[OPINION] Fashola In The Eye Of The Storm By Tunde Opeseitan

Ever since leaving office on May 29, 2015, immediate past governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, to a large extent, disappeared from the public space until the social media was bombarded with news of how he allegedly spent $400, 000 (about N78 million) of public funds to upgrade his website, www.tundefashola.com.

Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), no doubt, had a meritorious service and during his eight years rule, he won several accolades to the point that many of the programmes executed by his administration were understudied and copied both from within and outside the shores of the nation.vWhile in office, Fashola was accused of so many things among which was the allegation of massive corruption brought against him by a group known as the True Face of Lagos.

Specifically, the group, via a petition to the Lagos State House of Assembly, had published a long list of damning allegations of staggering financial impropriety against Fashola and the Lagos State. The House, under the leadership of Adeyemi Ikuforiji, had then set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegation of massive fraud leveled against Fashola.

Unfortunately, the panel and indeed the House could not conclude the probe owing to restraining orders issued by both Justice Habeeb Abiru and Justice Opeyemi Oke of the Lagos High Court.

Also, while in office, a group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) questioned how the Lagos State Government under Fashola spent the $90 million World Bank education loan.

The group, which later went to court on the issue, had stated that the request was based on the fact that many public schools in Lagos were still in despicable conditions. The matter is, however, still in court.

Another group which consistently questioned the integrity of Fashola while in office and even after is the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) led by Debo Adeniran.

For instance, in a recent letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, Adeniran had urged the president not to consider Fashola for appointment owing to so many explanations he (Fashola) would have to make on many issues bordering on financial impropriety.

Adeniran said independent investigations by his organisation showed that the 1.36km Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge which was reportedly built for N25 billion, cost only N6 billion.

He said he had written a series of petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the various projects of the Fashola government in the face of the over N500 billion debt left behind by the government. Adeniran also said he was shocked to find out that the commission had continued to ignore all the petitions despite the fact that Fashola no longer enjoyed immunity, having left office over 60 days ago.

However, there are those who believe that the “latest campaign of calumny” against Fashola is being orchestrated by those he offended while in office, especially those who helped him politically.

Those saying so are insisting that the whole episode is just a ploy targeted at preventing Fashola from being appointed into Buhari’s cabinet, which is billed to be in place by September.

Though Fashola is yet to come up with any public explanation on the N78 million website upgrade allegation, the company that was awarded the contract, Info Access Plus Limited, has released a statement denying the claim.