16 Months After Polls, AD, PDP Still Battling for Lagos
Sixteen months after the last general elections, where the Alliance for Democracy(AD) had a clean sweep of the polls in Lagos State, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), which controls the Federal Government and the AD have continued to contest for the soul of the state, writes Ndubuisi Ugah
A container bearing trailer fell down around Ogudu inward Alapere thereby impeding the flow of traffic from Lagos while two others broke down at different locations on the bridges around Iyana Oworo". That was the statement made recently by the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Ministry of Transport, Mr. Adesegun Ogundeji while explaining the difficulties his men encountered while trying to evacuate a broken down trailer on the Third Mainland bridge, which he claimed obstructed traffic.
Continuing, Ogundeji said "but for four hours running, the Lagos State officials have been prevented from doing so by the men of the Federal Ministry of Works, who claimed exclusive jurisdiction over the road".
The above case readily explains, the extent to which the face-off between the Federal Ministry of Works and the Lagos State Government has degenerated lately.
There have even been reports of bloody clashes between officials of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and those of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the state's Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade as these agencies contest for the right of traffic control and management of federal roads within the state.
Apart from this, the bid to beautify some major roads by the state ministry of environment has also been a subject of controversy between the two tiers of government. The beautification exercise, which was to be carried out by some corporate bodies in the private sector at no cost to the state has been discontinued following the insistence of the Federal Ministry of Works that the affected roads belong to the federal government.
The face-off, which has been narrowed down to a political fisticuffs between Governor Bola Tinubu and the Works Minister, Senator Seye Ogunlewe has continued to elicit condemnation from Nigerians, who have decried, in strong terms, the unfortunate development.
There was initially a ray of hope, when reports came that the Presidency has decided to wade into the unfortunate power contest between the state government the federal works ministry.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar was said to have assured that the Federal Government would intervene in the matter that had pitched Tinubu and Ogunlewe in a supremacy battle. Even if nothing was achieved, the remarks however showed that the seat of power could no longer feign ignorance of the bitter feud which is gradually pushing the state into chaos.
To underscore his resolve at ensuring that the state was not short-changed by the activities of FERMA, Tinubu said he had written the Police Commissioner to help stop the spate of attacks on the state officials, adding that "if he (police commissioner) failed to do so, the state would resist the attack itself".
But Ogunlewe on his own part viewed the whole allegations as a farce. He was said to have insisted that LASTMA and KAI Brigade were operating illegally on federal roads. According to him, the activities of LASTMA and KAI have not in anyway restored the chaotic situation of traffic in the state. To him, their exit would not lead to traffic chaos in the state.
"There won't be chaos. It is not true that there will be chaos if LASTMA officials were chased away from Lagos roads. Was there chaos before LASTMA was created? Was there chaos when they enacted signposts saying, 'Bear with us, this road belongs to the Federal Government?' Was that decent? Were they not trying to indict the PDP-led Federal Government that it is not performing?", Ogunlewe stated.
Some have argued that the cause of the crisis between these two levels of government is the billboards mounted by the Lagos State Government, designating acutely dilapidated highways in the state capital as belonging to the Federal Government and urging motorists to bear with the state.
Even Ogunlewe implicitly hinged his face-off with the state government on this. Infact he was quoted as saying that the billboards were deliberately erected by Tinubu to ridicule Obasanjo. But this was during the tenure of former Works Minister, Chief Tony Anenih.
Since President Obasanjo began his second term tenure and appointed Ogunlewe as Minister of Works, the ministry through FERMA had vigorously undertaken repairs of federal roads particularly in Lagos. The view is that the billboards mounted by the state government actually served as a wake up call on the federal government to live up to its responsibility and that if such had not been erected, the state of federal roads in Lagos would still have been pathetic.
But as each day passes, it becomes more obvious that the face-off is nothing but political and that at the center of it is the bid for the control of Lagos.
The Alliance for Democracy (AD), Lagos state chapter, while decrying the activities of FERMA, said that it violated laid down rules and regulations as contained in its establishment act.
Chairman of the party, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, at a recent press conference said "when he assumed office as Minister of Works, Senator Seye Ogunlewe constituted himself into a court of law and decreed that the staff of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade could no longer operate on federal roads in the state. He said he was setting up a 400-man team under the auspices of FERMA to control traffic on federal highways in the state. We thank God that the minister soon discovered the folly of his action as we consistently pointed out to him that FERMA had no legal basis to control traffic anywhere in the state".
Ogunleye further said that "FERMA officials can be seen through out the state collecting illegal levies from motor parks and markets on the pretext that they are located on the loop abutting federal highways. They equally impose all kinds of fines and tolls on motorists either for traffic offences or for conveying 'solid minerals' or 'agricultural produce' among others. The extortion of FERMA on the highways got so bad that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had to write in protest to the minister of works on the fate of its members in the hands of these thugs.
"These activities of the Federal Ministry of Works in Lagos State amount to multiple violation of the laws of the land. They constitute a flagrant disregard of and an absolute disobedience to the state laws on street trading and environmental sanitation. They constitute a breach of the fourth schedule to Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, which clarifies which tier of government is responsible for collecting dues/rates from markets and motor parks. They violently assault the decision of the Supreme Court judgment of June 13, 2003, with regard to the Federal Highway Act Cap 135.", Ogundeji declared.
He also said that the Minister has created a parallel Local Government administration in the state through the appointment of all PDP council chairmanship aspirants as Special Implementation Assistants for councils in the state.
Also, Chairmen of Local Government Councils in Lagos State, at a press conference alleged that "the Lagos PDP and their FERMA agents have lately resorted to invading and attacking the secretariats of local government councils".
The 57 council chairmen said that "on June 24, for instance, these thugs, armed with cutlasses, cudgels and dane guns, attacked the premises of Ikoyi local Government Council. They physically assaulted and wounded officials and other persons transacting business in the premises of the council".
They also alleged that a PDP council chairmanship aspirant, Saheed Salewa, led members of FERMA to attack a council recently. According to them, "the invading thugs broke into the office of the chairman, Mrs. Derin Disu and assaulted her but for the prompt intervention of the vigilant local government councilors and staff who thwarted the attack, our investigations revealed that they would have burnt down the city hall.
"Indeed, our investigations have revealed that their mission was to burn down the city hall but this was foiled by the vigilant staff of the council, who thwarted the attack. Surprisingly, Tejuoso market was gutted by fire barely 48 hours after the attack on City hall was aborted. It is important to note that FERMA officials had tried unsuccessfully to collect dues from the burnt market".
However, based on the personalities involved in the crisis, it has become obvious that it is a political fight for the control of Lagos ahead of the 2007 elections. Ogunlewe, represented Lagos East in the last Senate, on the platform of AD before decamping to PDP along with Senator Wahab Dosunmu, who represented Lagos West. Their decampment drew widespread criticisms from AD. In the last general elections, he flew the flag of the PDP to seek re-election into the Senate but lost to AD's candidate, Olorunnimbe Mamora. He was eventually appointed by President Obasanjo as Works minister.
The extent of the scramble for Lagos was made known last month, when Obasanjo, during a state visit to Osun restated the resolution of the PDP to capture Lagos in 2007. The AD as a party and the state government have however, described the President's remarks as not only impolitic, but also a pipe dream.
Equally the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Joko Pelumi is of the view that PDP would fail again in its quest to capture Lagos. He wondered whether the party had deemed it fit to ask itself why its bid to capture the state failed in 1999 and 2003. He maintained that it was because the people are progressive and have embraced AD as a party. Pelumi also argued that Lagos is unique and that was why the PDP could not sweep it along with other Southwest states in the last general elections.
Recently, Engineer Funsho Williams, who flew the gubernatorial flag of the PDP in the last election but lost to Tinubu, in a full page advertorial accused the state government of not fulfilling its campaign promises to the people of the state. Williams highlighted the campaign promises of Tinubu sector by sector and returned a no-performance verdict.
But in a swift response, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Dele Alake faulted Williams claims describing it as part of the plot by the PDP to plunge the state into crisis through deliberate misinformation.
Maintaining that the PDP since the last general election has been plotting to frustrate the AD led government, Alake said that "... they have spent each day of the past 15 months trying to sabotage the people-oriented policies of the Asiwaju Tinubu administration. They are doing everything to sabotage the world bank facility secured by the Tinubu administration to transform the infrastructure of Lagos state. They are working round the clock to instigate violence in Lagos state as a ploy for the declaration of a state of emergency. To frustrate the yearnings of the people, they presurised the President to withhold funds due to local government in Lagos state".
To under score the extent to which the face-off between the minister and the governor had degenerated, the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, while receiving a members of the Senate and House of Representatives committee on Police Affairs warned that if nothing is done to check the gradual slide into chaos, the peace of the state may be breached.
"There is a security report now that all the houses earmarked for destruction by the federal government in the state belong to members of the opposition parties. Infact some belong to Governor Tinubu's family members.
"I want to tell the big people in Abuja to warn FERMA people to allow peace reign in Lagos. Because as long as they keep harassing the people, there will be no peace. You don't expect them to continue to keep quite. Please beg them to leave Lagos for the state government and mind their own business", Akiolu stated.
The current crisis has continued to elicit mix reactions including Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka who criticised the Works Minister for the disruption of movement of state ambulance on federal road.
Equally, the former Minister for External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has also decried the current situation and advised the parties to work together in the interest of the state.
The controversy over the beautification of some roads in the state has also bene described as uncalled for. The argument is that Supreme Court judgment have vested in the state the powers to develop their respective areas, while such development may nclude powers to beautify.
The nation's apex court had ruled that: "No argument can defeat or reduce from the general planning legislative power of the House of Assembly, which is a residual constitutional power. It gives the states the exclusive function for the planning, layout and development of their respective areas. Any Act, be it the federal highways Act, the civil aviation Act, the Nigerian railway corporation Act, which tends or is implemented in a way to tend to undermine or take away this function of any state, or allows the federal government to exercise or assume such function is unconstitutional and in appropriate circumstance will be declared so".
However, analysts have described the ongoing feud as not in the interest of the people because when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers the repercussions of such fight.
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