Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, justified the action thus: “The shift was done in order to give succour and relief to the people of Lagos State and other inter-state road users and support the efforts of the state government”.

IT is curious that nearly 20 years after the end of military dictatorship in Nigeria, elements in the governing circles have continued to explore ways of gagging the media. In March 2016, the Frivolous Petitions Prohibition Bill (also known as the Social Media Bill) was being pushed in the Senate. It was later thrown out due to massive opposition.

ELECTORAL rigging is considered as the mother of all other maladies in a democracy. Once a mandate is obtained through fraudulent or criminal acts it lacks legitimacy. This is a precursor for corruption and lack of accountable leadership.

THE negative effect of money in elections is a source of concern in all genuine democracies. Though no election is possible without the funding of activities around it, unbridled deployment of money can derail its primary purpose, which is to ensure that the electorate cast their votes freely and that candidates who get the majority of votes will be declared winner.

We wish to also alert government to the need to pay similar attention to the various bridges, flyovers and causeways built between the 1960s and the oil boom years of the 1970s. Even though the Federal Government had announced its intention to do just that in September last year, little activity in that direction has been noticed.