Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said yesterday that the $9.3 million cash seized by the South African Government has made Nigeria a subject of ridicule worldwide. The money, meant for arms, was seized from two Nigerians and an Israeli national.The governor, who spoke at the 2014 Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Colloquium held at the University of Lagos, Yaba, lamented the death of late legal icon, saying he would have put the Federal Government on its toes on the issue. He said: “The issue has made us mere stuff worldwide. And this happened because of the value choices that we have made. Let us stop pointing fingers at those people, you all voted for them. They are representatives of the values we have chosen to live with.
“Will Gani have stood by and watch without demanding an explanation on how the money was spent. And how N2 trillion was spent on oil subsidy without appropriation. Also, how would he have reacted to the stories of the disappearance of the $20 billion or $49 billion depending on what side you believe?,” Fashola querried.
The governor also said the central government has not been consistent on sensitive issues concerning its citizens, especially the continuous abduction of the Chibok girls.
According to him, the Federal Government was not consistent with information on the abducted female students and the attack on the Bama community, saying “Nigeria deserves to know the current state of the issues.”
He said: “At one moment, the information was that the girls were not abducted. Later, we were told by the Federal Government that they now know where the girls were kept.
“Few months later, the same government came out to inform its citizens that the girls have been recovered. And in few minutes, they (Federal Government) backtracked on its information.
“Over the last few days, similar incident occurred in Bama and the report from that place was that insurgency has taken over power. The media organisations who reported it were castigated. The reason was that they reported that Bama had been ceded. And a few days later, there was another report that Bama had been recaptured.”
The government noted that such inconsistencies showed that there is a problem in the system, urging the Federal Government and its agencies to be consistent with information.
He said, “I know that these are difficult times for the country, but we have the right to know. And we are not saying that the government should reveal all the information at its disposal. But there must be some consistency of conduct. That was why every 100 days; I report the situation of the state to the residents whom I believe elected me into office.”
Also in attendance at the colloquium were the former military governor of Lagos State, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, leading lawyer, Prof Itse Sagay, among others.
