I will build Fourth Mainland Bridge if elected – SDP guber candidate

The governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Lagos State, Adetokunbo Pearse, has promised to build the Fourth Mainland Bridge if elected as governor.

He also promised to complete the light rail project if elected the governor of the state next year, saying that when completed, the two projects would ease traffic congestion.

He said this while revealing his plans during an interaction with newsmen, where he bemoaned the inability of the APC led government to make alternatives to road transportation system in Lagos, which he said could not work if it did not have the 21st Century transportation system and that only the light rail could do this.

He said, ” We will develop our waterways because Lagos is an island. We cannot continue to depend on road alone to move our people from one part to the other.

“The state’s first civilian governor, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande started the water transportation system. But as soon as some other governors came in, they messed it up.”

“I will renew water transportation so that we can move around Ikorodu and Badagry by water. If there is an emergency, you can move by water. The major problem in Lagos is congestion. If you want to build an economy, you improve transportation.”

Pearce also said the gridlock on the state’s roads “is destroying economy. Imagine someone who is ill being trapped in a gridlock. It happened to someone I knew who died in a car after spending three hours in the traffic and this happens all the time.

“The first thing I will do is to build drainage all over the state so that when rain falls, the water will flow into the canal, which will run into the river. Water on the roads damages the roads and create problem of traffic.”

On his ability to win the Lagos gubernatorial election, Pearce revealed that his SDP was in 155 out of the 245 wards in Lagos and could therefore garner enough support.

He said, “If I say I want to mobilise 1,000 people in any local government now it would be done because we are well structured, we had ward congresses between end of July and early August. We had local governments and state congresses. The only local government where we are weak right now is Epe.

“We are very strong in other local governments. Our structures are there. I am being invited everywhere. I have visited radio and television stations. I have featured in many newspapers. The SDP is the oldest party among all the parties in Nigeria now.

“The last democratically elected president in Nigeria before 1999 came from the SDP and this is the party Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu went through to become a senator in 1992. This is a strong party, the military government of General Sanni Abacha disrupted the whole thing before we got back to democracy in 1999.”