The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, has challenged the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, to prove that he has been giving the state’s lawmakers N800 million monthly as bribe.
The Speaker threw the challenge on Tuesday during the 2019 Budget presentation to the Assembly by Ambode.
Obasa’s challenge followed an allegation by a group in the thick of the Budget presentation face-off between Ambode and the Assembly.
The group alleged that the resort to threat to impeach Ambode was because of his failure to continue giving the Assembly N800 million monthly.
Acknowledging the intervention of the elders of the All Progressives Congress, especially the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the resolution of the impasse, Obasa challenged Ambode and his Commissioner for Finance, Akinyemi Ashade, to prove the allegation.
The address by the speaker in full is reproduced below:
Over the last few weeks, the issue of Lagos State Y2019 budget has been on the front burner of public discussion. Today, we have the governor, His Excellency, Mr Akinwumi Ambode, in our midst to present the budget.
We thank meaningful Lagosians and Nigerians who have been calling to ensure that peace reign in Lagos as well as the quick presentation of the budget. In the same vein, I will like to appreciate the following people who made frantic efforts to intervene in this issue such as Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Alhaji Musiliu Adeola Kunbi Smith, members of Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, all members of Governing Advisory Council (GAC), the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Oshinbajo and particularly our party national leader, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for their concerted efforts towards ensuring that peace reign supreme among all the three arms of government in Lagos State.
Ladies and gentlemen, the role of budget in economy and its essence are key as provided in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in Section 121, stipulating that the Governor must prepare and lay the budget before the House, which now creates the avenue to incur expenditure.
All the arms of government must work together to ensure economic growth and human development. We also need to know that infrastructure of the state is crucial, and the position of Lagos State is germane in Nigeria and its West African suburbs. Being the fifth largest economy in Africa, everything must be done to sustain the leadership quality of Lagos State in all spheres.
However, fallout of the budget brawl has led to series of negative publications both on social media and in the print media, which are being sponsored by a faceless group calling themselves the Legislative Probity and Accountability (LPA) led by one Olu Fajana with its pseudonym. This started immediately the misunderstanding between the Executive and Legislative came up in respect of the Y2019 budget; which means that such could not be ruled out to have emanated from the Executive.
A section of the media has even been mischievously misled into sensationally writing all manners of write-ups against this assembly. Some of our friends in the media are personalizing the issue thereby misinforming the public. The fact of the matter is that the issue is between one arm of government and another. What was at stake then was nothing but the matter of appropriation.
Unfortunately, no one from the Executive has risen to refute the baseless allegations. Since no one has come up to address this, it is incumbent on us then to come forward and debunk the allegations. As such, I use this medium to challenge the governor, the Finance Commissioner and the Accountant General of the state to prove that we have been collecting N800 million per month since the onset of this administration. Thank God the governor is before us here today; so also, is the Finance commissioner sitting in this hallowed chamber. I likewise challenge the faceless group to prove that this Assembly has been collecting N800 million per month as alleged.
In the same vein, this is also an opportunity to shed more light on unsubstantiated allegations regarding financial misappropriation, which is a clearly well-orchestrated campaign to disrepute my character and integrity as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, and by implication tarnish the image of the legislative arm of the state government.
It must be known that the monthly running cost of the Lagos State House of Assembly covers the entire expenditure of the House comprising the 40 elected legislators and the administration of over 700 staff. It includes sundry items such as travels, training (both
local and overseas) office running and maintenance, vehicles, entertainment, publicity, security, protocols, logistics and administrative costs among others.
Dear Lagosians, as an arm of government, we are not at odds with the Governor over anything. Rather, we are diligently playing our roles in contributing to the transparent and accountable governance that has made Lagos the envy of all and a model frame of reference in terms of development in this political dispensation. We need to remind ourselves that democracy is about institution and we must all learn to protect this. We must not, in whatever circumstance, derogate or smear this institution. Failure to do so will affect our democracy.
Nevertheless, may I call on the governor that with the few months to go, he should endeavour to attend to urgent needs of Lagosians especially by addressing the inner roads of the state as well as issue of environment. We should be cognizant of the fact that the essence of democratic governance is that people remain the object of development. With the remaining parts of this tenure of ours, more can still be done to ease socio – economic problems, particularly on finishing all road projects and rehabilitations, provision of housing, making sure that our environment is clean and poverty alleviation programmes embarked upon, before the end of this administration.
As we hope that the Y2019 Budget will be of great benefit to the people of Lagos State, we however appeal to His Excellency and Lagosians to give us sufficient time to enable the House do a thorough job on a financial document that has great influence on the lives of the people. The Assembly would not delay the passage of the budget, but we will be interested in placing high premium on the need to ensure that the interests of Lagosian are protected socio-economically and politically. We are your representatives here at the House of assembly and we are duty bound to do justice to every sector of the state’s economy.
May I use this medium, however, to appeal to everyone, especially Lagosians to be law abiding as we prepare for the general elections. I urge us all to come out en masse to support the continuation of the good jobs our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has embarked on since the beginning of our administration by voting for all our candidates at all levels in the forthcoming elections as we move on to the Next Level.
At the same time, I want to thank my colleagues for standing on the side of the people at all times. I appreciate your efforts, I cherish your support and I wish you all the best in life. Your support has always been an inspiration and source of strength for me. I commend your courage and perseverance. We will remain united, focused and determined until our expectations are realized.
My sincere commendation also goes to Clerk of the House and the entire staff for performing their responsibilities with sense of patriotism and loyalty. I thank everybody here in this chamber and all Lagosians for your support and resilience and we appreciate the fact that you believe in us. We will not let you down. We will take you to the promised land: it is a mandate we cannot but fulfil.
Once again, I thank you all for coming and wish us a fruitful Y2019. Igbega Ipinle Eko, ajumose gbogbo wa ni.