The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has berated the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN for barring political office holders in the state from granting interviews or speaking to journalists on behalf of his government.
Reacting to the news, the Executive Chairman of the Coalition, Debo Adeniran noted that the step taken by the Lagos State Government is tantamount to suppression of public information and denying the public and civil servants their fundamental human rights.
“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? This is gagging public and civil servants and denying them freedom of expression, which is an infringement on their fundamental human rights, making them subhuman. Gagging public and civil servants is antithetical to the spirit of transparency and accountability that are major factors of participatory government in any country. 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.
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,” Adeniran submitted.
He however called on the Lagos State House of Assembly to address this seeming aberration in Lagos State and curb the excessive of the governor.
Abimbola Adegoke
Media Officer
22 January, 2013