Babatunde Fashola Group urges Buhari not to consider ex-gov for appointment

A civil society group has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to appoint the immediate past governor into public office.

The group, under the aegis of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders said Fashola's administration was inundated in many controversies that should not be overlooked.

 Speaking onbehalf of the group, Debo Adeniran, the executive Chairman, said group is worried about many dilapidated schools in the state. He noted that when the Socio-Economic Right Accountability Project invoked the Freedom of Information Act to know how the Fashola government spent a $200m World Bank education funds, the state government refused to disclose it.

He said independent investigations carried out by the group shows that the 1.36km Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge which was reportedly built for N25bn, cost only N6bn.

He said instead, the state government continued to run its affairs in secrecy by claiming that the FOI Act did not apply to state governments.

According to a letter addressed to Buhari titled ''Don’t elevate Fashola,' the group said if the President wants to live up it his 'Change' mantra, he would need to distance himself from controversies.

 

The letter stated,  “Mr. President, we are constrained at this point in time to bring to your attention our critical reaction to the unbridled speculation making the rounds for some time now, from the members of the public as well as the media, as to the fact that the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, is being considered by the presidency for higher national responsibility. Feelers have it that his name is prominent on the list of the president’s nominees for key offices in your administration.

“It is gratifying that you have promised at various fora that your appointments would be purely based on merit and that tested technocrats, with impeccable records, would be given their rightful places in your administration, as a way of ensuring good governance to the people of Nigeria. It is against this background that our organisation is appealing to you to please take the pains to dig deep into Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s record of performance as well as that of financial propriety on the part of his government while in office.”

The group said it had written several petitions against Fashola to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prove several projects of the administration, but the anti-graft agency looked the other way despite the fact that the former governor no longer enjoys immunity