
Fashola talked about how Nigerians need to always hold their leaders accountable in all situations. The governor said most Nigerians fail to hold their political leaders to their campaign promises after elections.
The ex governor during his speech listed his various achievements while in government. He specifically pinpointed the ban of commercial motorcycles, among others. He also went further to explain how good governance does not necessarily Point at impressing the masses. He said good leadership Is all about improving the general standard of living of the people. While defending his restriction on commercial motorcycles, he said: “Some people felt that we were anti-poor. But let us look at the result
of the policy. The 15 deaths per month dropped first to three per month and later to one per month and later there were no reported deaths in the whole of 2014. “The over 600 reported accidents dropped to about 100 accidents monthly (83%) and the Commissioner of Police reported an 85% drop in crime over a 10-month period of the enforcement of the law. “For those who say this is not good governance, I will refer them to Section 14 (2) (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution.
Fashola also defended the money spent on his website, saying it helped him in bringing the people of the state closer to him. He noted that when he resumed office, only 500,000 people were paying tax across the state but by the time he left office, over 4.5 million people had started paying tax. He, however, revealed that there were still over four million taxable adults in the state not paying tax. The ex-governor said the state would be better off if people paid their taxes regularly and assist the government.
However, a mild drama happened during the question- and-answer session when a journalist from The Sun, Mr. Chika Abanobi, decided to use the former governor’s topic of lecture in asking his own question. After giving kudos to Fashola for enlightening Nigerians on the need to hold their leaders accountable, the journalist asked Fashola to respond to the allegations of corruption levelled against him which included the N78m the former governor spent on the personal website.
This got some of the guests on the high table itchy, Dr. Mike Okonkwo, who is the presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, was also not feeling comfortable anymore when he saw that Fashola was put on the spot. Some people even signaled the journalist to keep shut and sit down. However, the former governor who was stunned by the effrontery of the journalist answered by saying ,
“To the man in The SUN, I don’t respond to allegations on the pages of newspapers.”Also popular comedian, Tee A, who was the Master of Ceremony, threw jibes at the journalist by saying,
“Mr. SUN, continue standing in the Sun.”
A former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Prof. George Obiozor, said that the event was to commemorate the birthday of Okonkwo who turns 70 on Sunday. Obiozor defended Fashola over the alleged N139m spent on two boreholes. Obiozor said,
“He (Fashola) is one of those few people that God answered his prayers. I want to tell him that the game in which he is involved is called politics. Believe me, success is the beginning of threat. Nobody is after anybody who has failed.”
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