Lagos govt spent N3.2billion on Buhari's botched visit - PDP

If the allegations of the PDP in Lagos state is anything to go by, the Lagos state government may have spent N3.2bn in preparing for the botched visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the state on Monday, May 23. The senior special assistant, media and publicity, Garba Shehu had announced the president’s cancellation of the visit,”due to other busy schedule.” Interestingly, Buhari was on Monday, May 23, spotted with the Ogun state governor, Ibikunle Amosun at the Aso Rock
Presidential Villa, on the day he was supposed to be visiting Lagos, fueling speculations that the cancellation might be a political move. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter President Buhari received the Governr Amosun of Ogun state on the day he was billed to visit Lagos According to the Lagos PDP, the botched visit of President Buhari to Lagos state was “a fraud and another expose that the APC is too haphazard in governance, hence the total disconnect between the state governor and the presidency, thereby causing the state not to know that the president had changed his mind on visiting the state.” In a statement sent out to journalists by the party’s publicity secretary, Taofiq Gani, the PDP said Governor Ambode must account for the over N3.2 billion claimed to have been expended on the failed visit. The party opined that it was a mismanagement of public funds, misplacement of priority and propaganda to have invited the presidency “to commission ordinary rehabilitation of roads, which are not even more than seven in a state with 245 Wards.” “We demand that the over N3.2bn claimed to have been spent to welcome the president to Lagos must be accounted for. The beneficiaries of the contracts and the costs of the contracts involved in the ceremonies must be made public for Lagosians to know. This is needless waste of public funds,” part of the statement read. Reacting to the allegations, the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos state, Joe Igbokwe, told Daily Trust that PDP should not be taken seriously as a party in Lagos. “Let them wait until they take over leadership in Lagos; until they win election in Lagos and sit in Alausa, then they can decide on what to do. Ambode is hitting every corner of Lagos, working hard in every corner of the state; they don’t know what to do. What’s their business if he spent N20bn? Lagos is working, everything is working,” he said. Meanwhile, As May 29 approaches, President Buhari is said to be under immense pressure to sack some of his aides and ministers for lack of performance. A recent report in the media reveals that a performance evaluation reports confidentially carried out by a select committee advised the president to “reorganise his cabinet”.