Fashola explains Lagos’ decision to appeal acquittal of Al-Mustapha; Reacts to Amaechi, Police face-off

 Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Saturday explained why the state government is challenging the acquittal of Major Al Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late General Sani Abacha at the Supreme Court. 

Speaking at the commemoration of his 2,300 days in office, held at the Blue Roof, Lagos Television, Fashola stated that government acted on agitation of the people over the matter.

“The first report is in respect of the verdict of acquittal of Major Al Mustapha for charges of conspiracy and murder by the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which has generated some mixed reactions,”he said.

“Because our Constitution permits a further appeal to the Supreme Court, and because we place the highest premium on every human life and because the families of the victims deserve every right to agitate the matter to the final court, just as the accused would have been entitled, your government has appealed on behalf of the people to the Supreme Court.”

On the contentious headcount exercise, the governor said that Lagos filed 20 different petitions in the Census Tribunal to challenge the figures in the 20 local governments, adding that 14 of them were successful, as the tribunal made various findings that included the orders for recounts.

“From these findings, it seems fair to conclude that the Census returns were manipulated against lagosians in an act of grave injustice to say the least.

“No nation that wants to prosper and solve human challenges should ever be tardy or play politics with data collection projects such as population census. You cannot manage what you cannot measure,” he said.

On improvement of road network for public transportation , he disclosed that “Over 200 inner city roads across the state are in various stages of construction progress and as we complete work on a number of them this year, we expect to see improved connectivity and reduced journey times.

“The five ferries we revived from the lagoon are in various stages of repairs and we expect to see three of them back in service later this year and the remaining two to join early next year. This will add to the 59 (Fifty Nine) ferries we have licensed for 44 operators who are already providing service.”

Reacting to police denial of the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi’s access to the state government lodge, Fashola posited that “Even the lowliest citizen can’t be prevented from access to his house. If such a citizen is denied an access to his house, it will be a breach of fundamental human rights to movement.

“As I keep saying, none of the fundamental human rights is absolute. Your right to movement can be restricted if for instance, police comes to arrest you for reasonable allegation. Your right to freedom of expression does not extend to making utterances to damaging people’s reputation without justification.”

Source: DailyPost