JONATHAN CANNOT FIX NIGERIA’S VEHICLE – FASHOLA

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has declared that
President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government lacks the requisite
knowledge and capacity to tackle Nigeria’s problems, saying that there is the
need to effect a change at the centre in 2015 for the country to achieve
positive development.

Fashola, who stated this during an exclusive interview with a
team of LEADERSHIP editors in Abuja yesterday, was giving the rationale behind
the ongoing merger talks by his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN),  and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) towards dislodging
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the centre  in 2015.

Explaining that their push for political alignment was not only
to seize power but to use it to better the lives of the people, he likened
Jonathan’s government to an unskilled auto mechanic who consistently failed to
correctly service a vehicle, causing it to continuously break down, a fallout
that would necessitate the owner to try another technician.

“You buy a car and it breaks down and you go to a mechanic and
he fixes it in the morning, and it breaks down again in the afternoon. You go
back in the evening, he fixes it but it doesn’t take you home. You go and call
him again; he tosses it up and says you should come back by 6am the next day.

“You take it at 6am and it doesn’t take you home. Are you going
to stay with that mechanic?” he asked.

“Nigeria needs a new mechanic. The country’s problems need a new
pair of eyes and pure heart that can see, and clearer minds that can articulate
the problems better. That is the heart of the matter. It is now left for the
electorate to decide whether they are satisfied with this mechanic.” 

Fashola insisted that the desire of the ACN and CPC to take
power at the centre was to utilise it according to the general wish of
Nigerians, who want the country’s myriad problems fixed immediately.

He described the ACN as an issues-based party which had a lot to
offer, which is why it has consistently defeated the PDP in Lagos since the
return of democracy 13 years ago.

“In Lagos, the PDP has been failing since 1999: in 2003 it
failed, in 2007 it failed, in 2011 it failed again. The most interesting thing
is that the margins get wider in Lagos due to the improvement of services,” he
said.

He further said that, with ACN’s recurring victories and
exemplary leadership across the six states it controls, its leadership was
taking proactive steps to salvage Nigeria from PDP’s misrule at the national
level by going into a merger with the CPC ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Fashola gave the assurance that the ACN, with its issues-based
outlook, would take Nigeria to the Promised Land, just like what is happening
in United States, saying that “elections without debate won’t give value and
the electorate needs people who understand their problems without pretence.”

He noted that the Democrats in the US openly articulated the
issue of tax while the Republicans were vague and the people swung to the side
that convinced them.

“Anybody who wants to serve us must understand our problems;
that’s why in America you have to debate before election. Lagos is a good
example,” he stated.

Governors not against Jonathan – Fashola
Fashola also refuted the insinuations in some quarters that the Nigeria
Governors Forum (NGF) was working against the President Jonathan.

Citing the ongoing suit on Excess Crude Account, the Lagos State
governor said that the governors’ occasional disagreement with the president on
certain issues was in the interest of the country.

The governor further canvassed for a proper economic management
through innovation and tourism, saying they were the key to crime prevention.

He also called for a diversification of the economy since ‘what
works today may not work tomorrow’.

“Thirty years ago, our economy was trading. The most prosperous
people in our society were dealers. That was the economy of that time and it
has changed. The new economy has emerged,” he said.