We’re Not Trying To Protect Tinubu With Lagos Anti-graft Law — Lagos Govt

The Lagos State Government yesterday defended the recently signed Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Act, saying that anybody who is dissatisfied with the law should challenge it in court.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, who spoke yesterday on ‘The Morning Show,’ a programme on ARISE NEWS Channel, downplayed concerns by critics that the law was meant to protect a former governor of the state, Senator Bola Tinubu, or any politician.

Under the law, which was sponsored by the executive arm, the state government is to establish an anti-corruption agency to take over graft cases concerning present and former officeholders from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Already the EFCC is said to be probing Tinubu and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, for alleged fraud and financial misappropriation, while one of Obasa’s predecessors, Mr. Adeyemi Kuforiji, is under trial for alleged corruption.

The enactment of the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Act, especially amidst swirling speculations about Tinubu’s presidential ambition in 2023, has triggered the suspicion that the law was meant to take over any corruption case involving the politician as 2023 general election approaches, with a view to giving him a “soft landing.”

But Omotoso said there was no ulterior motive behind the enactment of the law as the state House of Assembly reserves the right to make laws for the good of the state.

He also faulted claims that the law may have conflicted with any federal law.

According to him, any idea that the law is meant to protect Tinubu or any other person is highly speculative, conjectural and imagination of anybody who thinks so.

“It is presumptuous and out of place to think that a law will be made because of a section of society or personalities. That is not the aim of the law. The governor said so when he signed the law and made it very clear that it is for accountability.

“It’s not a law that somebody just woke up one day and put together and it was signed. A lot of sleepless nights went into it. So many lawyers have called me to say that is the way to go,” he stated.

He added that anybody who breaches the law would be prosecuted, stressing that people shouldn’t consider the angle that it was enacted because of Tinubu as the governor has shown that he can be trusted to act in the best interest of the state.

He described the development as being in tandem with the practice of true federalism, stating that the state House of Assembly has the power to make the law, which it has rightly done, to complement the federal government.

He said: “This is what he (governor) promised the electorate when he was elected; to say that there will be accountability, people will not misappropriate state funds and get away with it. Why is it that people are talking about personalities when we talk about corruption? They are not even talking about contractors who may go away with the state’s money without doing the job.”

Omotoso said anybody that is dissatisfied with the law should approach the court, adding that such a step will be in the interest of deepening jurisprudence and knowledge of the law.

“I do not see any conflict of this law with that of the federal government. The commission that it’s setting up is to complement what the federal government is doing and if there’s anybody that feels that there’s a conflict and the person goes to court, it is also in the interest of jurisprudence which will advance our knowledge of the law,” he stated.

Asked to throw more light on his point that the law could help tame fraudulent contractors, he expressed wonder why Nigerians started picking politicians out when the law could work in other areas.
“A contractor could get a job and refuse to do it. They will be subjected to this law,” he stated, adding that “the law is all-encompassing in the fight against corruption.”

According to him, because the federally controlled police have a traffic department does not mean that the state government shouldn’t set up its own version.

On the alleged non-disclosure of procurement processes in the state, he stated that there’s no contract in Lagos that doesn’t go through a bidding process, stressing that the finances of the Lagos State government can be found everywhere, including the state’s website.