The Lagos state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described the state new land use charge as exploitative, saying it has no human face.
The state chairman of the party, Mr Moshood Salvador gave the description while speaking at the party ‘s “General Assembly “in Lagos on Thursday.
He said the new charge was an attempt to impoverish residents.
Salvador said residents had had enough of hikes in charges and fees by the state government ,describing them as excessive.
“Just recently, the Lagos State government introduced a new land use charge which requires that Lagosians pay more on their property.
“Defending the new charge, the Commissioner for Information ,Mr Bamgbetan and his Finance counterpart yesterday granted a press interview and said the the new charge accommodates both the the tenement rate and the neighborhood improvement levy.
“They said the amount is payable by real estate property owners in the is charged based on the market value of the property multiplied by 40 per cent, multiplied by the applicable rate,” he said.
Salvador said the new charge was a justifiable reason to vote out the APC for PDP in the state in the 2019 elections.
He said the PDP was the only party that meant well for the well-being of residents.
Salvador however said the only way to ensure the PDP takes over government to deliver good governance was for the residents to obtain their Permanent Voter Card and vote the party.
The party chairman said said the assembly was organised to show how serious the party was for the 2019 general elections.
Salvador said he was impressed by the turnout of party members, saying it reflected his promise to grow the membership of party in leaps and bounds in the state.
“I made a promise to attract one million members to the party. People thought I was joking. What we have seen today is a reflection that our party is growing.
“This is just our first major assembly. And you can see the crowd. By the time we have the next one. I am sure the crowd will be more than this; this is what we are talking about. This is the new spirit in PDP. “he said.
Salvador urged party members to work in unison for the progress of the party to further strengthen it.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that prominent members present at the assembly included the governorship candidate in the 2015 election, Mr Jimi Agbaje, and a member of the party ‘s Board of Trusteee(BOT),Mrs Aduke Maina.
NAN reports the chairmanship candidate of the KOWA party in the last council polls in the state, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour defected to the party with his supporters at the event.
Meanwhile at the same time the party assembly was holding, some chieftains and members in East Senatorial District met in Ikorodu to express their reservation to Salvador’s leadership.
They demanded that he should vacate the office based on what they called failureto honour and implement the 65/35 sharing agreement for offices in favour of the Makarfi group as reached sometime ago.
Among chieftains at the Ikorodu meeting were former Deputy Chairman of state chapter, Prince Ola Apena; former organising secretary for the party, Prince Abayomi Kuye;Chief Kehinde Koku, Chief Aderibigbe Shitta, ,Prince Niyi Aborishade and Chief Babatunde Agbaje.
The Ikorodu PDP chairman, Mr Adebisi Osoba, told NAN at the meeting :”Our percentage is higher than the other group, I believe with our figure,we will conquer the other faction”. (NAN)