Jonathan Stopped Lagos Railway Project – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of being hypocritical over his persis­tent claim of reviving the rail­ways, when in actual fact he has bluntly refused to grant the necessary right-of-way approval to the Lagos Met­ropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA) for the construc­tion of its redline light rail proj­ect from Iddo to Ifo in Ogun State with a capacity to carry one million passengers per day.

This is in spite of the fact that investors were ready to invest over one billion dollars in the project.

In a statement issued in La­gos on Saturday by its Nation­al Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said that by failing to grant the ap­proval which has been pend­ing since May 2013,he has no moral right to claim he loves theSouth west, or has revived the railways. President Jona­than premised his action on the fact that Lagos is an ‘’enemy state’’.

“President Jonathan is sim­ply being hypocritical when he listed the revival of the rail­ways as part of his administra­tion’s so-called achievements, during the kick-off of his elec­tioneering campaign in Lagos, during which he also tried to project himself and his party as friends of the South-west in general and Lagos in par­ticular. His words and actions since assuming office six years ago do not support that.

“He claims to have revived the railways but did not tell La­gosians how he has stopped, in its tracks, the LAMATA Red Line Light Rail Project that would have alleviated the suf­ferings of Lagosians as they commute daily across the densely-populated city,’not to talk of the loss of over 30,000 jobs that would have been cre­ated by the project, it said.

“What about the new eco­nomic activities that would have been generated along and in the vicinity of that corridor of the new rail line if the Presi­dent had granted the right-of-way approval?

“If indeed Mr. President is now a convert for economic growth and progress of Nige­rians of all tribes who live in Lagos, as he pretended to be during his electioneering cam­paign flag-off, he should grant the approval today,’’ the party said

It said contrary to the image of friendship with the South-west in general and Lagosians in particular, which Mr. Presi­dent sought to project during his electioneering campaign in Lagos, he has nothing but contempt for the people of the region.

“During the protests over the fuel price hike in 2012, President Jonathan dismissed those complaining as the sons of rich men in Lagos who have more than one car. Earlier in 2011, he described the South-west leaders as ‘rascals’, and he has since followed up by ostracizing the region in the allocation of government ap­pointments and infrastructural development, just to mention a few.

“The latter-day construc­tion of the Lagos-Ibadan ex­pressway is a vote-winning gimmick that has back-fired as the project has only pro­gressed at snail speed appar­ently for lack of much-needed funds, while Nigerians have continued to die and suffer daily on that road,’’ APC said.

The party reminded the President that no one is de­ceived by his hypocrisy as far as Lagos and the South-west are concerned, because he has shown in actions and words the disdain, at times bother­ing on pure hatred, which he harbours towards the people of the region.