By Victor Ayeni
Olajide Adediran, the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State, also known as Jandor, has called for the resignation of Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, citing a string of building collapses in the state since 2019.
This came after the collapse of a seven-story building in Oniru Estate, Victoria Island, on Sunday, which killed six people.
Adediran added, in a statement signed by his media aide, Gbenga Ogunleye, on Wednesday, that the Lagos State Governor had made numerous unfulfilled promises to prevent these disasters and the resulting avoidable deaths.
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“It is not enough that the government official assigned to the concerned Ministry, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, resigned,” he said. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has failed the entire Lagosians, not only the victims of this current incident and the over 100 people who died in about 47 cases of building collapse between 2019 to date in the state.
“The governor’s failure to ensure due diligence on the governance process by engagement of competent personnel established his culpability. It is expected that the governor himself should have resigned instead of the arranged scapegoating of asking his commissioner to quit. He has made many unfulfilled promises to prevent these disasters and the attendant avoidable deaths.
“His insensitivity and display of disregard for human lives by showing up at a social event in the faraway United States to present an award while the blood of the victims was still warm, is condemnable.”
In his response, the spokesman for the All Progressives Congress, Lagos State chapter, Mr Seye Oladejo, in a statement made available to The PUNCH, on Wednesday, described the call made by Jandor as “childish.”
He said, “The Lagos State government has not hesitated to investigate the cause of such incidents and wield the big stick where necessary. While there may still be a few bad eggs in the sector who continue to circumvent the system, we remain committed to its complete sanitation.
“It is unacceptable, devilish and uncivilised for the PDP to celebrate the incident and dance on the grave of the victims in the name of politics. The Lagos State government remains resolutely committed to the protection of lives and property of all Lagosians. We will continue to do our utmost as the regulatory body for all manner of construction while we all as citizens also have a duty to comply with all rules and regulations.
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“The childish call for the resignation of the governor is, to put it mildly, in bad taste. It reflects the palpable fear of the opposition of the imminent characteristic defeat during the coming elections. The reference to Mr Governor’s trip is puerile and infantile, even with the low standards of the PDP. Deputy Governor Kadri Obafemi Hamzat was at the site. So were other senior officials, who ensured that the search-and-rescue operation went on unhindered.”
