The immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday refused to answer questions on the allegations of corruption levelled against him.
Fashola was alleged to have spent N139m
on two boreholes at the Lagos House, Ikeja, and another N78.3m for the upgrade
of a personal website.
The former governor, who was the guest
speaker at the 16th Bishop Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, urged Nigerians to
ensure that they hold their leaders accountable always.
The event, which was held at the Shell
Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos Island, was titled, ‘The Nigerian
political Class and the Citizen’s Quest for Good Governance.’
The governor said most Nigerians failed
to hold their political leaders to their campaign promises after elections.
However, a mild drama unfolded during
the question-and-answer session.
A journalist from The SUN, Mr. Chika Abanobi,
noted that Fashola was right to urge Nigerians to hold their leaders
accountable.
He, therefore, asked Fashola to respond
to the allegations of corruption levelled against him which included the N78m
the former governor spent on the personal website.
Some personalities at the high table,
which included the host, Dr. Mike Okonkwo, who is the presiding Bishop of The
Redeemed Evangelical Mission, did not feel comfortable when Fashola was put on
the spot as some signalled to the journalist to keep shut and sit down.
Popular comedian, Tee A, who was the
Master of Ceremony, jibed, “Mr. SUN, continue standing in the Sun.”
Fashola, who was taken aback by the
journalist’s audacity, responded, “To the man in The SUN, I don’t respond to
allegations on the pages of newspapers.”
While delivering his lecture earlier,
Fashola listed his various achievements while in government.
Specifically, he mentioned the
restriction of commercial motorcycles, among others.
He said good governance did not
necessarily imply impressing everyone. He said good leadership entailed
improving the general standard of living of the people.
While defending his restriction on
commercial motorcycles, he said, “Some people felt that we were anti-poor. But
let us look at the result of the policy. The 15 deaths per month dropped first
to three per month and later to one per month and later there were no reported
deaths in the whole of 2014.
“The over 600 reported accidents dropped
to about 100 accidents monthly (83 per cent) and the Commissioner of Police
reported an 85 per cent drop in crime over a 10-month period of the enforcement
of the law.
“For those who say this is not good
governance, I will refer them to Section 14 (2) (b) and (c) of the 1999
Constitution.”
The former governor defended the
expenses on his website, insisting that it helped make him more accessible to
the people of the state.
Fashola noted that when he resumed
office, only 500,000 people were paying tax across the state. He said by the
time he left office, over 4.5 million people had started paying tax.
He, however, revealed that there were
still over four million taxable adults in the state not paying tax.
The ex-governor said the state would be
better off if people paid their taxes regularly and assist the government.
Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment