Fashola: Petitioners Reopen Fight at Lagos Assembly
•Speaker asks group to see gov
By Gboyega Akinsanmi and Femi Durojaiye, 03.31.2010

The delicate truce quietly reached in the face-off between Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and his estranged political "godfather", Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may be breached again following the filing of a fresh petition by "The True Face of Lagos" group.

On Monday, the legislative house had in a surprise move dissolved its committee probing the allegations made against Fashola by the group.

But yesterday, the group came to submit a formal petition to it in respect of the allegations it made against the governor in a newspaper advertorial.

In setting up the committee to probe Fashola in the first instance, the house was widely believed to be fighting a proxy war on behalf of Tinubu, to whom most of the members are believed to owe their allegiance.

[b]But the House Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji advised the True Face of Lagos to also confront Fashola with the allegations.
Ikuforiji gave the advice when members of the group stormed the house to submit a formal petition, in which it urged the lawmakers to continue with the probe of the allegations against the governor.

The house had dissolved the probe committee it set up to investigate the allegations of financial misappropriation against Fashola, saying the move was in deference to the ruling of a Lagos High Court, which halted the investigation.
Speaking at the house, the Chairman of the True Face of Lagos Adesina Adebayo explained that the group had presented a new petition since the formal petition had been struck out by the ruling of the court.

“This new petition will enable the house to begin the proper procedure towards probing the governor,” he said.
According to Adebayo, it would be great injustice if the allegations were not investigated.

“We want the Governor’s name to be cleared and we want him to be saved from sleepless nights,” he said.
However, the Speaker in his response said: “Why not just direct some of these things to the Governor himself? Ask him and tell him what you alleged. Approach the Governor and ask him to clarify some of these issues, may be you would have saved him all the sleepless nights you claimed.

Truly, your allegations have caused a lot of sleepless nights. Your allegations have caused us a lot because we have not been able to concentrate on other things.”
He said comments by some residents of the state had suggested that the governor did not deserve to be castigated but added that the house had no reason to cover up anybody.

The Speaker added: “I am not saying Lagosians should not come to the house if they feel there is anything wrong, but if you are the ones putting up the allegations and you are telling us that we should save the governor from sleepless nights, I think it’s like talking from the two sides of the mouth because you have the opportunity of saving him by going direct to him.

“I have no evidence before me that you have made attempts to challenge the governor on any of the issues raised in your allegations. We would have been in a better position to act on the issue if you had approached Fashola and he declined to attend to you and that would have made the assembly’s job easier.

“Please let us all be our brother’s keepers, let’s be good Lagosians. Talk to the governor directly, but that doesn’t mean we would not attend to your petition.”[/b]

Meanwhile, some members of the assembly have insisted that the investigation into the allegations levelled against Fashola by the group should continue.
While deliberating on the petition at the plenary session, some of the members maintained there was the need to investigate the matter.

According to the Majority Leader Taiwo Kolawole, there is a kind of determination in the action of the group, adding that the house would need to get to the root of the matter.
He said: “We don’t know where they are coming from. Our determination to change Lagos is at stake. I believe in transparency, which is a cardinal principle of our party; we are known for fighting corruption. Our party has put in so much to get Lagos to the position it is today, this looks like a very dirty stain and I feel we should get to the bottom.

“We need to know if this government and governor of ours are as dirty and bad as have been painted by these people. Let us try as much as possible to save Lagos and to make Lagos beautiful again. I think we must investigate this because we don’t know where these people are coming from.”

Babatunde Ogala from Ikeja Constituency I said: “It is the assembly that is on trial. I suggest that the group be given an opportunity to prove their allegations at whatever level."

Rotimi Olowo from Shomolu Constituency said Action Congress (AC)’s credibility was at stake, adding that, “they might even be targeting the party because they can use this against the party in the next election. We have to look beyond the group. The onus is on us to investigate to know whether the allegations are true or not”.

The True Face of Lagos had in an advertorial published in a national newspaper of January 28, 2010 alleged that Fashola engaged in diversion of funds without due approval and indiscriminate award of contracts.
In the advertorial, where it detailed the allegations, the group had said: “The helicopter deal was a big fraud – the helicopter was not built for any kind of emergency evacuation, rescue or to even combat fire.

Over N5bn has been spent on the two helicopters and the seal of Lagos State is not on it. It is not in Lagos but the Niger Delta making money for some private people in government.”

Among others, the group also accused the governor of spending N1.5 billion of unappropriated fund on the demolition of Oshodi and jacking up the LASU-Iba Road contract awarded by the Tinubu government for N6.2 billion to N10 billion less than two weeks after he took over.

But a Lagos-based journalist and human rights activist, Mr. Richard Akinnola, had approached the court to stop the assembly from investigating allegations of financial impropriety levelled against it and the governor.
The lawmakers through their counsel had filed a preliminary objection, stating that Akinnola had no locus standi to institute the suit.

In his ruling, Justice Habeeb Abiru of an Ikorodu High Court, however, restrained the house from proceeding with the probe of the allegations against the governor.
According to him, the lawmakers “either by themselves or their agents and privies are restrained from proceeding with or acting on the resolution of January 28, 2010, directing the investigation of allegations of financial impropriety levelled against the governor without the resolution having been first published in its journal or in an official gazette of the state government”.

He had faulted the action of the house for acting on bare allegations published in an advertorial by a group, which he described as faceless, instead of a petition addressed directly to the assembly.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=169811

As the speaker said, if they are so sure of what they got why haven't they directly confronted Fashola.

So Ikuforiji and Tinubu have started realizing they have been fighting an idiotic cause?

Later people like KOBOJUNKIE would say Fashola must wince anytime those charlatans as much as fart . . .deluded!

Funny enough, the dumb and moronic legislature didn't ask the group to produce facts and documented evidence to cement and lend credibility to their bogus allegations. Furthermore, the lawmakers are part of the government and have access to all paper trails within the government, they even have constitutional authority to subpoena documents from the executive and other government agencies, even from the group making the allegations and till this very second, they're yet to ask or show genuine efforts as a serious legislative body with good and honorable intentions.

It is safe to conclude that they care less about the truth, they are obviously carrying other people's water bottle.


As for the group making the allegations, if they really want to nail Fashola and instead of wasting money on advertorials, why not just print the smoking gun/s and other critical evidence against the governor in the newspapers for the whole of Lagos to read? Why are they not taking their allegations to the courts? Why have they not submitted their evidence to the state attorney general? Is this not how it's done civilized societies?

Are they doubling down on the lawmakers because the threshold per proving their case is very low and doing so in a court of law is too high because no court go give them the time of the day to sue or petition without proof or evidence of wrong doing.

They obviously picked the only colluding entity with similar sinister interests where they have zero obligation to show proof that Lagosians deserve to have their Governor take away from them.

For now, it's just talk. I'm so proud of the Governor for not responding to their silly nonsense and doing what we put him in office to do.


This is 2010, Lagosians are not silly and the courts are not entities for banana justice.

I have not heard people talk so good about a Nigerian Governor than the way they talk about Fashola.
Even Prof Soyinka the master of critics talk good about him

[b][size=16pt]It very unfortunate that people talk to gain importance for their pocket rather that to be patrotic.They that are against fashola are doing so for their selfish gain,if not for that,i will have supported them.Fashola is not a saint as people think,it is only that people are seeing the result of democrary they have been starve of for many years that is why they think he is a saint.It is only a fool that will tell you that he cant soil his hands those that will assist him are there,they will show him how to steal government funds.The more you produce result they more your chances of stealing.Buba marwa did it he produce result as much as he stole.Where did he get the money to start his airline.
See what Tinubu who did nothing for 8year now he own oriental hotel,a storey building car park in ozumba road in V/I and at the same time he owns hitech contruction.He will build operate and transfer Lekki road for 25 or 50 Years who is fooling who.We are all watching all these development.[/size][/b]

WELL Aparently, Tinubu and ikuforiji have been fighting a battle they had lost before they started at all. fashola will run for 2nd term not because he has failed but because he deserves it unlike my president. do you know how much tinubu was demanding for Godfatherism?if you all knew,you would hate him.what all this is about is his selfish reason and money drunk habit and ikuforiji is his tool, but i know fashola will have the last laugh. much luv to every1 dat has posted above, babapupa,Dr Kitaun,trueword, you guys know what you r talking about,keep it up!!

Fashola is one of the best gov that has ever rule any state in this country bt that does nt mean pple should turn him to a saint, if tthere is a skeleton in his cupboard let them fish it out to server as a warnin for any comin gov in the state.

As for the 'godfather'(Oju yobo),he did it for pple b4 him so fashola shuld cripple him all the noise will fade away

Fashola is a successfull gov n wish him the best in managing the success, Eko oni baje