Mr. Babatunde Fashola
The former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, defended the
decision of his government to spend N78.3m on the upgrade of his
website, www.tundefashola.com.
Fashola had come under fire after the
Lagos State Public Procurement Agency posted a report on its website
stating that N78.3m was paid to a firm, Info Access Plus Limited, for
the upgrade of his website through the Office of the Chief of Staff to
the Governor.
However, Fashola, in a five-page letter he personally signed, admitted that the money was actually spent on his website.
He, however, said the breakdown of the transaction was left out and that that was the cause of the confusion.
He said, “As far as the website contract
is concerned, yes there was a contract. It went through procurement and
was approved by the government agency authorised to do so. One of the
services was an upgrade quoted for N12.5m but awarded for N12m.
“There were other services that were new
like a hand over countdown clock, mobile Apps for Google, for IOS and
Ipad, for Microsoft and for Research in Motion (Blackberry), which the
existing website did not have, as well as the annual maintenance cost
for managing the website.
“It was for all these services that the
contract was issued for N78m, which the Lagos State Procurement Agency
gave no objection based on the advice of the Ministry of Science and
Technology, who are the government’s adviser on ICT matters.
“In publishing this contract award which
was the government tradition under my watch, the procurement agency’s
website summarised it as ‘upgrade’ only without detailing the other
services and this has been distorted by the agents of hate and their
suspected smoking gun.”
He, however, said the contract was published in a way as to misinform members of the public.
“It is regrettable that a summary of the contract has been deliberately distorted to misinform the public,” he said.
He said the website helped him to do his
job effectively when he was governor. He said till date there have been
over 27 million hits on the site while thousands of videos and pictures
had been uploaded on the site.
The former governor hinted of an alleged
plot by some to smear his name. He said for instance, there were
allegations of having extra-marital affairs and having children outside
marriage.
He said the allegations were baseless.
He said the only children he had outside marriage were the two children
he adopted after their parents were killed in the 2012 Dana plane crash.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is
rumoured to be in a cold war with the National Leader of the All
progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said he had no hand in the
June 9 National Assembly elections in which the leadership of the APC
lost out.
He said he was outside the country until the morning of the election.
“As far as my alleged involvement in the
National Assembly elections are concerned, they remain only the
products of imagination of those who made the allegations. I was out of
the country at the material time and returned only in the early hours of
that morning to Abuja and from there proceeded to Lagos,” he said.
Fashola, while reacting to recent
bashings by the Peoples Democratic Party over the over N419bn debt he
left behind, noted that all the loans taken by the state were approved
by the House of Assembly.
He said the debts were being serviced, adding that the debt profile of the state had not affected it negatively.
Fashola also berated human rights group,
Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, for dragging him to the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and for calling on President Muhammadu
Buhari not to give him a political appointment.
He said he did not care if he was given a political appointment or not as he had served Lagos State for over 12 years
He told the people of Lagos to expect
more allegations soon as he had been told that several people had been
given money to assassinate his character.
He said, “I expect that there may be
more distorted allegations without evidence for reasons that remain in
the realm of speculation because I have been informed reliably that
large amounts of money are being paid to some of these agents to bear
false witness.
“I cannot conclude without responding to
the crusade of CACOL and their ilk seeking my prosecution on
allegations that have no proof and writing pre-emptive letters to the
Presidency.
“In case they are unaware, I am not
looking for a job. I expect them to know that allegations of wrongdoing
are not resolved without evidence, neither are they resolved in press
conferences.”
While taking an indirect swipe at those
leaking information about his deeds in office, the former governor said,
“For those who still wish to remain in the mud, they should look in the
mirror. For those who wish to throw mud at me, they should look at
their own hands.”
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