PDP Urges Fashola To Address Allegations Of Fraud

The PDP in Lagos on Tuesday urged Gov. Babatunde Fashola to address the allegations of fraud leveled against the government to ensure transparency and accountability.

The party was reacting to an order by the Lagos High Court Ikeja, which restrained the state House of Assembly from probing allegations of financial impropriety against the governor.

Justice Opeyemi Oke of the court on Monday held that it was unlawful for the lawmakers to probe Fashola when there was an application for injunction against the action at the Court of Appeal.

“To refuse to grant the order will mean that the honorable court has put a judicial stamp of defiance of the process of a superior court, which is the Court of Appeal,” Oke said.

The judgment was delivered in an application by a journalist, Mr Richard Akinnola, asking the court to stop the House from the probe on the grounds that there was an impending judgment in the matter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the allegations were leveled against the governor by a group, the True Face of Lagos.

But Lagos State Secretary of the PDP, Dr Wale Ahmed, told NAN that there was a need for the governor to examine the allegations and defend them for moral reasons.

“The controversy over these allegations has raged for too long to go unexplained to tax payers, in spite of the legal connotations.

“Aside from the probe from the House, it is an obligation to the state to hear from the governor whether the issues are true or false.

“The magnitude of the allegations should not be left to legal interpretations.

“One is bound to ask why one man should go to court to stall a process that would either exonerate or indict the state government,’’ he said.

According to him, issues of alleged leadership corruption are one that should be of interest to every Nigerian.