LAGOS State governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday, described President Goodluck Jonathan as an angry man, who is recriminating about people criticising his government.
This was as the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Yemi Osinbajo, said the party intends to tackle unemployment by engaging 20,000 youths per state within the first year of assumption of office.
The duo spoke at the mobilisation and interactive campaign of the party in Benin City, Edo State.
Fashola, who spoke shortly after Professor Osinbajo at the Imaguero College, where Governor Adams Oshiomhole and members of his cabinet, leaders of the party, traditional rulers, market women and others had converged, said the February 14 presidential election was going to be about the job approval of President Jonathan and his record of service, adding that the election would not be about where he comes from or how old he is.
“I watched the president of my country speak in my state for about one hour and I saw an angry man. He was recriminating about people criticising his government. He was blaming all who ruled before him, forgetting that he has been on this job for six years.
“For 29 minutes, he did not reveal his plans on power, security and corruption. Now after six and a half years without being able to articulate what he’s doing and what he will do, he keeps blaming everybody, forgetting that he is the Commander-in-Chief. If the kitchen is too hot, as it is becoming obvious, he must get out of it.”
Speaking to the crowd, he said, “after six years, he has not been able to explain what he has been doing with your time and 52 per cent of your revenue,” adding that “what you have on the other side is a man who has not yet taken the job.”
Fashola heaped praises on the vice-presidential candidate of the APC, remarking that though he only became the vice presidential candidate for about three weeks, he had been able to articulate the challenges facing the country and the probable solutions to them.
Speaking on the 2007 presidential election, he said, “God bless the soul of the late President (Umaru) Yar’Adua, who admitted that the election was flawed. They rigged everything. It was Professor Osinbajo who challenged all of us, saying we can’t let the situation go down without a fight.
“He brought the late Adrian Forty, who was a forensic expert. They went through millions of ballot papers, one-by-one, showing where some people voted more than 100 times and places where they got tired of thump-printing and used palm kernel. That is the capacity of the man who wants to become your vice president; he’s never afraid of hard work.”
Fashola declared that PDP was ready to rig the February elections through the amendment to the Electoral Act, whereby election cases would now be decided within 180 days.
“So, their current mantra is go and rig and frustrate the trial. That is what they want to do this time around, the Lagos governor stated.
Speaking at the event, Osinbajo said “the APC has agreed that each state, with the backing of the Federal Government, will employ 20,000 young people. That is because it is an emergency and if we don’t tackle it, we may run into trouble. We know that unless we do something about this, we will be in great trouble.
“We also intend to give a tax break to the people who give a certain number of persons jobs in their businesses. They will enjoy tax breaks and recognition of government.”
The VP candidate also spoke on the power problem, explaining that only a total privatisation of the power sector and development of more Independent Power Plants (IPPs) would bring the country out of the present situation.
He said the problem of the country was not primarily wealth creation, but money management, blaming the Federal Government for oil theft and corruption.
“Somebody needs to explain to us how 400 thousand barrels of oil is stolen everyday. We do not need rocket science to do that. Somebody sees this theft done, we have to stop it. If we allow another four years of this kind of theft, nothing will be left.
“It’s not about tribe, religion or ethnicity. If we want to win a football match, we won’t ask if this man is from Ogun or Edo, we chose the best 11,” he said.
