The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), while reacting to a newspaper story on the sealing off of a set of buildings which include the ones allegedly owned by the immediate past deputy Governor of the state, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulere, situated on the high-brow Banana Island, in the Ikoyi axis of the city of Lagos, by the Lagos State government over non-conformity with certain statutory provisions of Lagos Urban and Regional Planning Law, has commended the state government for its unbiased, indiscriminate but strict application and enforcement of the laws.
CACOL sees this development as worthy of emulation by other arms of government. According to the group’s Executive Chairman, Comrade Debo Adeniran, the moment we begin to see and treat our laws as supreme in all spheres of our life as a nation, not bending the rules to suit certain personalities because of whom they are in the society, our society would automatically begin to parade such behavioural posture befitting of civilized and organized people and so be able to stand to be counted among the progressive democracies around the globe.
Adeniran posited that “the law remains the law and must be applied to the letter irrespective of whose ox is gored. The time has come for us as a nation to begin to do things as they should be done. One would have expected such a caliber of the person occupying the No. 2 seat in the state, to be an epitome of due process and to exhibit an exemplary role of strict compliance with and respecter of the law by doing things the way they should be done and not to cut corners.”
In another vein, Comrade Debo Adeniran, is asking the Lagos State Government to immediately set in motion, fact finding machinery at investigating the source of funding those of magnificent set of edifices allegedly owned by the ex deputy governor, with a view to establishing its legitimacy and make such finding public. “She had been the deputy governor for a total of 8 years; let a simple arithmetic be carried out on her legitimate earnings during this period and let’s see if indeed she should be worth such property, or, if she had been in some sort of private business of high net worth while still serving. The public has a right to know.
“The current fight against corruption by this administration of ‘change’ has to touch every aspect of our national life, the corridors of governance in particular, if the ultimate aim is to be accomplished”, he demanded.
Macjob Temitope
Media Officer, CACOL
