Fashola running a secret govt– CACOL

Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders has
faulted the Lagos State Governor, Mr.
Babatunde Fashola, for barring political
office holders in the state from granting
interviews or speaking to journalists on
behalf of his government.
The Executive President of the group,
Debo Adeniran, in a statement on
Tuesday by his Media Officer, Abimbola
Adegoke, accused the governor of
running “a secret government.”
Fashola, in a circular by the Head of
Service, Mr. Adesegun Ogunlewe, on
Monday, said barring of political office
holders and civil servants from speaking
to journalists was to sanitise the flow of
information between the government
and people.
Adeniran, however, noted that the step
taken by the Lagos State Government was
equivalent to suppression of public
information and denying the public and
civil servants their fundamental human
rights.
He said, “How can a governor, who rode
on the wings of democracy and the rule
of law, a supposed expert at law for that
matter, order public servants not to grant
interviews or issue press releases
without the concurrence of the Ministry
of Information?
“If Fashola does not have anything to
hide, he should rescind his decision on
this issue. He is responsible and
accountable to every Lagosian and the
Nigerian masses as a whole.
“Lagosians are entitled to the true
position of situation all the time. Why
should the Information Ministry censor
the information to be passed to the
general public? Has the Lagos
government ceased to be accountable to
the people that put them there? Why
should they run the government like cult
group? It is only cult groups that operate
in secret.’’
He however called on the Lagos State
House of Assembly to address the issue
to curb the excess of the governor.