The Minister of Information and
Culture, Lai Mohammed, had as spokesman of then opposition Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) warned then president Goodluck Jonathan against blocking roads
whenever he is coming to Lagos state.
Mohammed was on the entourage
President Muhammadu Buhari to Lagos, a visit that virtually shut down the
state.
But Mohammed, in a statement in
2013, lamented that Jonathan’s visit to Lagos usually creates heavy traffic
gridlock and grounds movement.
He suggested that the President
takes a chopper from the Muritala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja
to Eko Hotel & Suites on Victoria Island, where he is billed to attend a
centenary event.
The other request is for the
President to postpone his visit in order not to create a traffic chaos. The ACN
has scheduled its National Convention to hold at Onikan Stadium, one of the
presidential routes leading to Victoria Island.
Mohammed said at the time: “We
have been compelled to write a letter to the Lagos State governor asking him to
please prevail on the President to reschedule his visit.
“But if his visit must go on, he
should use another means of transportation such as the helicopter so that the
whole town is not locked up.
“Anytime Mr President is coming
to Lagos, our roads are closed, and traffic congestion is at its highest. The
whole city is shut down for the entire day.
“You can imagine when we’re
expecting about 10,000 people from different parts of Nigeria to our
convention, all heading for the same place. It’s going to be chaos.
“So, we’re appealing to Mr
President, through the Governor, to please reconsider his visit.
“And if he must come, he should
inflict the minimum pain and hardship on Nigerians.”
Reacting, then presidential
spokesman, Reuben Abati accused the ACN of crying wolf where there was none.
He said the President would only
be transiting through Lagos, en route Ogun State.
Abati said the presidential visit
would not in any way disrupt the ACN convention, wondering what informed the
party’s letter to the governor.
He alleged that the opposition
spokesman was trying to re-order the itinerary of the President.
Abati said in a statement: “We
find it hard to believe that any patriotic and right-thinking Nigerian would
have written the kind of publicly circulated letter reportedly sent to the Governor
of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola by the National Publicity Secretary of
the Action Congress of Nigeria, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in which he attempts to
dictate President Jonathan’s itinerary, mode of transportation within Lagos,
and motive, and even suggests that the President’s visit could have been
designed to frustrate a planned Action Congress of Nigeria convention and
merger with some other political parties.
“The allegation is not only
baseless, but another in the series of ‘wolf crying’ that has become the sole
strategy and pre-occupation of the ACN. It is clearly a deliberate, further
attempt to undermine, ridicule and debase the office of the President of the
Federal Republic.
“A courteous and simple
discussion of the phantom potential conflict of programmes with appropriate
officials of the Presidency would have sufficed to inform the ACN and its
officials that President Jonathan is only transiting through Lagos tomorrow on
his way to the commissioning of the WEMPCO Cold Roll Steel Plant in Ibafo, Ogun
State.
“In point of fact, President
Jonathan’s visit tomorrow which was scheduled long before the ACN convention
will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the convention as he will only
touchdown at the airport, transit to Ibafo (miles away from the ACN convention
venue) by chopper and return to the airport the same way for his flight back to
Abuja.
“It is certain that Governor
Fashola was already aware of President Jonathan’s itinerary in Lagos tomorrow
since in keeping with protocol, the Presidency always briefs state governments
well ahead of time on all Presidential movements to their states.
“Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s letter was
therefore pointless and serves no purpose other than distasteful muck-raking.
“The paranoia displayed by the ACN
in its plea to Governor Fashola concerning an imaginary plan to scuttle a
political merger is beneath the politics of inclusiveness this administration
has encouraged in its interaction with the state, as with all other states of
the Federal Republic.
“President Jonathan is President
of the whole of Nigeria. It is strange and intolerable that any political party
would as much as suggest that the President is not welcome in any state, city
or local council in any part of the country at any time or date.”
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In this case, they all lost their voices. Pmb can lockdown the whole of Nigeria, no problem, it is welcomed. The hatred for Gej will soon drive all of them mad.
ReplyDeleteAPC! CHANGE!!!
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