Chief Olusegun Osoba, a chief of the All Progressive Congress, lamented the criticism of a former Lagos State Governor, Lateef Jakande, for serving as minister of works under the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha.
Osoba said Jakande was working with Abacha to serve as the eye of people seeking the actualization of the late MKO Abiola’s annulled June 12, 1993 election.
However, the former governor of Ogun State said the decision was misconstrued and people kept maligning him for it. The chief of the APC spoke at Jakande’s 90th birthday party at the Haven Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday.
He said, “The thought was that the government should have a foot in the Pro-June 12 supporters. Many may not remember that Alhaji Jakande was in the forefront of those who worked for MKO Abiola’s bail, along with Dr. Olu Onagoruwa and Alex Ibru, which his attorneys sadly prevailed over not accepting at the last minute. We will never understand what the history of Abiola’s bail would have taken.
“It is important for us to note that the appointment for Jakande was just another opportunity to serve the public, not any private aggravation. Unfortunately, members of the old political family have maligned him for this, forgetting that much sooner in 1966 he had dismissed the invitation to serve the day’s military government. The lack of understanding the context of some of the post-1993 political events still underpins today’s South West political tendencies, “he said.
Osoba, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday with a book’s public lecture, said he was disappointed that Jakande still had to write a memoir about his own “journalistic and political exploits” that many young Nigerians would have learned from.
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President, lauded Jakande’s transformation of Lagos State’s education system and the free education policy many children have benefited from.
“More importantly was the housing sector which he made very efficiently. He constructed the largest amount of housing projects in a single circle by any state government, including that of the Federal Government, which was constructed under the administration of Jakande and has remained so far,” he said.
The APC’s National Leader, Bola Tinubu, said at a moment when it was highly hard to rule Nigeria, Jakande had accomplished many firsts. He defined him as “anyone on the continent could find” the most progressive.
“His inescapable and absolute allegiance to his rulers was one key, not excluding others. He was highly faithful to the former Prime Minister of the Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, at the key moment in the history of politics in the country. Ideologically, he never left the progressive path. He is with the progressives at all times, “he said.
The name of Jakande is synonymous with development, according to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. He pledged to inaugurate and name the Igando Housing Estate currently under construction in August.
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