Fashola to voters: Don’t be fooled by PDP’s restructuring promise

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has urged Nigerians to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the general elections to move the country forward.
Fashola spoke on Thursday in Lagos at a ceremony to endorse President Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for re-election by the Coalition of Political Parties in Lagos State (COPPILS).
He urged the electorate to reject the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the polls, saying the party represented failure and had no idea of how to move the country forward.
The minister said the PDP’s promise of restructuring was nothing but a ploy by the main opposition to deceive the electorate to get votes.
Fashola urged voters not to be fooled by the promise, saying the PDP never believed in the idea and could not implement it.
The minister said that the PDP had rejected all efforts to make things better for the people in the state, and the party’s promise was hypocrisy.
He said: “A few years ago as governor of this state, we started an initiative to break the monopoly of the Federal Government on power with a project in Egbin. The PDP opposed it.
“We then tried again to create local governments so that welfare, sanitation, healthcare could be closer to the people. The PDP opposed it.
“Better roads would have improved our lives, right? Electricity would have improved our lives, closeness to local governments would have improved our lives.
“So, what is all this new story about restructuring? They are now saying they want to restructure all that they opposed before.
“Restructuring is all about a better life, but all of the things that would give a better life for the people, the PDP opposed.
“They now say, if you elect them, they would give you a better life they had always opposed. Is it possible? What you didn’t do for 16 years. What is going to change?
“So, nobody should be fooled by their promise to restructure. What do they want to restructure? If the purpose of restructuring is to give a better life, why did they stand against everything we tried to do to give people a better life?”
The minister said infrastructure in the state suffered neglect under the 16 years of PDP government.
He said federal roads to Apapa, Amuwo-Odofin, Isolo and Matori industrial estates were abandoned for years, forcing some factories to close shop.
Fashola asked Nigerians to ask the PDP how they intend to create jobs when they killed businesses by not providing infrastructure.
The minister said the APC had in the last three and half years been making the right interventions to improve infrastructure in the country.
He said work was ongoing on the second Niger Bridge which PDP failed to start, adding that several other projects including the Lagos -Ibadan Expressway were receiving attention.
Fashola said the Buhari administration was implementing programmes to impact on the lives of Nigerians.
He urged residents to come out en masse to vote Buhari and APC governorship candidate, Mr Babajide Sanwoolu in the elections to take the state and the country to the next level.
Fashola commended COPPILS for endorsing Buhari and Osinbajo for re-election, saying the endorsement reflected the trust in the present administration to further move the country forward.
In his speech, Sanwoolu urged residents to reject the PDP and their lies at the polls.
He said the opposition party did almost nothing to help the state when they controlled the Federal Government.
“So, please on the 16th of February and March 2, vote the APC, because that is the party that cares about you,“ he said.
Sanwoolu promised to make the state everyone’s dream if elected and urged residents to support him at the polls.
The Publicity Secretary of COPPILS, Malam Shakirudeen Olofin, said the endorsement of Buhari and Osinbajo was in recognition of the strides of the present administration.
He said though they were a coalition of 53 opposition political parties in the state, APC’s achievements both in the state and the federal levels had made them to see things beyond political affiliation.
“The Buhari administration has achieved a lot in the last three and a half years and Nigeria is clearly on course to progress.
“Some of these include the stoppage of the $5 million daily on importation of rice with the revolution in the agricultural sector.
“We know the Buhari administration is doing a lot, like the Lagos -Ibadan Expressway, the Lagos -Ibadan Standard guage rail, Apapa-Oworonsoki-Ojota-Expressway among others.
“In the power sector, we have witnessed the commissioning of Odogunyan and Ejigbo 132/33KV sub-stations and just today, the commissioning of Ilashe 132/33kv sub-station.
‘”We are political parties in the state convinced without any iota of doubt that the president and his vice deserve another term to consolidate on the achievements recorded and put Nigeria on a sound footing,“ he said.
Olofin said all the parties under the coalition would mobilise members and residents to vote for APC on February 16 and March 2.
Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC/Lagos East), the National Legal Adviser of APC, Mr Babatunde Ogala, and a party chieftain, Mr Fouad Oki, were among party men present at the occasion.