Fashola Slams Jonathan For Blaming Past Leaders

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Thursday took a swipe at President Goodluck Jonathan, for blaming past leaders for the problems facing the country and his administration, advising him to “get out of the kitchen, if it is becoming to hot for him.”

Fashola spoke during the mobilisation visit of the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign held at Imaguero College in Benin, Edo State.

The governor also berated the President, whom he said had shown anger about Nigeria’s problems and blamed “everybody,” during the commencement of the presidential campaign of the People’s Democratic Party in Lagos on Thursday, without proffering solutions.


He said the February 14 presidential election would centre on the assessment of the president in his six years in office, noting that unlike the PDP, the presidential candidates of the APC had provided viable solutions to the myriad of problems facing the country in three weeks.

He said, “I spent about an hour this afternoon listening to the President in my state and, for almost the same period, I saw a very angry president. I saw a president who was recriminating about people criticising his job performance and was blaming all those who ruled before him, forgetting that he had been on this job for six years.

“And he kept saying that, ‘They say we don’t have a plan.’? But for 25 minutes, he did not reveal a plan on power; he did not reveal a plan on security; he did not reveal a plan on corruption.

“Now, after six years, without being able to articulate what he is doing and what he will do and he keeps blaming everybody, forgetting that he is the Commander-in-Chief, if the kitchen is too hot, as it is becoming of late, you must get out of the kitchen.”

The governor also assured Nigerians that, drawing from the developmental success recorded by the APC states, Nigeria could be better, if the right kind of people managed the nation’s resources.?

The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, lamented that while many Nigerians languished in poverty, some of their leaders were only interested in their personal interest.

Oshiomhole, who recalled that the nation’s past leaders had provided infrastructure not based on ethnicity or religion but on the basis of developing the country, challenged Nigerians to choose the path they desired.

He said, “So, no more lamentation, we have got to choose whether to continue to say, ‘God dey’ or to recognise that God gave us everything and he didn’t and he didn’t ask us just to rely on him for manner to drop from heaven.

“In 2015, Nigerians must make a decision, today, to interrogate those who will drive those changes so that your children don’t inherit a culture and tradition of lamentation.”

Vice presidential candidate of the party, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, stated that the APC presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, was known for his stand on corruption.

He added that an APC-led Federal Government would revive the nation’s power sector by encouraging the establishment of more independent power projects, as alternative sources to ensure 24 hours of power supply to different parts of the country.

“In solving our power problems, we have to ensure that we do something about the cost of gas. We need to rewrite the regulation so that many, who are producing can make some money from their gas, as an incentive to supply gas,” he said.