The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has criticized the former Governor Babatunde Fashola for spending N78.3m on the upgrade of his website, www.tundefashola.com.
Babatunde Fashola
The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has heaped heavy criticisms on the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola over the exorbitant sum of N78 million expended for the upgrade of his personal website.
This was contained in a statement by the party's Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani during an interview on Wednesday, 12th of August.
It should be recalled that the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency had posted a report on its website stating that N78.3m was paid to a firm, Info Access Plus Limited, for the upgrade of Fashola’s website through the Office of the Chief of Staff to the Governor. Gani described the alleged action of Fashola as an unfortunate way of spending the taxpayers' money as it will only serve the personal interests of the governor.
According to Punch, he said it was even more curious that the firm claimed it only received N10m as opposed to the N78.3m which was published on the state’s official website. Gani said the website was more than 70 times the actual cost, adding that such reckless spending was what caused the debt profile of the state to rise to over N419bn under Fashola.
“This revelation, which is coming from the government, has now vindicated us. It has buttressed our claims that former Governor Fashola is not a saint. We have always known that the Fashola government was only using the so-called projects to deceive the people of Lagos State and divert money.
“Little wonder it is on record that he is the state governor to incur the highest debt in the history of the state. Fashola consequently is not a person that should be allowed to go scot-free,” Gani said.
He advocated that Fashola should be probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to prove that President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-graft campaign is serious. He also discouraged the president from giving the former governor a ministerial appointment. He ended by urging the present Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode to reveal the contents of the handover notes given to him by Fashola and also investigating him for embezzlement of public funds.