The Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has slammed the Lagos State Government for not being sincere to the people in its low cost housing projects.
While discussing issues of insecurity in the country on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Obanikoro berated the Lagos State Government for its Ilubirin Housing Project, condemning the location of the estate, as well as the cost at which citizens would acquire the accommodation.
Obanikoro had been accused of using the military to obstruct the state project in Lagos State and he provided explanation that he was only on site seeing of some of the projects that affect his people as a Lagosian.
He explained that he never spoke a word to the workers at the site, let alone stop them from working.
He claimed that he went to see the project, took pictures and left quietly, despite his reservations on the quality of work being done.
He wondered why the presence of his aides who followed him to the project site should be deliberately referred to by the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, as obstruction of work, when as a Minister he had no such mandate or powers.
Obanikoro stated that the construction workers, whom he was alleged to have stopped from working, were actually at work while Governor Fashola was accusing him in the media.
On his reservation about the project, Obanikoro said: “He (Governor Fashola) said ‘low cost’, it is not low cost.
“You cannot build a low cost housing estate on water.
“It’s not done anywhere in the world.
“How can a governor in good conscience tell me that a N16million two bedroom flat is low cost?”
Obanikoro said that as a Minister whose annual salary was N2 million, he could not even have afford that.
He added: “When Alhaji Jakande was governor, I bought a form for N1:50 kobo.
“I was a clerk working in Union Bank.
“He actually built for the poor.
“I bought a form.
“I bought a flat and you paid N1,500 to be a house owner at that time.”
Obanikoro, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, also provided explanation to several other allegations that border on his activities as a politician, especially as regards those made by Nigeria’s main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress.
The issue of the Minister’s salary was also revisited as he was asked to clarify with details his actual earning.
Obanikoro insisted: “My annual salary is N2 million.
“Everything put together plus my allowances is N4 million.”
Channels TV.
Trending
- Fire guts Governor’s aide’s office inside Government House
- Counter-Terrorism: Ribadu calls for enhanced intelligence sharing in Africa
- FG appoints CDAs, Consuls-General + Full list, posting
- Rebuild, return mosque converted to market — MURIC
- Naira loses 5.3% against dollar at official market
- Rivers: Police nab vigilante Commander, executives for robbery, vandalism
- Patients at Maiduguri Specialist Hospital fetch water as borehole breaks down + Photos
- Sierra Leone throws support to Morocco’s initiatives on Western Sahara