Declare your assets, PDP tells Ambode

The Lagos State Chapter of Peoples Democratic Party has called on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to publicly declare his assets.

He was asked by the major opposition party in the state to do so on or before June 29.

In a statement issued on Sunday by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, the PDP also charged Ambode to “personally make public in the media, his assets as at when sworn in as the present governor of the state.”

The statement said in part, “The governor is also asked to make public in the media, the details of the handover notes and assets of the past governor, Mr. Babatinde Fashola.”

According to the PDP, if the governor fails to take up this moral challenge, he will thereafter be labelled “Governor Pretender” throughout his tenure.

“The deliberate neglect will however compel us and other well-meaning Lagosians to explore the relevance of the Freedom of Information Act on the matter.

“The PDP posits that the necessity for the present governor of Lagos state to make public his present assets is more ignited by the huge foreign and local debts of nearly a trillion naira now left behind by the past governor who has been linked to many personal bank accounts and property within and outside the country.

“Mr Ambode is under compelling moral duty to tell Lagosians what he presently has as assets. This is a spice to the requirement of asset declaration before the Code of Conduct Bureau. He must also not conceal the assets declaration of his predecessor,” the statement added.

Gani stated that this was necessary for the governor to gain the respect and confidence of Lagosians as a “genuine servant and not a pretender servant.”

The June 29 ultimatum given to Ambode, according to the PDP, is to allow the governor to voluntarily take up this challenge.

“If he fails to meet up, we will join hands with other well-meaning Lagosians to confer the title of ‘Pretender Governor’ on him throughout his tenure.

“This new dimension to demand for asset declaration is provoked by the fact of sudden stupendous wealth the two last governors of the state have been linked to within and outside the country, even in the face of under performance and huge debts now left behind by especially the past governor,” the party said.