Former National Legal Adviser of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Dr. Muiz Banire has shared an insider’s knowledge of the fight between incumbent Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and his predecessor, current Works, Housing and Power Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.
Banire in an interview with a mational daily, accused Ambode of lacking exposure and maturity to lead a state like Lagos, saying, “Somebody, who spent the larger part of his life at the council level and suddenly emerged at the state level as Accountant General now governing a state as complex as Lagos? Certainly, it would be challenging to him…
“Well, exposure might be part of the reasons. It is not even about going to school alone. Like we used to joke, some people passed through the university but the university did not pass through them. Beyond that, the fact that you have a degree doesn’t mean you will make a good manager to start with.”
The two-time commissioner in the state, a victim of claim that the governor is power drunk, following attempt made by Ambode’s administration to demolish his (Banire’s) mother’s house at GRA Ikeja let the paper into how the number-one-Lagos citizen and his predecessor fought over the Airport Road.
His word: “It was during my administration that we designed the Airport Road. I gave him the design. The construction ought to have taken place during Fashola’s tenure, but for the fact that the federal government at the time said after the construction was completed, they would be the ones that would collect revenue from the adverts on the road, then we said how can that be? How can I be playing for IICC and be collecting salary from Rangers Football Club? It doesn’t add up. That was the basis upon which we could not go ahead.
“Then Fashola said now that I am the minster, I am ready to construct the road with federal government funds, he said no. He said he would do it with Lagos State funds, the money that could have been diverted to several inner roads that are in terrible state now. He made us miss that money. Fashola came around and said he has appropriated money for that road in the federal budget and it will be done, and you take another place, the next thing was blackmail.”
