The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, has lashed out at the PDP-led Federal Government on Thursday, saying it has failed Nigerians, with its gross incompetence.
Delivering an address at former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylvia’s birthday lecture in Abuja, Fashola said that Nigerians are worse off than they were four years ago before the present administration came in.
He said he found it strange for the government to invite parents of the abducted Chibok girls to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa for commiseration, which he said was totally un-African.
“The event has been followed by other round of liès. The abduction of the girls have been enmeshed in lies. They have also lied about the economy, within the same household, within the central bank and the federal ministry of finance, we had very clear difference, whether $48 billion or $20 billion...we are waiting for their forensic audit.
“The ideas of the freedom to think, to sleep and to ask questions is too valuable for me to exchange for development under an autocratic or democratic government.
“If the only options left for me to chose were between freedom and development, I for one will rather surrender development than freedom. So, I worry when I hear some people say today that it is part of their achievement that they allow us to express ourselves. I think that is utter rubbish.
“I am really convinced beyond doubt that democracy can still deliver development.
On political parties, he said: “If we must achieve development in democracy, the vehicle of politics, the political parties must first be developed as first class institutions. The first thing to seek is the idea behind governance and this is often contained in the programme of political parties.”
In the lecture titled “The challenge of democratic governance”, Fashola noted that the present administration continued to lie to Nigerians on many issues, including the abduction of over 200 Chibok girls and the alleged missing money from the Federation account.
According to him, the election of a university graduate as president has not helped to develop the country in the past three years. He stressed that states controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) are performing far better than the PDP-controlled states.
The governor urged Nigerians to reject Jonathan and reject the PDP during the 2015 election.
