PDP blasts Fashola for appointing council secretaries

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has berated Governor Babatunde Fashola for appointing executive secretaries to head the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the state.

The party said in a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, that the appointment was part of a ploy to give the All Progressives Congress an undue advantage in the governorship election which is set to hold next month.

The PDP, however, vowed to defeat the APC in Lagos.

The statement read in part, “The Lagos State chapter of PDP has described the inauguration of executive secretaries to head the 57 Lagos state councils as unconstitutional, self serving and the APC’s ploy to rig the Lagos governorship election.

“The party further states that the inglorious action by Fashola at this time confirms Fashola and his party as always acting for their selfish convenience. They are not progressives. They are not democrats. They are aiding and abetting the destruction of democracy at the grassroots.

“This ambition is the desperation to win Lagos State. The executive secretaries have been appointed at this time to manipulate the elections at their domains for the APC. They will fail and this time Lagosians will vote against the APC for depriving them of democratic local councils”

“The PDP wonders why Fashola, a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, would promote a local government system that is a violation of section 7 of the constitution, which is also a pending subject of litigation in the Lagos High Court.”

However, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the statement was evidence that the PDP was an ignorant party.

Igbokwe urged the leadership of the PDP to always investigate and verify facts before issuing statements.

He said, “The governor of Lagos is a lawyer and if the act was illegal he would not have gone ahead to do so. If local government elections could not hold due to circumstances beyond the government’s control, then secretaries can be appointed.

“There is no way that local government elections can hold before February but the PDP would prefer to advocate illegality and ensure that those positions remain vacant.”