Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has made a U-turn, insisting that he never promised to solve the Apapa gridlock crisis in 60 days.
The governor said this while fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday.
Sanwo-Olu, who was still governor-elect on May 18, 2019 had during an interactive session with his classmates at the Executive Master of Business Administration class, University of Lagos, 1998/2000 set, said that he would end the protracted gridlock in Apapa area of the state within the first 60 days of his administration.
He said not minding the politics involved, he would rid the area of all the trailers whose operations have been responsible for the intractable gridlock.
Sanwo-Olu had said, “The Apapa trailer issue; it’s a campaign issue, it’s very serious. I’m going to take it very seriously. I believe that it is something that we are going to solve in the first 60 days of our government. Whatever is going to be required of us, we will take them out.
“There is a lot of politics being played around there. But no, it cannot be the way we’ll continue to live. We cannot continue to give excuses.”
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, however, the governor said he never promised to clear the traffic congestion in 60 days rather, he would review what has been done on Apapa roads in 60 days.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for setting up a task force to address the Apapa issue but said a permanent solution would only be reached when the port has been decongested.
The governor said, “Interestingly, some media houses have actually been counting down on me. They said that I mentioned during the campaign train that I was going to clear it in 60 days. I have mentioned it before, what I said was that in 60 days we would review what was done but that does not take the fact that even if people give you dateline, it’s because they want you to do well and they want you to be able to be accountable for those datelines.”