Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr Jimi Agbaje, on Monday, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of underperforming despite huge resources at its disposal in the last 20 years.
This was just as Agbaje also lamented the near total collapse of social infrastructures needed for quality living in the state.
The governorship hopeful spoke at an empowerment forum organised by a member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Constituency, Hon. Rita Orji, saying that the only way the people of the state could enjoy good governance was to vote him as the next governor of the state next year.
Appraising the performance of the ruling party in the last 20 years, Agbaje stated that poor residents of the state had had to bear the brunt of misgovernance by the ruling party, saying that the ruling party had failed in all indices for measuring good governance.
While extolling the virtues of the Hon. Orji, whom he praised for her various humanitarian interventions since coming to office, Agbaje attributed the near collapse of basic social infrastructure in the state to what he termed lack of clear ideas on the part of the ruling party on what government should do for the people.
“For 20 years, they said that they have been giving our children education. What kind of education are they giving our children? If I ask all of you here, most of you would tell me that your children attend private schools. We attended public schools while growing up; so what has happened to the state of public schools? We are asking: Is it not time to free ourselves from them?” he queried.
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“If we had a functional healthcare programme, Honourable Rita would not be bothering herself with providing you with various health intervention programmes. If the government under them had been providing water, Rita would not have needed to provide boreholes for you,” Agbaje added.
Addressing PDP members who gathered at the event in pidgin English, Agbaje said: “The Thing wey Ajeromi-Ifelodun no fit do, Rita don do. Abi, the local government don give una road? But Rita don do am.”
Addressing the people, he asked: “Dem give you water?” to which the crowd that gathered at the event responded by saying a loud “No!”
Agbaje, however, said the best way to address the deficit in social infrastructure was for the people to vote PDP at all levels, declaring that that was the only way the state would be free from the one-man rule.
According to him, the people would heave a sigh of relief when he assumed office as chief executive, saying, his administration would bring a proactive approach to governance and produce a clear departure from the current situation.
While stating that PDP abhorred discrimination against any segment of the population, he added that premium was usually placed on merit whenever the party selected candidates for all political offices.
He lauded the people of the local government area for peaceful coexistence, calling for greater unity of all party members ahead of the forthcoming polls.
“My message is that on February 16th, vote for the PDP for the President, vote for the PDP for Senate and vote for the PDP for the Federal House of Representatives,” he said.
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