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By Kitan Badmus
A civil society group, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, has
urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to consider the immediate past Governor of
Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), for appointment.
The Executive Chairman of the group, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said
during an interview on Thursday that Fashola’s administration was engulfed in
several controversies which could not be overlooked.
Adeniran said his organisation was troubled by many dilapidated
schools in the state. He noted that when the Socio-Economic Right
Accountability Project invoked the Freedom of Information Act to know how the
Fashola government spent a $200m World Bank education funds, the state
government refused to disclose it.
He said instead, the state government continued to run its affairs
in secrecy by claiming that the FOI Act did not apply to state governments.
Adeniran said independent investigations by his organisation
showed that the 1.36km Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge which was reportedly built for
N25bn, cost only N6bn.
He said he had written a series of petitions to the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission to probe the various projects of the Fashola
government in the face of the over N500bn debt left behind by the government.
He said he was shocked to find out that the commission had
continued to ignore all the petitions despite the fact that Fashsola no longer
enjoyed immunity, having left office over 60 days ago.
In a letter addressed to the President titled, ‘Don’t elevate
Fashola,’ the group said if Buhari wanted to actualise his mission of ‘change’
he would need to distance himself from controversy.
The letter read, “Mr. President, we are constrained at this point
in time to bring to your attention our critical reaction to the unbridled
speculation making the rounds for some time now, from the members of the public
as well as the media, as to the fact that the immediate past governor of Lagos
State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, is being considered by the presidency for higher
national responsibility. Feelers have it that his name is prominent on the list
of the president’s nominees for key offices in your administration.
“It is gratifying that you have promised at various fora that your
appointments would be purely based on merit and that tested technocrats, with
impeccable records, would be given their rightful places in your
administration, as a way of ensuring good governance to the people of Nigeria.
It is against this background that our organisation is appealing to you to
please take the pains to dig deep into Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s record of
performance as well as that of financial propriety on the part of his
government while in office.”
Fashola’s spokesperson, Mr. Hakeem Bello, did not respond to
telephone calls as well as a text message sent to his phone.
Link: http://thesheet.ng/group-urges-buhari-not-to-give-fashola-any-appointment/
Posted by: "Media
Rights Agenda" <press@mediarightsagenda.org>
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