Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
Immediate past governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has once again taken the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to the cleaners over his serial disobedience of the rulings of the Supreme Court while in office, saying he acted as an area boy in his eight year tenure.
• Says he acted like ‘area boy'
Immediate past governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has once again taken the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to the cleaners over his serial disobedience of the rulings of the Supreme Court while in office, saying he acted as an area boy in his eight year tenure.
Tinubu, who delivered a paper at the Annual Dinner Lecture to commemorate the 2007 Ibadan Week Celebration, also described the establishment of Excess Crude Account, Fuel Tax and Education Tax as fraudulent and a negation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The former governor, whose speech was dotted with applause by the Ibadan elite, who graced the occasion, also called on Yoruba nation to sink their differences and brace up for the impending struggle for the enthroment of true federalism in the country. Speaking on the topic: The 1999 Constitution and the search for true Federalism, the former governor called for urgent review of the revenue allocation formula 'to allow for best performance of responsibilities of each tier of government".
'A new revenue allocation formula is overdue. In the vertical revenue allocation formula, factors such as equality, statutory stabilization, federal territory, special status and general ecology equity and special responsibilities should be considered. For the horizontal assessment, equality, population density and revenue effort, social amenities and ecology should be considered.
'A major area of disparity, such as the allocation of one per cent of Distributable Fund to the Federal Capital Territory ought to be extended to megapolis such as Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Onitsha, Enugu, Kano and Port-Harcourt. These cities have inherited infrastructures on account of their historic role in Nigerian development and their current large population," he stated.
Recalling his experience as governor of Lagos State for eight years, especially during the controversy that trailed the creation of additional local government areas by his administration, Tinubu, hit hard at Obasanjo for interpreting the constitution from his personal view.
'Regrettably, the judiciary, considered the critical stabilizing factor of all written constitutions, was regularly embarrassed by the uncultured disregard of its verdicts by the tier that had the greatest responsibility to uphold national values- the Federal Government.
'In the circumstances, the Presidency, as a key player in the federal arrangement, acted the Area Boy for most of the eight years, leaving the incumbent administration of President Umaru Yar'Adua with the historic advantage of demonstrating the virtues of decency and respect for the Rule of Law," Tinubu stated.
On the Excess Crude Account and Fuel Tax, he slammed the federal government for violating the provisions of the constitution especially Section 162 (1) and (3), which stipulates the creation of the Federation Account and what to happen to the money in the account.
'No where does this constitution provide the basis for that violation called the Excess Crude Account. No where does this constitution allow the Presidency to keep any income of the Federation, including proceeds from the privatization of public facilities, outside the Federation Account except as otherwise states in Section 162 (1)." Tinubu stated.
He, therefore, called on the federal government to immediately initiate moves to probe into all the monies accrued from the privatization of public utilities in the country as earlier canvassed by former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide.