ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY, MR. BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA, SAN TO LAGOSIANS ON THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ISSUANCE OF PERMANENT VOTERS CARD IN LAGOS BY INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

 
Dear Lagosians,
I am delighted to address you today because as you might by now be aware, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the commencement of the process of issuance of Permanent Voters Card in Lagos.
This means that the process for elections has started.
Yes, election is a process, starting from voters’ registration, to balloting, to announcement of results and to election petition and swearing in of elected persons.
So for the avoidance of any doubt, elections have started.
This process has taken place once every 4 years in Nigeria and this is the 5th (fifth) time that it will take place.
In order for our democracy to be truly representative, it must be participatory, which means that everybody who is 18 years old from today is eligible to vote in the next election.
However, participation imposes a duty on all of us, if we must have a say in the election.
The first duty is to register as a voter, to be eligible to vote on balloting day next year.
This is the time when we must take that civic duty very seriously by making the sacrifice, by finding the time, by making the effort to ensure that our names are still on the Voters’ Register, if we voted or registered at the last election.
If you fall into this category, you must do whatever it takes to go to the polling centre where you registered or voted, to collect your Permanent Voters Card.
If you do this, then you are ready to vote on balloting day next year.
No business, no job, no obligation that you have can be more important than dedicating one day to collect your Permanent Voters Card so that nobody will impersonate you and use your card.
Once you have done this and collected your card then you are ready. On balloting day it will be too late to do so.
This obligation has become very important because of the reports emanating from INEC at a press briefing by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos that the number of voters in Lagos is now 4,800,000 (Four Million, Eight Hundred Thousand).
This is strange, it is surprising and I believe INEC owes the people of Lagos a lot of answers and very quickly too.
At the conclusion of voters registration exercise before the 2011 elections, the number of registered voters in Lagos as announced by INEC itself was 6,247,845 (Six Million, Two Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty Five).
This was an exercise conducted by INEC. This was an exercise where INEC boasted to Nigerian that it has secured an Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) to ensure the credibility of the Voters Register.
INEC must explain to us how…..voters disappeared from among 1,447,845 (One Million, Four Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty Five) to leave Lagos with only 4,800,000 (Four Million, Eight Hundred Thousand) registered voters.
INEC has itself attempted to ascribe the disappearance of 1,447,845 (One Million, Four Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty Five) registered voters on its register in Lagos to what it calls “consolidation”; “Business Rule” and AFIS.
Lagosians demand to know what these terms mean, are they provided for in the Electoral Act?
Are they plans to disenfranchise Lagosians from exercising their rights to choose their own representatives?
Are they part of a plan to confer an undue-advantage in the next elections to any person or to frustrate the choice of Lagosians as we have seen in other states?
Let me assert very clearly and categorically that our Government will vigorously stand on the side of every eligible and previously registered voter to have their name back on the Voters Register compiled in 2011 unless INEC can show legitimate reasons why this should not be so.
For those of our residents who did not register at the last election, or who were not 18 years old at the time but who have now reached that age and who want to register, the first phase of this exercise which is to issue voters card from 7th-9th of November 2014 is not for you, because a Voter’s Card is only produced from a previously existing register.
Please note that those of you who fall into the category of persons who have never registered or who were registered and cannot find their names, will have the opportunity to register for the first time, or to re-register in the second phase which is for continuous voters registration starting from 12th November to 17th November 2014.
After the issuance of Permanent Voters Card for those who registered at the last election or who voted, then INEC will start a process of continuous voters’ registration.
This will happen in the second phase of the programme announced by INEC.
So for now, for 3 days, from Friday the 7th day of November 2014 to Sunday the 9th day of 2014, I urge all residents, registered in Lagos to make time to go to their registration or voting centres to collect their Permanent Voters Card.
It is your right and it is free.
When that exercise of collection of Voters’ Card is completed as Phase I, the exercise for registering new voters and those whose names are not found on the register even though they registered before, will commence on Wednesday the 12th day November 2014 and end on Monday the 17th day November 2014.
I urge employers of labour to be flexible and accommodating to allow workers to close early on Friday the 7th of November, 2014. It is all for our collective good.
As for public servants, I hereby declare the Friday the 7th of November, 2014 shall be a work free day in order to enable workers carry out this civic duty and exercise their civic rights.
Again, I urge all employers in the private sector to consider and approve any similar flexibility that gives this opportunity to their employees.
The prosperity and the brighter rewarding future that we all seek; for ourselves and our children over the next four years, will be determined by what we do in the next few days.
The time that we sacrifice over these few days cannot be too much a price to secure a better future over 4 years and beyond.
I wish you all very well as we take these decisive steps towards strengthening our democracy, giving a voice to our people and rebuilding our nation.
God bless you all.
Long Live Lagos State and long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Eko o ni baje!

Babatunde Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State

BREAKING: President Jonathan Declares Office Of The First Lady Vacant

If feelers from Aso Rock is anything to go by, then it appears all is not well with the First Family. This is coming as reports from our state house correspondent made us aware that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, might have joined the teaming population that is not happy with his wife, dame Patience Jonathan.
Our investigations revealed that president Jonathan after subsequently cautioning his wife about her overbearing attitude in politics related issues, which has led to creating more political enemies for him and probably making his re-election bid more taxing has decided to make the office of the first lady vacant.
The reports cited the First lady’s role in the forthcoming elections in her home state, Rivers State, where she has endorsed her anointed PDP candidate and have vouched to ensure he is the next Governor after Gov. Rotimi Amaechi, without consulting with the Echelons of the Party. A state where some people believe PDP has lost her onetime stronghold to APC, partly due to the first lady’s unnecessary interference. Others include her taking up an unnecessary permanent Secretary appointment in Bayelsa state ministry of education, an office she has resigned from recently due to political differences with the state Governor, in addition to repeatedly making contrary statement from the position of the presidency and her husband’s party PDP.
It is worthy of Note, that the office of the first lady is not recognized by the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, but it has now become a norm for budgetary allocations, appointment of several aides and running of electoral campaigns in form of PET projects amongst others to be functions of a first lady.
However, it could be recalled that during former president Obasanjo’s tenor as president, after the painful and untimely death of our dear first lady, Stella Obasanjo, OBJ went on to complete his remaining two years in office without a first lady. A feat previously done by Shehu Shagari and General Buhari.
As at the time of this report, we cannot confirm if this move to remove power, withdraw aides and return Patience”mama P” to just his house wife, is related to the initial reports from the state house that disclosed President Jonathan’s plan of getting married to a second wife come 2015 elections. As usual we promise to keep you informed, even as we hope this alienation of first lady, patience Jonathan is in the best interest of the country and as we wait to see if the APC will try to woo her as they normally do.

BREAKING: First Lady Patience Jonathan Defects To APC

Politics they say is an intriguing game, The people’s Democratic Party and the presidency has been put into a state of quagmire, This is coming as the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan against all odds have pitched tent with the main opposition party the All Progressive Congress(APC).
FNN state house correspondent reports that this surprising twist in the electoral calculations in the country could be as a result of the unfolding plot of President Jonathan to declare the office of the first lady vacant.
As it appears, mama P cannot work with the PDP to ensure the success of her husband in the forthcoming elections and not be the first lady, hence she was reported saying “First family is not by force, let us all go to Otuoke and live together happily.”
Further investigations revealed that the First Lady has loads of supporters across the Nation, especially women groups because she has been able to use her office to influence the government into implementation of about 30% women in governance, even though it is widely considered that this support, especially amongst the masses is as a result of the bags of rice, salt, garri, oil etc that mama P has tirelessly distributed to women nationwide.
Some of the women supporting the recent actions of the first lady stated that “mama P is tired of hearing rumours about her husband, the other day it was Alison Madueke, tomorrow it is Lott J, now we are hearing he wants to marry a second wife from the North, As if that’s not bad enough, he now wants to sack her from first lady. All this didn’t happen when they were in Otuoke, so let them quietly return there, if Aso Rock is the problem.” a woman leader of the PDP stated.
Even as most people are concerned about the politicking involved in this, some are viewing this development from a different angle; that Patience Jonathan is giving all glory to the Lord for safely sustaining herself and her husband to almost the end of their first tenor in office, especially with the Boko Haram menance and do not want to extend it any further, in order not to give room for any evil thing to happen to herself or her husband. Probably thinking about some of the previous First Families in recent times.
Meanwhile the APC national leadership as iterated that the party is open to all Nigerians, especially those that has seen the ills of PDP and resigned from a PDP led government, probably referring to the recent resignation of Mrs Patience Jonathan from her position as Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Bayelsa state.
As at the time of this report, it hasn’t been confirmed if Patience Jonathan has been able to make peace with the leader of the APC in her home state, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, but since Nigerian politics is of individual interest rather than public service, we won’t be surprised to see Amaechi and Patience Jonathan reconcile, especially as they both want the same thing now, which is for President Jonathan and PDP to lose the presidential elections come 2015.