The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, believes Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is now aloof and uninterested in the affairs of the state since he was denied a second term ticket by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement issued by the Jimi Agbaje Campaign Organisation (JACO) during the weekend, Agbaje called on the Lagos state legislature and executive to bury the hatchet and attend to the 2019 budget to save the state from socio-economic crisis.
According to him, the two institutions must put the state first and resolve their issues amicably.
In his words: “This state is bigger than any one person and any single interest. We cannot grind the state to a halt because chieftains within the ruling APC cannot see eye to eye.
“They must put their differences aside and move the state forward. This begins with the immediate passing of the budget.
“Clearly, Lagos has been on auto-pilot since Governor Akinwunmi Ambode failed to pick the ticket at the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries.
“Things as routine as allowances, bonuses and road maintenance have suffered. And now, the prevailing apathy has spread to the 2019 budget that has been reported missing somewhere between the Executive at the Alausa Roundhouse and the hallowed chambers of the Legislature.”
While the Executive, through the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Olusegun Banjo, had insisted that the document containing the budgetary estimates had been forwarded to the Assembly, legislators insist they were yet to receive the document for deliberation.
Agbaje stated: “The unfolding drama between members of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the State Executive Council over 2019 budget has further confirmed my assertion that all is not well within the ruling APC. The bad blood generated through the outcome of the last round party primaries is still visible for all to see and our people are the worse for it.”
Lamenting the toll the wrangling within APC had taken on the life and wellbeing of the people of the state, Agbaje urged all well-meaning Lagosians to urgently intervene on behalf of the people of the state whom he said are bearing the brunt of the “needless schism.”
“After having drawn the attention of the whole world to the prevailing needless war of attrition between the two arms of government without any of the two combatants sheathing their sword, I am therefore compelled to call on well-meaning Lagosians to prevail on the two to see the need to act in the interest of the people who they preside over,” Agbaje said.
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