LG Polls: Sanwo-Olu, APC Chairman, warn against poor performance as candidates get party flagship

By Moses Adeniyi

Candidates who emerged victorious at the Party Primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were on Sunday presented with the flagship baton to run on the Party’s platform in the forth coming Saturday 24th, 2021 Local Government elections in Lagos State.

At the presentation of the flags to the candidates on Sunday at the Party’s State Secretariat, Ikeja Lagos, the candidates were however admonished to steer clear from actions capable of jeopardising the Party’s legacy as they contest the election as flag bearers.

In his remarks while addressing News-Men following the flagship ceremony, Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, mentioned that the State Government will be developing a monitoring scheme with performance index to weigh and assess the performance of Local government chairmen upon election into office.

He mentioned that though quite a number of the candidates who are returning have done well, those who have fallen short of expectations were expected to retrace their steps.

Governor Sanwo-Olu mentioned that the State Government would keep a close eye on the chairmen to ensure they deliver in line with the vision and goals of the Government.

According to him, the Deputy Governor has the responsibility from the cabinet to keep a close watch on their performance while the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly, has the legislative responsibility.

“It’s a very significant political event for the forth coming local government elections. We have charged them. A lot of them have done very well at their various local governments and so that is why some of them are returning and we also admonish those that haven’t to change. Of course, we have new people that are coming up. The whole idea is for us have a real transformation at the grassroots.

“The Federal, the State and Local government are three tiers of government and everybody has his role and responsibility. As the State Government, we will continue to ensure our own development agenda because we own all the Local governments. And so, what we expect from them is to also carry on and ensure that once  they come in, they can hit the ground running in all of the wards that we have.

“You will remember that we have projects on-going across all the wards in the local governments of the State. So, we expect them to be able to complement and be able to do more. That is why we are charging them.

“We will be monitoring them on a quarterly basis. We will come up with schemes to determine who is doing what? So that they can also create healthy rivalry among themselves.

The Governor who mentioned that the party is “hoping to come top and do well” at the polls, said the party “will not disappoint all that have voted them into office.”

In his remarks, the APC Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Mr. Tunde Balogun, warned the candidates to steer clear from fomenting trouble in their jurisdictions by altering the councillors’ list in their respective local councils upon emerging victorious.

Stressing that there is a database for all the councillors in the respective councils, he  mentioned that any move to alter same would amount to  insighting political disturbance unhealthy for the State.

He however, mentioned that though the party has been maintaining the ruling status, yet it would be working very hard to secure uncontested victory at the polls.

Meanwhile on COVID-19, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the Government is monitoring the rate of cases testing positive to the virus daily, mentioning that the State is taking conscious effort not to raise undue alarm capable of scaring its residents, but rather to ensure it is very proactive.

He implored residents of the State to take responsibility to protect themselves, while making effort to avoid unnecessary gathering.

“On a daily basis we are checking the rate of the positivity and we are managing it because we know where the entry point could also be.

“That having been said, every body has the responsibility to protect himself/herself and family. That is why  as a responsive government, we need to tell our people transparently and innocently where we are. That is why we are communicating efficiently to our citizens.

“Where you have a non COVID-19 compliant gathering, don’t go there. When you are to go out, wear your face masks. These are some of the protocols we are encouraging our people to observe.

“We are doing every thing to flatten it. We have opened some of our isolation centres and we have few cases there. So, we need to tell our people that we are not completely out of it.”