Akinwunmi Ambode Needs Encouragement Not Social Media Attacks, Says APC

The All Progressives Congress in Lagos State has said the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, needs the encouragement of Lagosians rather than engage in a series of media attacks against the governor over rising crime rate in the state.

The APC described Ambode’s critics as enemies of Lagos, adding that the governor was not slow in dealing with security challenges in the state as being claimed in some quarters.

The Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state, Joe Igbokwe, in statement issued on Thursday, said that the governor was working hard to build on the legacies of his predecessors.

Igbokwe said, “Leaders’ hands are always heavy and Governor Ambode needs the support and encouragement of every Lagosian, irrespective of tribe, ethnicity, colour, culture and background to do his job.

“Lagos has carried the burden of bad and irresponsible leadership at the centre in the past 16 years and the huge human and vehicular traffic we see in Lagos today is part of the bigger responsibility and challenge to anybody privileged to be the governor of Lagos State. Let us support the governor to succeed.”

The APC said the governor’s efforts had yielded fruits with the recent routing of criminals in various dark spots of the state. It will get better in the coming days.

While calling on critics to desist from attacking the governor, the APC said Ambode was mindful of the ‘deliberate’ abuse of his directive that traffic rules be relaxed to wear human face.

The APC said in view of this, the governor was sanitising the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency to restore order on Lagos roads.

The statement partly read, “Traffic gridlock has always a reoccurring decimal in Lagos even in the 1970s and we remember that former Governor Babatunde Fashola had cause to post pictures of the traffic situations in the past and the comments of leaders then just to prove that the problem did not start today. But this is not an excuse to run away from the problem as Governor Ambode is addressing the traffic situation and its attendant consequences head-on.

“The governor has his hands firmly on the plough and is committed to his dream of taking Lagos to a new level, despite the gloomy economic prospects in Nigeria. He has not lowered the high standards of governance in Lagos despite the antics of his political foes and he is building on the rich legacy he inherited.”