Fred Chukwuelobe
Before we sack Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos, please let us remember that, if he goes, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) will return and start extorting us again.
Two, let us remember that he tamed Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) officials and they stooped extorting and brutalizing motorists.
He may be having problem with his godfather – the Jagaban (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu). He may be having problems clearing refuse and patching potholes, but he tamed these two monsters.
He helped reduce the traffic gridlock on the Lekki-Epe Expressway by reconstructing the numerous roundabouts that clog traffic, constructing the Jubilee Bridge at Ajah and the one at somewhere I cannot remember now.
He started giving a facelift to the terrible road that leads to and fro the dilapidated Muritala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja.
He has done many other good things, even though I would have wished he never touched the monstrous Land Use Charge.
How I wish he built bus stations and bus stops before importing buses. How I wish he retained, but rejigged, Fashola’s LAWMA.
How I wish the bus stops he is currently building did not condemn people’s shops by blocking their access. How I wish the introduction of the buses would ease traffic; they would not. They will compound traffic because of the recklessness of commercial vehicle operators and the drivers of the buses coupled with bad and narrow roads.
Before he goes, if he goes, let us remember these and many more.
*Chukwuelobe, a veteran journalist, wrote in from Lagos ahead of 2019 elections
