Activists drag Fashola to EFCC over N78m website scandal

The Civil Society Network Against Corruption, a coalition of anti-corruption organisations in Nigeria, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the “questionable expenditures” of the administration of Babatunde Fashola, the immediate past governor of Lagos State.

In a petition dated August 10 and addressed to the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamordi, the group called for the probe of the controversial N78 million spent on Fashola’s personal website.

There was outrage last weekend after analytic firm, BudgIT, revealed that Fashola approved, before he left office, N78.3 million from the state’s treasury for an upgrade of his personal website.

The contract for the refurbishment of the website was awarded to Info Access Plus Limited by the office of the Chief of Staff to the former governor.

The company, however, denied receiving the amount, insisting that it was paid N10 million.

In addition to the amount purportedly spent on the website upgrade, CSNAC also urged the anti-graft a-gency to probe the N1.2 billion spent on the construction of pedestrian bridges along Eti-Osa – Lekki – Epe expressway “which did not specify the number of bridges.”

The group also wanted the EFCC to probe Fashola’s spending of N85 million for the repair and replacement of street signs; N330 million spent on the development of the residence of Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the immediate past deputy governor; and N94 million spent on printer consumables.

CSNAC petition came following a similar outcry by another anti-corruption group, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders.

CACOL’s Executive Director, Debo Adeniran, had stated in an interview recently that his organisation’s independent investigation showed that the 1.36 kilometre Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge cost N6 billion, and not the N25 billion stated by Fashola’s administration.

Adeniran also stated that several petitions written to the EFCC to probe the various projects in the state in the face of the more than N500 billion debts left by Fashola’s government was ignored.

Another organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project, had also alleged that the state refused to disclose details of the US$200 million World Bank education fund during Fashola’s tenure.

“CSNAC is hereby requesting that these allegations against the former governor of Lagos State be thoroughly investigated and the falsity or verity proven,” said CSNAC’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju.

#Politics