A representative of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo on Saturday said President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the deployment of soldiers to Lekki Tollgate on 20th October.
He said this under cross-examination by counsel to the Lagos State Government, Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), while testifying before the Justice Doris Okuwobi Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution on the alleged atrocities of the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).
The army general admitted that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu does not have the authority to give order to troops. He said he could only have made the request for them to be deployed.
General Taiwo also said it was not true that the Nigerian Army was looking to nab entertainer DJ Switch over the role she played in giving the impression that people were massacred at at the Tollgate plaza.
“Some people take delight in misrepresenting Nigeria and particularly the Nigerian Army to the international community and our fellow Nigerians. This, I believe is done for pecuniary gains.
“Quite recently, a Nigerian, Catherine Udeh, also known as DJ Switch, claimed the Nigerian Army was looking for her. There is nothing further than the truth.
“My Lord, we have bigger fish to fry; and that is how to stabilise Lagos. We can’t be bothered chasing one or two people. Where she got that from, I do not know, ” he said.
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”.
Dr. Tunji Olowolafe
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.
