Bode George, a former national deputy chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to spread his anti-graft campaign to Buhari’s close associates, two former governors of Lagos state, Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola.
The former PDP chairman said in a statement that it would be incorrect of Buhari to claim to be fronting an anti-corruption war and at the same time be considering Fashola for a ministerial appointment in the light of the N78.3m of taxpayers’ money spent on his personal website.
George said Fashola’s excuse for spending N78.3m on a website was filthy and should be rejected.
He said: “We are living in a very interesting time. There is an air of repugnancy everywhere most especifically in my state where the immoral stench and the dark odium of Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s administration is daily being unearthed.
“What is most disgusting and annoying in all these is the arrogant and the befuddled attempt of Mr. Fashola to justify the apparent reckless misappropriation of Lagos state taxpayers’ money to set up a personal web site.
“Fashola shows no remorse, no semblance of regret, no guilty nudging of conscience. Instead, he still attempts to ride a high horse, puffing and stomping in feigned seraphic innocence. We are not fooled.”
He further noted that many of the projects assumed by Fashola were done at excessive prices.
The PDP leader questioned how the 1.6km Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge could cost N29bn.
“We knew all along that the emperor had no clothes. Using N78m of taxpayers’ money to build a website is reckless misappropriation. The phony over N29bn used to build a mere kilometre long link bridge is outrageous venality,” he added.
“The spurious N1.5bn allegedly spent on phantom pedestrian bridges is another con game. And there are so many of these screaming illegalities observable in the record of our poster boy of yesterday!”
George said the current federal government would do well to start implementing its promise of change from within.
“In a more just society, Mr. Fashola should be facing a comprehensive investigation rather than being considered for any appointment at all. President Buhari should use the Fashola case as an acid test of sparing no one with any intimation of public malfeasance,” the PDP chieftain said.
“Rather than engaging in a smug chest beating of innocence, Mr. Fashola should first remove himself from any consideration of public appointment and openly call for a judicial probe of his eight years in office.
“Nothing else will bring out the true picture. Lagos state is now the biggest debtor in the federation with over a trillion naira in bad debts. It may take at least 40 years before Fashola’s indebtedness can be defrayed! What a malady!”
Meanwhile, George noted that there was no way Fashola would be investigated without probing Tinubu because one was the creation of the other.
He said: “In the end there is no way to divorce Fashola from Bola Tinubu. They are both linked in unutterable complicity. If Fashola stands today in tarnished allegations, Tinubu, his godfather, cannot possibly distance himself in innocent escapism.
“If Fashola now rots in the mud, we must look through the depths to understand the instigating and factor. Whenever Fashola is cooling his feet at the interrogation centre, Tinubu should not be far behind.”
Fashola was first blamed for fathering children from an extra-marital affair, then for orchestrating a conspiracy in the National Assembly election and also for plunging the state into a deep debt crisis.
Last weekend, the analytic firm, BudgIT, disclosed that immediate past Lagos state governor approved, before he left office, a contract of N78.3 million from the state treasury for an upgrade of his personal website.
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