17th April, 2013
The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has expressed concerns over Thursday’s visit to Lagos by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The party, which had fixed tomorrow for its national convention at the Onikan Stadium, expressed fears that thousands of its supporters expected to attend the convention may be prevented from doing so as a result of the closure of some roads during the president’s visit.
“We are concerned that based on precedence, the visit of the president may lead to the closure of key arterial roads in the city, which could prevent thousands of our supporters coming to Lagos from all parts of the federation from making it to the venue of the convention,” ACN stated in a letter written to Governor Babatunde Fashola and signed by its spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
ACN told the governor the timing of the president’s visit and the attendant distruption of traffic in Lagos may lead to frustration and provocation of its supporters who would have travelled hundreds of kilometres from their destinations.
The party submitted further that the timing of the visit “may be seen as a contimation of perceived attempts by the PDP-led Federal Government to frustrate the merger of our party with other progressive parties.” The party called on Governor Fashola to use his good offices to advise the president to either reschedule his visit or use a mode of intra-city transportation, like helicopter, that will not engender the closure of roads on a very busy day in the city.