Fashola Archives - SocietyGazette.com

BREAKING: Four policemen dead As Buhari’s CoS, Fashola, Ngige’s Convoy Crashes In Delta

Four policemen have been reported dead after the convoy of President Muhammadu Buhari‘s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari; Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; and his counterpart in Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, crashed.

It was learnt that the crash occurred on Tuesday evening during the inspection of a bridge in Asaba, Delta State.

An eyewitness, John Okorie, disclosed that the driver lost control of the vehicle conveying security operatives and crashed into a deep pit.

According to the witness, the incident occurred when the vehicle conveying the security operatives was negotiating a bend leading to the construction site of the Second Niger Bridge.

It was gathered that the vehicle veered off the road while it was speeding to meet up with the ministers’ vehicles.

A Delta Line driver told The PUNCH that, “the policeman driver was speeding and while negotiating the bend because of the speed could not control the vehicle. They crashed into a deep pit. I was at the back of the convoy, driving slowly.

“With the help of other people, we rescued four of them but they were badly injured. They were shouting as the vehicle fell on them.”

Gambari, Fashola and Ngige went ahead with the inspection of the Second Niger Bridge.

Buhari Is Not As Powerful As You Think He Is – Fashola

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari is not as powerful as he is made out to be.
The minister made the claim at a Yoruba Tennis Club’s Landmark public lecture.

He stated that some people have often said that the president of the country is very powerful even more than America’s president, revealing that the claim is absolutely not true.

According to the former Lagos governor, the president have limited powers which are subjected to the national Assembly.

He advised Nigerians to get acquainted with the 1999 constitution so they would really understand the limitations to the president’s capability.

He said: “Very often, I hear a general statement that the president of Nigeria is very powerful. Some people say he is more powerful than the President of the United States of America.

“I want a better life and I am sure we all do. I want to say that there is always a flip side to the powers of the president.

“I urge all of us to get a copy of the 1999 Constitution; we can find them online and just read to acquaint yourself, and read one page or two pages a day; perhaps it will help us understand why things are where they are and what can be done.

“This will help us to contextualise some of the over-generalised statements that we have made because they are not reality. So, these powers are not powers running all over the place.

“It seems to me that for a long time we have lived in anticipation that once the president comes, all our lives will be better.

“The heart of matter is why do Nigerians place their hopes and expectations for a better life on their president rather than on their governors and their local government chairmen?

“The answer lies in the level of our interactions with our Constitution. We are not fully and sufficiently familiar with our Constitution and roles that each of these offices is expected play.

“It seems to me that we have expected the right things from the wrong places. That is why I frame the question: what can the president do for me?’

“What we really have in our country instead of an all-powerful president is a political arrangement of shared powers and responsibilities, and in some cases it is just difficult to cross the line.

“It is actually something we are involved in. It seems to me it is the people of Nigeria rather than one man, the president, who truly have powers and responsibilities over our affairs.’’

Source: Naijanews

Unveiling Fashola’s Close Friend who Runs Lekki Toll-Gate

The controversy about the ownership of Lekki Concession Company (LCC), the organization running the Lekki toll-gate where Lagos former Governor, Fashola recently find a hidden camera need to be put to rest. Though the ownership of the LCC has been linked to many but we can tell you for a fact that the Chairman of the board of the company that was established in year 2006 is occupied by Dr. Tunji Olowolafe, a very close friend of the former Governor of Lagos State and current Minister of Works and Housing Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola.

Dr. Olowolafe is a 1984 graduate of Medicine from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, after which he worked as in the health care industry across various parts of South Western Nigeria before he co-founded Deux Project Limited, a Nigerian civil engineering, construction, consultancy, and maintenance company as a partnership with Dr. Olatunde in 2000.

He’s a major investor and leader in Public Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects and this include him serving as Chairman of Lekki Concession Company and Eko Rail. He’s also the Chairman of GZ Industry Limited, the only can manufacturer serving the Nigerian market.

Sources close to the government of former Governor Fashola can attest to the two forming a bound that sees the then Governor entrust the medical doctor turned contractor with many things. The governor is said to have made popular a statement over the years whenever any major developmental contracts comes up for mention in Lagos Council Meetings then which is, “I think Lafe can do it, I trust him”.

Those in the government then says Dr. Lafe as he was fondly called in the corridor of power then was Lagos biggest contractor during Fashola’s time as Governor and we can confirm they are still pretty close going by the heartfelt message he penned during this year birthday celebration of the Minister of Works and Housing in June.

Olowolafe in his piece of eulogy to the former governor “As governor and minister, BRF always championed a Pan-Nigerian, development-oriented style of leadership, everything he does revolve around this idea. I am yet to observe so closely any leader in his generation possessing such passion for making life better for as many people as possible”.

With the event that happened in a past not too long ago and the relationship between Fashola and Dr, Lafe, the feat to miraculously discover a camera on the premises of the toll-gate is seen as a deliberate attempt by the minister to take the heat off his friend.