The 2014 edition of the May Day rally in Lagos State witnessed the other side of the state Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), as he shunned the usual workers march past and left Onikan Stadium, venue of the event, in anger.
Fashola’s anger followed unpleasant comments from some students of the Lagos State University and members of the Civil Society Groups, who decried the increase in the students fees.
A visibly angry Fashola, who was fuming when he mounted the podium to address workers drawn from both the public and private sectors, left no one in doubt that he was not pleased with comments from the groups over the hike of fees at the state-owned university and his housing policy.
Clad in a brownish suit with a collar, made in the Nigerian Labour Congress colour, the aggrieved governor told members of the NLC that he only attended the event based on the invitation extended to him and that they should let him know if he is not wanted among them.
While reacting to comments by the students, led by Comrade Tunde Aremu of the Joint Action Forum, a civil society group, Fashola said he was not sure if the protesters were real students of LASU.
He disclosed that he had held two separate meetings with representatives of the students where compromises were reached and that he needed to get back to members of the State Executive Council that could review the fees.
He said: “I am not sure if these students are real students of LASU because I have held two meetings with their representatives.
“One lasted for 40 minutes while the second one lasted for two hours.
“We have been discussing and I need to get back to the Exco where the fee will be reviewed.
“I have asked them to give me their own suggestion on how to run the institution if they found themselves in my position as the governor of the state.
“We should choose between having an institution that is well managed than just having an institution.”
The governor, who attended the event held at the Onikan Stadium in company of his deputy, Hon. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire; the State Head of service; other members of the State Executive Council; Senator Ganiyu Solomon; and some visiting members of Nigeria Institute of Public Policy and Strategy, Kuru Jos, Plateau State, left in anger after delivering his address as the protesting students engaged him in a questioning session, asking him to disclose the outcome of his meeting with their representatives.
Earlier, the students had engaged in a shouting match, accusing the governor of an arbitrary increase of their school fees, stressing that it was an attempt by the governor to deny them access to university education.
One of the placards carried by the students reads: “Hike in LASU fee is the peak of corruption. Fashola/APC should reverse it now or ……….”
Comrade Aremu, who forced himself to be recognized by the organizers of the event, while addressing the gathering, stated that none of the civil servants in the employment of the state government can afford the LASU new fee for their children.
Aremu, who also chided the state governor over his housing policy, noted that the houses built by the state government are beyond the reach of average Lagosians, adding: “It is only corrupt civil servants that can afford to buy any of those houses.”
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