Do’ has proved to the whole world that good governance is not a product of media propaganda but visible human and infrastructural development that improves the quality of life of the people.

“Governor Makinde has continued to make the PDP the toast of many even across opposition parties. Politics is never a do or die affair and must never be seen so which is why this government of our great party has continued to deliver on its mandate from day-one of taking over reins of power in the state.

“We urge you all to dedicate yourselves to the service of Oyo state in your various local government areas by replicating Governor Makinde’s laudable policies and programs in order to take good governance which the Makinde led government is reputable for to the doorstep of the people at the grassroots.

“Local Government administration is the closest to the people and your mandate as ambassadors of our great party in your various councils is to ensure that the people continue to enjoy dividend of democracy.

“We urge you to make your doors open for constructive criticism even as Governor Makinde has always exemplified by running open and all inclusive government.

“The Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo state presented you to the people from our stock of very fine, refined, and progressive minded political stock which was reciprocated by the people who have given you resounding victory at the poll, it is indeed a testament to the general acceptance of PDP across the nooks and crannies of Oyo state and we urge you to keep our party flag flying high.

“We are committed to provide all needed political support to ensure that you succeed in your new designations and pray God almighty grant you renewed tenacity, dexterity, political vigor to deliver on your mandate as local government Chairmen and chairperson,” the state concludes.

Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu has reacted to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Garba Sheu on ban of open grazing by the 17 Southern Governors.

Shehu had faulted the position of the southern governors which was taken after a meeting in Asaba, Delta State recently.

Responding, Akeredolu said Shehu is currently in a state of cognitive dissonance, and that he is as an agent provocateur.

Cognitive dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts.

Akeredolu’s response was contained in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, on Tuesday, titled ‘Mr Garba Shehu: On the trail of an agent provocateur’.

The statement read, “Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travellers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy, cannot but conclude that he works, assiduously, for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.

“Mr Garba must disclose, this day, the real motive(s) of those he serves, definitely not the President. He cannot continue to hide under some opaque, omnibus, and dubious directives to create confusion in the polity. The easy recourse to mendacious uppity in pushing a barely disguised pernicious agendum is well understood. The declaration that the recommendations of the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, a mere political appointee like Garba Shehu, are now the “lasting solutions” which eluded all the elected representatives of the people of the Southern part of the country, exposes this man as a pitiable messenger who does not seem to understand the limits of his relevance and charge.

“Mr Garba contends that “their announcement is of questionable legality”, referring to the 17 Governors of the Southern States, but the decision of certain elements to take the ancestral lands of other people to settle their kinsmen, including the “gun-wielding “killer herdsmen” and their families, and provide “veterinary clinics, water points for animals, and facilities for herders and their families including schooling through these rehabilitated reserves” for which “the Federal Government is making far-reaching and practical changes allowing for different communities to co-exist side-by-side”, does not appear to him as a comprehensive plan for land grabbing, a precursor to internal colonialism. He wants to “revive forest reserves” but seems particularly uninterested in the current position of the same law, that he and his cohorts often misinterpret to serve parochialism and greed. Governors no longer have powers over the lands in their territories. They must take instructions from appointees of the Federal Government on such matters.

“It is superfluous, and that is being charitable, for anyone to remind us of the constitutional right of bona fide citizens “to enjoy rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 States (and FCT)-regardless of their state of birth and residence”. There has never been any contention on this provision. It is clear that Mr Garba seems to have issues understanding the difference between licentious criminality and qualified rights under our law. It is our duty to continually nudge him off his current state of cognitive dissonance. His pronouncement betrays dubiety and mischief.

“Most traditional families in Nigeria have occupations. Pastoralism is not an exception. Any ethnic group still trapped in anachronism may be assisted to embrace modernity. Dispossessing communities of their ancestral lands, encouraging denizens of the forests to overrun lands belonging to other people, and forcing alien bands of migrants on the local populace to live “side-by-side” with other communities cannot be for the purpose of animal husbandry. It raises suspicion on a grand, deliberate, persistent, and insidious design to use naked force to subjugate the real owners of the land. Mr Garba Shehu is a major supporter of the current pervasive anarchy in the land.”

The statement warned Shehu “and his cohorts” to desist from hurling insults at the elected representatives of the people, saying he “lacks the authority to make policy statements for the Federal Government, unless directed, expressly. His acts are clearly those of an agent provocateur. Other closet dreamers, aspirers to colonial fantasies, must be weaned off their delusion. ”

He also declared that “no inch of the space delineated and known, currently, as South West, and indeed the whole South, will be ceded to a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise.”

The erstwhile Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has lambasted Tinubu over recent position on Oduduwa Republic.

It will be recalled that Southwest APC leaders and governors met in Lagos where they made a resolution that they do not support seccession.

Meanwhile, Fani-Kayode in a statement released via his Twitter handle as read in part has condemned such resolution.

“One of the lessons that Bola Tinubu and those with him will soon learn is that it is a very dangerous thing and an exercise in futility to stand against a moving train.

“Those that met in Lagos yesterday only represented their own narrow mindset and band of thinking and their political party.

“They didn’t represent the position of the Yoruba people. There are 70 million Yorubas in the world today and Tinubu does not speak for or lead most of them.

“He only leads part of the APC in parts of the SW and those that are with him are mainly members of the fading ruling elite.

“If there is a referendum on self- determination in the South West tomorrow these characters would be flushed down the toilet and thrown into the dustbin of history.

“The way to counter those that want to exercise their right of self-determination and leave Nigeria is not to act as if they do not exist, impose your will on them, dismiss them with contempt and attempt to publicly rubbish and dismiss their legitimate concerns and aspirations but instead to try and understand where they are coming from, assuage their fears and anxieties, negotiate with them and give them guarantees about their place and role in a new and restructured Nigeria.

“Outside of that it is only a question of time before they break away and determine their own future. Tinubu does not control the streets of the SW: the Yoruba nationalists and separatists do.

“Those that met in Lagos only represent a tiny group of those in the South West. They cow tow to, beg and lobby the separatists behind closed doors and they condemn and disown them before the world. Such intellectual dishonesty, doubkespeak and cowardice is reprehensible.

“Deep down in their hearts they want to break off from Nigeria as well but instead of having the courage of their convictions they tell the world otherwise simply because they want Bola Tinubu to be President.

“They forget that the prospect of a Tinubu Presidency disgusts the Yoruba nationalists and the majority of people in the South West. Such a Presidency will not stop the separatists: it would only strengthen and embolden them.

“Worse still it would be a disaster for Nigeria”.