Call for probe of past, present administrations normal ― Democratic group 

A pro-democracy group, Lagos Peace Movement (LPM), has said that calling for a probe into the activities of both past and present administrations is normal, legitimate and democratic in any civilised society where true democracy is the norm.

LPM said this in reaction to the statement of another organization, The Renaissance Group that condemned a team of protesters from the Lagos Youth Vanguard (LYV), who stormed the Lagos House of Assembly calling for the probe of the immediate past administration in the state under Governor Akinwumi Ambode.

This was just as the group said it had briefed its team of lawyers to commence a process of compelling the Lagos State House of Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and other relevant agencies to inform the public the latest developments on the investigation into activities of the immediate past administration of Governor Ambode.

“As a result for the above submission, we have briefed our legal team to commence a process of compelling the Lagos State House of Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and other relevant agencies to inform the public the latest developments on the matter,” LPM said.

It would be recalled that the Renaissance Group had in a statement signed by Daniel Awesu and Abdul-Quadri Enikanolaiye, chairman and secretary-general of the group respectively, said that all attacks on the person of former Governor Ambode would fail, describing the protest as “highly despicable, unjustified, embarrassingly shameful and uncalled-for.”

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LPM, in a counter statement, said the call for probe into the immediate past administration of the former governor was not to witch hunt anybody but to ascertain its propriety or otherwise while in office.

Publicity Secretary of LPM, Comrade Adekunle Adeosun, said in a statement made available to newsmen, threw his support for the call, saying it was in line with the template already set by the Lagos State House of Assembly and other organizations.

“As an organization that advocates peace, justice and transparency in governance, we support all other groups, especially, the recent protesters under the umbrella of the Lagos Youth Vanguard (LYV), calling for the probe of the immediate past administration in the state,” Adeosun said.

“The call for proper investigation of the last administration is never to witch hunt anybody but to make things clear about how the state’s finances were handled during the period in question,” he added.

Speaking on the next step being taken on the matter, Adeosun said the resolve to go the legal way was to be certain about the true situation of things.

According to him: “We have for long been relying on social media reports and we don’t want to act on rumours or unconfirmed reports as a civilised group,” adding that the move was to allay the fears of the 20 million residents of the state that activities of the government in every critical sector in the state during the period under review were in conformity with due processes in the award of contracts.

“Our action is to prevent the fate of 20 million Lagos people from hanging in the balance,” he said.