Jimi Agbale hits Sanwo-Olu, says celebrated achievements do not reflect realities  

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 and 2019 elections in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje, on Saturday disputed the achievements of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State. Agbaje, in a media interaction, blasted Governor Sanwo-Olu that all claims of achievements in the state are false, arguing that they do not reflect realities but mere imagination. He was of the view that Sanwo-Olu’s performance since 2019 is below average.

Agbaje, therefore, countered Governor Sanwo-Olu’s accountability records at a press conference on Monday at the State House, Marina, Lagos, where the governor declared that his administration has not disappointed Lagosians in delivering campaign promises to the people.

Sanwo-Olu listed transportation, infrastructural development, education, health, revenue generation, and security as sectors where the state government has made remarkable achievements under his leadership since 2019. The governor was silent on employment generation, empowerment, and crime control.

There are indications that even the claims on education may be questionable since schools were shut down almost throughout 2020 because of the claimed coronavirus outbreak, which culminated into a lockdown that grounded the economy. The latter also had the potential of affecting revenue generation.

Agbaje, accordingly, disputed the records of achievements Sanwo-Olu presented last Monday after about two years in office, rating the governor’s performance three over ten. “What they wrote, they did not substantiate it. They were things done in their imagination,” Agbaje declared.
The former PDP governorship berated Governor Sanwo-Olu, saying that the Lagos State government did not done enough to contain the scourge of COVID-19 in the state. “You are not testing; you are not giving vaccination to people. “Those that have collected the first round of the vaccination, they are yet to get the second round of it, and how many people have been vaccinated in Lagos,” Agbaje said.

He also decried the rising crime wave which include theft, robbery, and others in most parts of the state. According to Agbaje, “even in security, we cannot drive during the day without being harassed in traffic by hoodlums. They are operating morning, day, and night. You introduced curfew from 12.00 a.m. to 4.00 a.m., what about during the daytime? Phones are being snatched, so, what are they doing about all these?”

He stated that the APC has disappointed Lagosian and wasted the party’s 21 years of being in power in Lagos. Agbaje observed the inability of the APC government to tackle the traffic congestion on Lagos roads over the years. He also chided the governor for the decay in the education sector in Lagos.  “Most of our classrooms have no benches and chairs. They mentioned that they are building schools somewhere, what are they building? Some of the things they have said that they are doing, they are in their dreams,” Agbaje had said.

He counseled Sanwo-Olu restart work on abandoned projects on infrastructure development, like the Badagry express road.

Agbaje, questioning the lack of transparency in budget implementation, declared: “When did they balance their last budget? They only read the budget to us; they do not tell us how they spend what they spent. This government is not transparent about anything.”

Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu would be marking second year anniversary of being in office on May 29.