nsecurity, threat to 2015 polls – Fashola

LAGOS—AHEAD of 2015 general election, Governor
Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday said the
level of insecurity in the country was a threat to free and
fair elections.
Babatunde Raji Fashola
The governor, who spoke during a courtesy visit by the
students from the Royal College of Defence Studies,
United Kingdom, UK led by Rear Admiral Jonas Haggren,
at the State House, Alausa Ikeja, said; “Insecurity is a
threat every time. It is not only to electoral process,
even to human existence and business activities.
“I hope we will be done with this in a short time; in a
way that it will not impede the ability and desire of
Nigerians to make a choice at the next election.
“Every election brings up the contest of idea and
opportunity to make the choice either to keep the
incumbent government or to elect another party to
govern the country. And I don’t think that it will be
different in Nigeria next year.”
He, however, debunked the claim that the All
Progressives Congress, APC had concluded plans on the
party’s flag bearer for the 2015 presidential election,
saying; “I believe everyone who has aspiration will be
given fair chance to express and ventilate that
aspiration.
“There is nothing unusual in the emergency of the
presidential candidate for APC. It will be an open activity
and high level of accountability.
“I believe everyone who has
spiration will be given fair chance to express and
ventilate that aspiration. Nothing unusual will happen.
There will not be anything behind the closet.”
Meanwhile, Fashola said the recurrent cases of pipeline
vandalism across the country would end if the Federal
Government could intensify its investment in education
especially in the provision of technical and vocational
skills across the country.
He said that the most important resource any nation
could have were its people because oil and gas as a
resource today was only a seasonal resource, saying “It
is important to pay attention to the strategic resource
that provides the sizeable portion of our income and
revenue to date.
We should pay attention to the people in the way they
utilise the resources and that will be the bases for real
diversification, educate and strengthen the citizens in
terms of healthcare and life expectancy, ; providing
skills for them through education.
It is only those skills that can form the bases and the
totality of the understanding that the resources itself is
not an end