The Senate Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, Thursday
said he would be the next governor of Lagos State, come 2015.
Speaking on one-on-one, an interactive programme on the Nigeria
Television Authority (NTA), Solomon who represents Lagos West Senatorial
district, said with his experience and developmental vision nursed over
the years for the state, he was more than prepared to take the state
further.
This sort of declaration, would be the first time that any intending
governorship aspirant in the state, irrespective of political party
would come out to indicate interest in Lagos governorship race in the
countdown to 2015. Others who had been previously quoted as nursing
similar ambition have had cause to deny the attribution for one
political reason or the other.
As former chairman of Mushin Local Government Area, Solomon had
progressed in his political career over the years, moving from the House
of Representatives where he represented Mushin Federal Constituency I
for four years to the Senate where he is currently serving a second term
in office.
However, justifying his intention to become the next governor of the
state, Solomon who is by this decision giving the governorship a second
shot, told the interviewer: “I have the experience and I am convinced
that I will take the state further from where it is now.”
The lawmaker who fielded questions on various national issues also
dwelt on the agitation for local government’s autonomy, saying while the
councils could not have full autonomy, they deserve a degree of
independence to be able to function effectively, especially in terms of
finance, adding that it amounts to sheer semantics calling them by
whatever names such as administrative vehicle or arm.
Frowning on the state of the local governments administration, as a
former council chairman, Solomon said things were different in his days
as they had their allocation directly from the federation account and as
such, could put development to serious task.
He, however, defended the attitude of the state government to the
councils in the state, saying no local government chairman has come out
to protest perceived injustice.
On the ongoing constitution review which public hearing Solomon
chaired the South-west chapter, he said some of the key issues that
dominated discourse included special status for Lagos, council
administration, state creations and state police, noting that a
referendum may be impossible because it is not provided for in the
clause that pertains to amendment of the constitution.
But as an individual, he declared support for state police because it
is in sync with federal character. “We cannot choose to embrace
whatever suits us to define our federalism in terms of character. I
support state police because it will reflect the character of federalism
in the true sense of it.”
The senator, who described the controversial allowances of National
Assembly members as over-exaggerated, explained that the Budget Act is a
document of the National Assembly which comes from the executive as
mere proposal and that it is the duty of the parliament to determine
what goes where, if convinced by the defence presentations of the
various ministries.
He also described as misplaced, opinions of certain people who would
rather the National Assembly passed the budget as presented by the
executive, noting that the document is the parliament’s and not the
executive’s as may have been misconstrued.
Solomon, therefore, condemned in strong terms, the menace of
political thugs in the society and established a link between the ugly
trend and the growing unemployment rate in the country, adding that it
was a global concern and must be addressed as such.
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