•Lagos APC: opposition playing pranks
Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy Gbenga Omotoso yesterday said efforts by the opposition parties to discredit the victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu would fail.
He said the governor and his deputy, who had received their Certificates of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), won the March 18 election.
Omotoso alluded to the reports of election observers, saying the exercise was free, fair, transparent and credible.
Also yesterday, the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Seye Oladejo, said opposition candidates were playing pranks, adding that their propaganda had collapsed.
He said the result of the election was a recognition of the giant strides of the governor in the six pillars of the THEMES Agenda – the development plan of his administration.
Oladejo, a former Special Duties commissioner, also pointed out that the poll result underscored the rejection of the politics of religion, ethnicity, violence and hate.
He stressed: “The cosmopolitan nature of Lagos State and the discernment of the people, as well as their resilience were well displayed, as Lagosians brushed aside divisive tendencies to vote a clearly popular and performing government back to power.”
Omotoso and Oladejo spoke with reporters in Lagos about the poll outcome and the vituperation of the opposition in their bid for mischief and falsehood.
With them were Lagos APC Vice Chairman (East), Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, former Education commissioner, Deputy Chairman Moshood Mayegun, Youth Leader Dr. Muritala Seriki and a chieftain, Tunde Aboyade.
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Omotoso stressed the importance of Sanwo-Olu’s second term victory, saying it had affirmed the values of inclusion and unity espoused by the governor.
He said Lagosians elevated the cherished values of harmony that had sustained the state and fostered peaceful coexistence above divisive tactics and tendencies.
Omotoso said Sanwo-Olu’s victory marked the beginning of the new journey to greater Lagos, with a guarantee of progress and prosperity for Lagosians.
He said: “The governor will focus on people-oriented projects that can contribute to the progress of the state.”
The commissioner lamented the misconception and misinterpretation about the poll results, “which should be dispelled in this age of social media.”
He said there was need to set the records straight so that the media could understand fact and separate it from fiction.
Omotoso maintained that the election was democratic, transparent, free and fair, adding that the observers adjudged the exercise to be credible.
Oladejo berated the opposition for fabricating falsehood and shedding crocodile tears in their bid to play the victim.
He said: “The elections have been won and lost. It is time for patriotic citizens to concentrate on building our dear state and, by extension, the nation. But this is not the thinking of the opposition, who have shown that they lack the true spirit of sportsmanship.”
Oladejo said ethnicity, which is anathema to democracy, has never been a factor in Lagos voting pattern, lamenting that it was introduced and orchestrated by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
He added: “His intention was to pitch a section of the populace against another. When he started his campaign, he was Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour. He soon metamorphosed into Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour and, with his mother, was campaigning in areas seen as having heavy Igbo population, adopting Igbo as the language of communication.
“The candidate, who does not speak Yoruba, showed his resentment for the people he desired to lead when he retorted that “I don’t think in Yoruba” – in reply to a reporter’s question. His supporters latched on to his body language and disposition to taunt the Yoruba and other Lagosians by proclaiming that Lagos is a no-man’s land.”