• Warns against voluntary disenfranchisement
•Inaugurates 21 bridges, roads in Alimosho
Gboyega Akinsanmi
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday asked eligible voters in the state to enroll for permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) in preparation for the 2019 general election, lamenting alleged extortion and poor turnout that characterised the process.
Ambode, however, warned the residents against voluntary disenfranchisement, noting that failure to participate in the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) would automatically disqualify them from exercising their civic rights during the 2019 elections.
He expressed concerns at the poor turnout for the exercise across the state after he inaugurated 21 bridges and roads in Alimosho, saying roads linking border communities to other states would be given adequate attention to reduce travel time.
Amid the teeming crowd that turned out for the inauguration, he unveiled the roads alongside the Deputy Governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, Senator Olamilekan Adeola,Senator Gbenga Ashafa and a member of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Bayo Osinowo, among others.
Just after the inauguration yesterday, the governor disclosed that roads linking border communities to other states would be given adequate attention to reduce travel time for motorists and other road users coming or leaving the state.
He specifically asked all eligible voters across the state to put in for the voters registration, thereby urging them “to go out and exercise your civic rights. I want you to perform your civic responsibility. I want our people to take voter registration very seriously. It is our civic right. It is the only thing we can use for the election.
“We are going to engage communities and local governments. Let us go out and educate our people about the need to have PVCs which will make us to have a voice. We have done this for the people of Alimosho. You need to let others know that you have the right to vote,†the governor explained.
He said collection of the PVC “will serve as a voice for them to determine their choice candidate in the 2019 election because governance is about service to the citizens.â€
The governor, therefore, explained that expression of public voices formed reasons the state government had embarked on construction of roads especially those that connect Lagos State with Ogun State from Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area.
“What we are doing today is historic and of great importance that we must send the message rightly so that people can understand why we are celebrating on Easter Monday the change in the life of our people which the resurrection of Christ symbolises.
“First, we salute all our political leaders starting with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for starting the vision of making Alimosho a place of pride with the construction of LASU-Iba road. When you move from Badagry and enter the LASU-Iba road, you can access Igando, Egbe, Egbeda, Iyana-Ipaja and Ikeja with ease.
“When you have easy transportation, you have easy life. My immediate predecessor, Governor Babatunde Fashola, took it up to Ipaja, all in a bid to build a new economy in this particular axis. We have not taken it from Ipaja to Ayobo, Command Secondary School, Gate, Abesan, Aboru Bridge and roads.
What we are doing today is momentous as we are connecting over 60 communities together, and we are happy to do this. It is an alternative route; we do not need to congest ourselves on the Lagos-Abeokuta express when you drive from Gateway Hotel through Ojokoro, Ipaja and so on.
“You can take this alternative route and go all the way to Ipaja and Badagry without having anything to do with the expressway. So, when you understand what this is all about, it was not done with Akin Ambode’s money.
“I did not put a kobo there apart from my own taxes. It is the taxes that you have contributed that we have used to improve on this particular economy, and my message is that we should make every part of Lagos State economically viable and liveable so that all the people in this area can have the same kind of life that others are enjoying in the other axis of Lagos,†the governor said.
