• State ruling party denies allegation
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his predecessor and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, have been alleged of siphoning funds meant for the local government areas in the state to finance this weekend re-election bid of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Taofiq Gani, who said his party had a grapevine information to buttress the claim in a statement yesterday, alleged that the chairmen of the 57 councils in the state were compelled to contribute N25 million each from their May, federal allocation or source it from the banks to support Fayemi.
A large sum of the money which sums up at N1.425 billion was alleged to have been transferred into the personal account of Fayemi, using a new generation bank.
“The PDP is thus accusing Fashola and the APC of stealing Lagos funds to prosecute election in far away Ekiti State, consequently calling on relevant anti-corruption agencies to commence necessary probe and arrests.
“We are concrete sure of our facts that N25 million has been contributed by each of the 57 councils in Lagos State to support Fayemi’s wishful re-election,” the PDP insisted.
But in a swift reaction, the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, denied the allegation.
“They do not have anything to say rather than to continue to make insinuations and innuendos. Ekiti State is capable of handling its own affairs without anybody intervening from anywhere.
“The only thing that connects us to Ekiti is that it is an APC state. Allow PDP to express itself, we are in a democracy. We are not funding Ekiti State but the only thing we are doing is to support our APC members there, that is all,” Igbokwe stated.
Source: Thisday
