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Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, Monday urged politicians and political parties in the country to play by the rules while also upholding values and ethics of the democratic process.
Governor Fashola, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja while receiving in audience the National Chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie and some members of his Executive Committee, stated that there was need for the nation’s politicians to create a robust partisan atmosphere where values and ethics could still reign supreme.
The Governor said his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), believes in situations where contest are won and lost and politicians live to agitate another day without necessarily seeking to bring down the house adding that the Party’s mantra has been to see and treat all Nigerians as citizens and not as belonging to any ethnic group.
“This is what we have lived by here and that is why you will not hear from our Party words like capture, words like fall and crush because for us there are no enemies here. There are political opponents and adversaries but contesting to serve, so this for us is how it must be”, he said.
Responding to a request by Chief Okorie for a possible coalition between the APC and the UPP, Governor Fashola, who promised to carry the message to the APC leadership, added that the enduring lessons that must be internalized by all politicians and political parties are those that relate to service to the country.
The Governor declared, “Let me say emphatically that I don’t see Igbo men, I see Nigerians always. Therefore, once you bring value to the table, we can work together. People, wherever they choose to live, if they choose to live in Lagos should expect that their rights would be respected”.
Citing the case of Uzoma Okeke, an Igbo girl who was assaulted in Lagos by some Naval men, the Governor recalled that when it happened, the State Government did not see an Igbo girl but a fellow Nigerian who had been improperly treated and therefore rose to do its duty which was to protect life and property.
Noting that the process of implementing policies could bring misunderstanding from time to time, the Governor counseled that when such situations arise, complaints should not be ventilated on the basis of either ethnic origin or religion, pointing out that applying such sentiments as to where the aggrieved person comes from or where his alleged aggressor comes from or how they worship would only breed acrimony.
“So what is wrong is just wrong irrespective of where you take it and so they must be ventilated on the basis that I feel that an injustice has been done and can I get redress. And I think in that sense we can move forward”, he stated.
Governor Fashola reiterated that the present administration would continue to implement policies that would create room for everyone, adding that as far as electoral issues are concerned, residents who are interested are welcome to join the fray since it is an election.
The Governor said in terms of appointments, the present administration has demonstrated that it can intervene and has given people appropriate opportunities, adding that one of the things that Lagos State has benefitted from is the immigrant capital where everybody who has capacity to add value would be given space not only to participate but also to live a useful and free life.
According to him, this explains why his predecessors and parents of the residents of the State did not appropriate property rights of their brothers and sisters in the aftermath of the conflicts of the 60s as abandoned properties but kept them.
“If you see where those property rights have been expanded like ASPAMDA and Alaba, we give those rights as a matter of what they are entitled to in order to carry on their own enterprise and contribute to our development”, the Governor said
He urged all and sundry to embrace law and order rather than ethnic tribe or ethnic affiliation adding, “For me, that is a more objective parameter with which to deal with some things rather than a subjective parameter of how tall or how short you are or how wealthy and prosperous you are”.
Speaking earlier, the United Progressives Party Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie commended the present administration for being friendly to the Igbo people, adding that no other government in the country has extended such friendliness to the Igbo man.
Okorie, who said he was in Lagos to hold a town hall meeting with Igbos in the State, called for healthy rivalry between political parties, saying his party hopes to form a coalition with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Prominent among those who joined the Governor to receive the UPP leaders were members of the State Executive Council including the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Ben Akabueze, Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr Ademorin Kuye, Home Affairs and Culture, Hon Oyinlomo Danmole and Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos State, Mr Joe Igbokwe while Chief Okorie was accompanied by National Vive Chairman of the UPP in South West, Prince Segun Olusola, and Lagos State chapter chairman, Mazi Mike Okereke among others.
