The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said that the ‘O to ge’ slogan that swept across Kwara State, ending the political dominance of Senate President Bukola Saraki, could never happen in Lagos.
Tinubu, whose party has ruled Lagos since 1999, made this known while expressing confidence in the APC’s victory in Saturday’s Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections.
The former Lagos governor spoke to journalists after casting his vote in polling unit 047, ward 3, Ikeja local government area.
He said, “The ‘o to ge’ slogan is for Ilorin; Lagos is not Kwara state, and there is a limit to copying. Lagos should be ‘o to pe’, not ‘o to ge’.
“We are going to win because we are the only party in Lagos state, others are pretenders; they come and they will go away. Leopard cannot change his skin.
“Lagos belongs to the progressives; we are progressives and we will remain progressives. For Lagos, it has seen tremendous development since I was the governor; before then, the highest internally generated revenue (IGR) was N600 million, per month, now it is over N30 billion.
“No other state has achieved what we have achieved, financial independence, as Lagos state; no other nation, they all depend on allocation from the federal government. Lagos State today will not depend on any allocation before we take care of capital needs; we build roads and bridges everywhere from Oregun to many parts of the state.
“The real estate value of Lagos state has exponentially increased than any other state in the federation. We are the fifth largest economy in Africa; let me see that governor who will do better than that.”
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Tinubu, who was co-chairman of the APC presidential campaign council, condemned the violence that rocked the conduct of the February 23 presidential election in Okota area of Oshodi-Isolo local government.
However, he noted that the incident should not be used as evidence that the general election was a failure in the state.
He said, “I take exception to what happened in Okota two weeks ago. I am very upset about that incidence placing Lagos as if we are violent-prone.
“We have about 1,325 polling units in Lagos State and only five units were affected in Okota. That should not mean that the election was a failure in the state.
“If we should rate it, the election should be about 97 per cent rate of success if right mentally. An incident in Okota should not be used to generalise the whole election in Lagos State.
“The success rate should have been the story, not the ugly incident that should be the story. For the media, how can five units out of 1,325 units constitute a violent election and were given hype that Lagos is violent; we cannot do justice to that.”
The APC chieftain commended officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies for ensuring that Saturday’s election went on smoothly in the state.
“How can we have development to the economy and the medium of information? In terms of security, Lagos has always been ready to celebrate democracy, and violence free. The security officials are doing well and the INEC has started well too with the logistics well managed.
Tinubu maintained that Lagos would continue to remain a melting pot in Nigeria and indigenes of other states would continue to be welcomed in the state.
“We will continue to welcome everybody to Lagos State. We cannot stop people from coming to the state. If Lagos is not good enough, they won’t come. If the state is plagued with disease or insecurity or unemployment, people won’t come. Those leaving their states to come to Lagos are welcome, they are not a threat,” he quipped.
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