fasola's riot act on army of occupation

For me this is not a matter for the military. The sooner we rethink and rescind this decision the better and stronger our democracy will be.

Dear Lagosians,



For the past few days, I have monitored the developments related to the public protest against the increase in the pump price of petrol.

During that period, I have at the invitation of my colleagues in the Governor’s Forum responded to an invitation from the Presidency.


My role since last Monday till date has been to find a ground of compromise that stabilizes the polity, protects our democracy and prevent any loss of lives.

Inspite of these efforts, we were not wholly successful in preventing the loss of the life of a young Nigerian, AdemolaAderinto who was sadly shot.I am truly saddened by that ugly development. While I condole with his family, I pledge the commitment of our Government to bring the alleged perpetrator to justice.

I have decided to address you today in view of the very disquieting developments that occurred overnight especially the deployment of soldiers across Lagos .I have the highest respect for members of our military, especially because they have made a contract with all of us that they will willingly lay down their lives whenever it becomes necessary to do so, in order to protect us.

This covenant is instructive, because soldiers did not sign up to stop us from expressing our grievance about things that we are displeased about.

It is not disputable that the citizens who have gathered in several parts of Lagos like Falomo, Ikorodu and Ojota to mention a few have largely conducted themselves peacefully, singing and dancing while they expressed their displeasure at the way that we have taken decisions that affect them.

That in my view should not offend those of us in Government. The majority of these people who represent diverse interests have not broken any law. If they have, it is my opinion that in a constitutional democracy, it is the police that hasthe responsibility for restoring law and order if civil protests threaten the breach of the peace.

This is not justification for sending out soldiers to a gathering of unarmed citizens. Every one of us, or at least majority of us who hold public offices danced and sang before these same people when we were seeking their votes.

Why should we feel irritated when they sing and dance in protest against what we have done?For me this is not a matter for the military. The sooner we rethink and rescind this decision the better and stronger our democracy will be.

If anything, this is a most welcome transformation of our democracy in the sense that it provokes a discussion of economic policies and this inevitably may result in political debate.

I therefore urge the reconsideration of the decision to deploy soldiers and implore the President and Commander-in-Chief to direct their withdrawal from our streets, I must also emphasize that the rights of free speech and protest is not absolute. They impose the duty not to break the law, breach the peace, endanger human life or destroy property whether public or private.

They also impose the duty to respect the rights of others not to support our protest and indeed to support what we oppose. At the end of the day, it is a contest of ideas in which the most persuasive will get the endorsement of the majority of the people we serve.

I am convinced that our democracy is mature enough to accommodate this. We must do our best to ensure that it does.

God bless you all.

BabatundeRajiFashola, SAN

Governor of Lagos State

Monday, January 16, 2012
Peoples reactions

FOI Act on mobile phones -qasim akinreti

Application to enable mobile phone users to download the entire Freedom of Information Act 2011 to a mobile phone has been launched by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

The easy-to-navigate format Named FOI App, the Application was developed by Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) for Media Rights Agenda with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through a grant from Pact Nigeria.

MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said:

“with over 93 million active mobile telephone lines in Nigeria, the FOI Apps is a powerful tool to help make the Freedom of Information Act available to the vast majority of Nigerians at no cost and for them to always have the provisions of this important legislation constantly available at their finger tips.

Blackberry phone users as well as Nokia and other Java-enabled mobile phone users can download the Act by logging on to: www.mediarightsagenda.net/foiapp/ on their phones. Once downloaded, the Act is then stored in the phone and can be read at any time.

In addition, the Application contains a mobile phone number through which people can get more information or clarification about the Act by voice calls or SMS as well as a contact email address for obtaining more lengthy information.

With the Application, there will be dramatic improvements in the level of public awareness of and familiarity with the provisions of the Act which should hopefully translate into a significant increase in the number of ordinary people using the Law to seek information from public institutions and private entities covered by the Act.

Nigerian government cut price of petrol-qasim akinreti,lagos

The Nigerian government has announced a cut in the price of petrol from 141 naira to 97 naira per litre in response to the agitation of Nigerians calling for a reversal to 65 naira from 140 naira.
President Goodluck Jonathan announced the cut in the pump price of petrol during a national broadcast.
According to him,

the new pump price of petrol was in line with the outcome of exhaustive deliberations with the labour unions and other stakeholders.

He also said while the government is fully committed to the deregulation of the downstream sector, petroleum importers found to have engaged in over invoicing and other corrupt practices will be prosecuted.
President Jonathan appealed to Nigerian workers to resume work as government is ready to provide adequate security for them.
The Nigerian leader assured that the proceeds from the oil subsidy removal will be judiciously used as enunciated in the Subsidy reinvestment intervention programmes.

Write up/Qasim