The Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders on Saturday took a swipe at the former Governor of
Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, describing his administration as draconian
and anti-people.
The activist
group was reacting to Fashola’s condemnation of its call on President Muhammadu
Buhari not to consider the ex-governor for appointment for his alleged
mismanagement of state funds.
CACOL said the
Fashola-led administration was engulfed in several controversies which could
not be overlooked.
Fashola had come
under fire after the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency posted a report on
its website, stating that N78.3m was paid to a firm, Info Access Plus Limited,
for the upgrade of his website, www.tundefashola.com, through the Office of the
Chief of Staff to the Governor.
The ex-governor
had last week defended the decision by his government to spend N78.3m on the
upgrade of the website in a five-page letter he personally signed, in which he
admitted that the money was actually spent on his website.
Fashola also
berated CACOL, in his letter titled ‘When you wrestle with a pig, the pig gets
happy and you get dirty,’ for dragging him to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission and for calling on President Buhari not to give him a political
appointment.
Fashola said, “I
cannot conclude without responding to the crusade of CACOL and their ilk
seeking my prosecution on allegations that have no proof and writing
pre-emptive letters to the Presidency.
“In case they are
unaware, I am not looking for a job. I expect them to know that allegations of
wrongdoing are not resolved without evidence, neither are they resolved in
press conferences.”
However, the
Executive Chairmain of CACOL, in a statement titled, ‘We Don’t Mind Wrestling
With The Pig As Long As It Produces The Pork,’ on Saturday, said if the former
governor could justify the cost of his personal website, no matter what he used
it for, then there might be many more shenanigans to be unearthed by the
relevant anti-graft agencies.
He said, “The Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines a “pig” as an unpleasant or offensive
person; a person who is dirty or greedy. Based on this premise, leaders who
deliberately run elitist, oppressive and draconian government can only be
described by no other name, but pigs.
“A government
that causes so much hardship to the largest stratum of the socio-economic
ladder, whereas it engages in obscene affluence all in the name of white
elephant projects that have no direct bearing on the suffering Lagosians, is
nothing but a pig.
“It will be
foolhardy for a man who requires pork to say he wouldn’t wrestle with a pig.
How does he intend to get it? After all it has been said, ‘No willing pig
provides pork; whoever desires pork wrestles the pig down for it!’
Adeniran asked of
what use was a N78.3m-website when several other developmental needs of people
in Lagos were begging for attention.
Adenira further
said, “Basically, what concerns us more is the issue of suspected corruption
embedded in the award and execution of contracts in the regime of Babatunde
Fashola, as illuminated by the award of this N78.3m website contract.
“Every IT person
CACOL has contacted put an over-bloated estimate of the cost of the website at
about N6m. We are not surprised that a contract that could have cost N6m could
be ballooned to N78.3m, because that is a trademark of Mr. Fashola’s
administration.
“The website
contract is an eye opener and lending credence to the allegations of the ‘True
Face of Lagos’ where most of the contracts awarded before 2010 were said to
have been immorally inflated by the regime of Babatunde Raji Fashola.”