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Lagos
State, Gov. Raji Fashola and "work-chop-cracy" -
Seyi Osiyemi
As we know, a group of individuals known
as the ‘Face
of Lagos’ recently, through paid newspaper advertorial,
accused Gov. Babatunde Fashola of financial recklessness
and impropriety. Following these allegations, the Lagos
State House of Assembly (LSHA) in a swift response constituted
a panel to investigate these allegations.
As I write, the motive of the investigation
panel is still been queried by members of the public.
Some have
described it as the proverbial “hand of Esau and
voice of Jacob”. Some consider the investigation
as the first step in the plot to impeach the state governor.
There are insinuations that the disagreement between the
godson and godfather is because the former has not allowed
the latter to have an unfettered access to the state vault.
There have even been comments about why the LSHA has not
probed the 8-year rule of the supposed godfather.
For me, I’m not interested in delving into the
motive behind the panel investigation. As I’m not
privy to the facts behind the disagreement of these individuals,
I don’t think its right for me to add to the current
speculations.
What I find baffling however, are the
comments that Gov. Fashola should not be investigated
because he is a “performing” governor
(!). For such commentators, they would rather have the “Fashola
type” alleged corruption, because he built new roads,
implemented new public transport initiatives, cleared
Oshodi and planted flowers.
The view of such people is that systemic
looting of the state treasury can be justified, if the
alleged culprit
has performed beyond their expectations. Performance to
them is a justification for treasury looting? Na Wah!
You may want to ask, what their expectations are. Such
individuals lack basic understanding of what is required
of people they have elected into office. It’s like
an employer who engaged a staff without a job description
or key performance indicators. So it would be very easy
for such an employee and his employer to develop a false
sense of achievement. Anyway, that’s an aside issue.
Interestingly, it seems deepening rift
between the Lagos State Governor Fashola and his estranged
godfather Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu has created a new type of governance model,
which I will describe as “Work-chop-cracy”.
So what is “Work-chop-cracy”? This is a type
of government that allows a leader, that is perceived
to be performing well, to also engage in looting of the
treasury – albeit at a lesser scale when compared
to the “do nothing” leaders.
In the Work-chop-cratic government, the
masses accept corruption as a way life. And as a friend
noted recently,
corruption in governance is regarded as second to the
air we breathe under the model. The principle is, everyone
elected into public office must “chop”, however
the public officer must justify his chopping through “hard
work and performance”. Hmmm….!
The acceptance of work-chop-cracy as a
style of governance further highlights the delusion
among the Nigeria masses.
In the past, I’ve always been critical of the nation’s
leadership and their role in encouraging corruption at
levels of government. However, following some of the public
comments on the alleged feud between Gov. Fashola and
his predecessor, I’ve come to realise that we the
masses are the biggest problem affecting Nigeria.
The question I asked the promoters of “work-chop-cracy” is,
if the same allegations were raised against Gov. Alao-Akala
or Gbenga Daniel, what would have been their response?
Obviously, because these Governors have no track record
of performance, they are always easy targets. We shout
to high heavens when we hear of allegations of corruptions
against those we consider as non-performing.
We are happy to see James Ibori, Lucky Igbinedion, Orji
Kalu go to jail, but we are not interested in investigating
allegations of corruption levelled against Fashola because
we think he his performing. Such attitude smacks of hypocrisy.
If we decide not to take the allegations
of corruption against Gov. Fashola seriously, what moral
standing do
we have to take the allegations against Gbenga Daniel
seriously? Where is it written that an administrator can
mismanage taxpayers’ money simply because he has
implemented people-oriented projects? Is that what we
define as dividends of democracy?
So what exactly is the big deal about
investigating a sitting Governor? Is it not taxpayers’ money that
he is been accused of misappropriating? Or may be I’m
mistaking. Instead of whipping unnecessary sentiments,
why not let’s focus our attention on the panel itself.
Our energy should instead be directed towards urging the
LSHA to conduct the investigation in a fair and transparent
manner. And if they don’t, we can start making noises.
Probity, accountability and transparency
are the key tenets of democratic governance. The taxpayer
has the
right to demand for information on how his taxes are been
spent. No matter how good a governor performs, he still
needs to be held accountable. After all, it’s not
that he has invested his personal wealth in the development
of the state.
And don’t get me wrong. I’ve not said that
Gov. Fashola is guilty of the allegations. Until proven
guilty, the Governor remains innocent. However, I do not
support the argument that he should not be investigated
because of his performance in office. Irrespective of
the motive, I consider the allegations raised by the Face
of Lagos group to be very serious, hence need for ‘thorough’ investigation.
These allegations cannot just be swept under the carpet.
Eko o ni ba je o.......!
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