General News
A civil rights organization, the Save Lagos Group, SLG, has decried the refusal of Lagos State Government to rename the Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo after the founder and the first elected Chief Executive of the state, Late Lateef Kayode Jakande who passed on recently.
In a statement issued by its Convener, Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, in Lagos on Thursday, the Save Lagos Group, SLG, also accused the Governor Babajide Sanwoolu led state government of attempts to play down the landmark achievements of the late Jakande, adding that “We will not hesitate to mobilize our men against the state government should the trend continues.”
Reacting to the passage of the late politician recently, Sulaiman stated that “we are in mourning mode as we speak, Baba Jakande was the founder and the architect of modern Lagos whose contributions to the welfare and wellbeing of Lagos residents cannot be quantified in any way.
“His imprints are scattered all over the state in virtually all facets of human lives, but we take consolation in the fact that he lived an impactful life dedicated to the wellbeing of his fellow men. We are also happy that he died at the ripe old age of 91.”
The group, however, stressed that “Despite the legacies of the late politician, the current ruling political tendency in Lagos has already set in motion machinery to rubbish and downgrade his landmark achievements for reasons best known to them. They (the ruling tendency) demonstrated their disdain for the man while alive and they are doing the same to him even in death. ”Specifically, the Save Lagos Group wondered why the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, has not deemed it fit to visit the family of the deceased to condole it almost a week after his demise.
“We wonder why the National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu has not deemed it fit to visit the family of the great man a week after his death. Could it be that Tinubu loathes him alive and in death?
What happens to the time honored Yoruba dictum that admonishes us not to fight till death? Or could it be sheer envy? These questions are for him to answer,. ” the group said.
Commenting on the continued reluctance on the part of the state government to rename the state owned university after Jakande, the Save Lagos Group, SLG, carpeted the Jide Sanwoolu led government, saying the action or inaction signposts the disdain of the current tendency toward Jakande and his legacies, adding that the group will use legal means to compel the state government to do the needful in this instance. “We are appalled that the Jide Sanwoolu led government has demonstrated reluctance to honor Jakande at least by renaming LASU after him and we will take the appropriate action at the right time.
“We are therefore serving a notice to the state government to do the needful, failure in which we will mobilize our members to storm the Lagos State secretariat to press home our demand,” the group added.
– Feb. 20, 2021 @ 15:11 GMT
Tags: Save Lagos Group flays Lagos government’s refusal to rename LASU after Jakande
