Jimi Agbaje
Jimi Agbaje has vowed to deliver Lagos State from Alphabeta Consulting which is a private company Tinubu has a major stake in.
Jimi Agbaje, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial
candidate in Lagos state, says he will free Lagos state from Alphabeta
Consulting.
According to Agbaje, Alphabeta Consulting receives a particular —
unknown — percentage of every dime Lagos earns in taxes and revenues,
which he says is against international best practices.
“I could be here all day talking about Free Lagos. Let me start
from the basic freedom of information Act, Lagos is still run like a
closed shop, like a private company,” Agbaje told Channels TV on Sunday Politics.
“Lagos has refused to domesticate the freedom of information
bill, so we don’t know what plays out in Lagos. So we are talking of
freedom to have access to exactly how they are running our government.
“In the last 20 years, Lagos has spent some N7 trillion, and we
are asking what have we got for N7 trillion? Are we getting value for
money?
“Out of that N7 trillion, there is a private company that takes
a percentage of that N7 trillion, and we are asking, for what purpose?
There is private company fund collector, Alphabeta or whatever, collects
that much.
“We don’t even know what the percentage is; it could be 12 percent, 10 percent, it could be 8 percent.”
When asked if the company was legal or not, he said “it is not
about being legal, it is about being moral, because if you tell me that
of every amount of money that Lagos spends, there is a private company
that is collecting, and I am asking, that is taxpayers money, why should
it be, to what purpose?”
“It is against standard practice because we don’t see what they
are doing and we don’t even know what the percentage is, and I don’t
see value for money, so its freedom from that.”
Speaking of his relationship with Bola Tinubu, a former governor of
Lagos state and a strong godfather in the state, Agbaje said he has no
feud with Tinubu.
He adds that Tinubu is his friend, but they disagree on principle and brands of democracy.
“There was never a feud, I think it is very wrong to say that there was a feud, there has never been a feud,” Agbaje added.
Asked if it was anger that made him leave Tinubu’s camp, he said
“it wasn’t about anger, it was about principle, don’t forget that even
after that, offers were given to me, it is not about that, it is about
principles. I don’t have any feud with anybody”.
When asked if they are still friends, Agbaje said “yes, we were
political associates, we were in the same camp, and in 2007, I felt the
way democracy was being practiced by him was not the way I understood
democracy to be practiced, so I took an option to opt out”.
Agbaje said traffic situation has gotten worse, waste management
has been abandoned, and he called on Lagosians to choose between one
man’s Lagos and the people’s Lagos. .
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