I did not sack Ambode – Fashola

The governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has denied stories making the rounds that he dismissed the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, from the state’s civil service for financial impropriety. 

Ambode was the state’s Accountant General before leaving the civil service.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state had said Ambode was sacked by Fashola for financial impropriety but Fashola denied the allegation, saying it was part of the desperate attempts by the PDP to win Saturday’s governorship election.
Fashola made the denial in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, on Saturday.

The statement read in part: “Governor Fashola has repudiated the insinuation that the APC governorship candidate was dismissed from the state’s civil service, describing it as one of the many lies of the PDP aimed at deceiving voters into voting for them.

“He explained that Mr. Ambode retired voluntarily from the public service after 27 years of meritorious service to the state, adding that he (governor) wrote him a letter of commendation.”

He urged the people of Lagos not to vote for the PDP on Saturday as the PDP-led Federal Government had done nothing to merit their votes, accusing the Federal Government of still owing Lagos about N51bn.

The statement read further: “The governor noted that the PDP had done nothing in the last 16 years but lie to Nigerians about practically everything, including the state of the economy and the security situation as well as other sensitive issues that affect the lives of the people.

“Urging the people not to be deceived by such lies, Governor Fashola pointed out that in the last 16 years, the PDP-controlled Federal Government had ignored the state in federal appointments and not only failed to maintain its numerous infrastructure in the state but refused to pay back to the state the money it (Lagos) has spent in maintaining federal assets in the state including roads and bridges, amounting to N51bn.”

According to the governor, the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, was misleading civil servants on the issue of leave allowance and minimum wage, stating that the issue of minimum wage was settled on February 7, 2011, when the state government signed an agreement with the 14 approved labour unions in the state civil service to pay N18, 780 to the lowest paid of its workers.

The statement further stated that the agreement, brokered by the then Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Mr. Jide Sanwoolu, increased the minimum wage of the lowest paid worker in the employment of the government by 69.6 percent which is a 7.6 percent increase over the Federal Government approved National Minimum Wage.

According to Fashola, his administration was not only the first to implement the minimum wage structure but also added to the N18,000 minimum wage across board, a gesture for which the public servants commended the administration.