Fashola running a secret govt – CACOL

Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders has faulted the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, for barring political office holders in the state from granting interviews or speaking to journalists on behalf of his government.

 The Executive President of the group, Debo Adeniran, in a statement on Tuesday by his Media Officer, Abimbola Adegoke, accused the governor of running “a secret government.”

Fashola, in a circular by the Head of Service, Mr. Adesegun Ogunlewe, on Monday, said barring of political office holders and civil servants from speaking to journalists was to sanitise the flow of information between the government and people.

Adeniran, however,  noted that the step taken by the Lagos State Government was equivalent to suppression of public information and denying the public and civil servants their fundamental human rights.

He said, “How can a governor, who rode on the wings of democracy and the rule of law, a supposed expert at law for that matter, order public servants not to grant interviews or issue press releases without the concurrence of the Ministry of Information?

   “If Fashola does not have anything to hide, he should rescind his decision on this issue. He is responsible and accountable to every Lagosian and the Nigerian masses as a whole.

 “Lagosians are entitled to the true position of situation all the time. Why should the Information Ministry censor the information to be passed to the general public? Has the Lagos government ceased to be accountable to the people that put them there? Why should they run the government like cult group? It is only cult groups that operate in secret.’’

He however called on the Lagos State House of Assembly to address the issue to curb the excess of the governor.

Punch Nigeria