No rift between Tinubu, Fashola - Lagos govt

28.01.2008

The Lagos State government has described as baseless and untrue, a report published in a national newspaper on Sunday of a purported rift between the former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, and the incumbent governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

In a release issued on Sunday, the Special Adviser to Governor Fashola on Information and Strategy, Mr. Segun Ayobolu, said the relationship between Tinubu and his successor remained cordial, adding that “the duo provide an excellent model of the mutual respect that should exist between incumbent office holders and their predecessors.”

Ayobolu described the publication as the “handiwork of mischief makers who are obviously unhappy at the rapid strides made by Governor Fashola within a very short time in office and want to exploit the media to distract the government by fuelling reports of a non-existent crisis within the Action Congress in Lagos State.”

Headded that the presence of Tinubu at Governor Fashola’s budget presentation on December 17, 2007, as well as his attendance at this year’s annual thanksgiving service hosted at the state’s lodge by the state governor, among other public events, demonstrated the relationship between the two men.

According to him, “It is sheer blackmail for anyone to claim that Chief Tinubu is still running the affairs of the state even after vacating office. Under the presidential system of government which we run, the buck stops at the table of the incumbent chief executive. This, of course, does not stop him from benefiting from the advice and experience of a predecessor who ran a successful administration for eight years.”

He also described as laughable, the claim that Governor Fashola “stands the threat of impeachment at any slight opportunity if Asiwaju so wishes,” saying that such an assertion betrayed a palpable ignorance of the constitutional process of impeachment.