Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has restated his confidence in the quality of officers working in the Lagos State civil service, saying they are the best in the country and are not in the class of people that can be manipulated for electoral gain.
A statement by the Sanwo-Olu /Hamzat Media office said contrary to claims by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Jimi Agbaje that Mr. Sanwo-Olu’s meeting with Lagos State civil servants was aimed at manipulating them, noted that the interactive session with the civil servants was a continuation of his strategic engagements with several critical stakeholders in the Lagos project.
According to the APC gubernatorial candidate, the interactive sessions are aimed at seeking the understanding of every member of the public on the most pressing needs that they would want government to do for them as well as to further demonstrate part of his campaign mantra of inclusive government.
‘We do not believe in sitting in a cozy office or at a conference table to determine what the people want. We must come out and talk directly to the people, share our thoughts with them, ask them questions and also answer questions they ask us. That is democracy and that is exactly why we held a session with the civil servants. We consider them very critical in the scheme of things.’’
“It is unfortunate that Mr. Agbaje, who we strongly consider to be a learner in the art and science of politics always misses the point. For Agbaje to describe our meeting with the public servants in the manner he did shows Is disdain for consultative politics and government. how politically naïve he is. Why will a governorship candidate not consider the civil servants who will help to execute all government policies, programmes and agenda as major stakeholders during his or her campaign? We cannot but accede to the fact that the PDP candidate is truly a learner. “
”it is also an insult on the creme of public servants in Lagos State to be described as people that could be easily manipulated for electoral gains.” Sanwo-Olu stated.
Mr. Agbaje had through a press statement from his campaign office criticized Sanwo-Olu for going to Alausa to share rice to civil servants, an allegation the Sanwo-Olu campaign office said is a result of poor understanding of what actually happened. Agbaja left the substance for the chaff and sensational.
Speaking on behalf of the Media team, Gboyega Akosile said “but why are we surprised? The PDP and their candidate truly do not have anything to offer the people of Lagos so there is nothing to campaign on. Having failed woefully in his perennially divisive politics, Mr. Agbaje must look for something else to hold on to. Certainly, the rowdy distribution of rice to party faithful who came to Alausa was unintended. It was handled by outsiders who hijacked the distribution without following established procedure for distribution.
Akosile also reiterated that, ‘‘our candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu remains focused to taking Lagos to a higher level. He is committed to the ideals and values that drive his campaign promises of project THEME, such as traffic management and transportation, health care and the environment, improving the education sector with heavy investment in technology, further opening up of the State for Foreign Direct Investments and helping the growth of the entertainment industry’’.
