LAGOS—Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, said the alleged $9.3 million cash seized by the South African government has made the country a laughing stock worldwide.
Fashola also added that Abuja had not been consistent with information on the abducted Chibok girls and the attack on the Bama Community, saying; “Nigerians deserve to know the current state of the issues.”
From left: Mr. Remi Ibirogba, Commissioner, Information and Strategy, Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and Mr. Lateef Raji, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, during the Governor’s Press briefing at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez
Fashola made the remarks at the 2014 Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Colloquium held at the University of Lagos, Yaba, which also had in attendance, former governor of Lagos State, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Professor Itsey Sagay and others.
Reacting to the alleged arms deal and what the late Gani Fawehinmi would have done if he was alive, Fashola lamented that the issue has made Nigerians mere laughing stock worldwide.
‘’And this happened because of the value choices that we have made. Let us stop pointing fingers at those people, you all voted for them. They are representatives of the values we have chosen to live with.
“Would Gani Fawehinmi have stood by and watch without demanding an explanation on how money was spent. How N2 trillion was spent on oil subsidy without appropriation. Also, how will he have reacted to the stories of the disappearance of the $20 billion or $49 billion depending on what you believe?”, he added.
The governor also lamented that the central government had not been consistent on sensitive issues concerning its citizens especially the abducted Chibok girls saga.
Commenting on the Nigerian Army’s claim that the abducted Chibok girls had been released and few hours after, back-tracked on the information it released earlier, Fashola said: “At one moment, the information was that the girls were not abducted. Later, we were told by the Federal Government that they now know where the girls are kept.”
“Few months later, the same government informed its citizens that the girls have been recovered. And in few minutes, they (Federal Government through the Nigerian Army) back-tracked on its earlier information.
“Over the last few days, similar incident occurred in Bama and the report from that place was that insurgents had taken over power. The media organisations who reported it were castigated. The reason was that they reported that Bama have been ceded. And few days later, there was another report that Bama have been recaptured. So if you recapture it and you said that you didn’t lose it.
“It shows that there is a problem; the right to know. We (Nigerian) must be updated on the progress and challenges on the issue.”
(culled from Vanguard)
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