Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for Lagos, Jimi Agbaje, has described the first civilian governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, as the most productive, credible and selfless governor the state had ever known.
“If anyone would be designated as the father of modern Lagos, that title should belong exclusively to Alhaji Jakande,” he said, in a congratulatory message.
Agbaje said Jakande left gigantic records of achievements that marked him out as a legendary trailblazer of Nigerian politics and administration.
Jakande, he said, was a first-class disciple of the doyen of Nigerian politics, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and deserved to be celebrated by coming generations for his welfarist programmes that produced myriads of people-oriented projects.
“History will record Alhaji Jakande as a forthright, kind-hearted and selfless politician, who lived and worked for the welfare of the masses. He personified the dream leader,” he said.
The PDP standard bearer recalled that the veteran journalist conceptualised the country’s first metro-line to support an expanding Lagos city, a project unfortunately abrogated by the military.
“In just four paltry years, from 1979 to 1983, and without recourse to loans, Jakande established enduring legacies and left a record that subsequent administrations, with vast resources, have found impossible to beat,” Agbaje said.