Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has slammed the Lagos State Government for not being sincere to the people in its low cost housing projects.
While discussing issues of insecurity in the country on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Mr. Obanikoro, berated the Lagos State Government for its Ilubirin Housing Project, condemning the location of the estate, as well as the cost at which citizens would acquire the accommodation.
Obanikoro had been accused of using the military to obstruct the state project in Lagos State and he provided explanation that he was only on site seeing of some of the projects that affect his people as a Lagosian.
He explained that he never spoke a word to the workers at the site, let alone stop them from working. He claimed that he went to see the project, took pictures and left quietly, despite his reservations on the quality of work being done.
He wondered why the presence of his aides who followed him to the project site should be deliberately referred to by the State Governor as obstruction of work, when as a Minister he had no such mandate or powers.
He stated that the construction workers, whom he was alleged to have stopped from working, were actually at work while Governor Fashola was accusing him in the media.
On his reservation about the said project, Obanikoro said: “He (Governor Fashola) said ‘low cost’, it is not low cost. You cannot build a low cost housing estate on water, it’s not done anywhere in the world.
“How can a Governor in good conscience tell me that a 16million Naira 2bedroom flat is low cost?” he asked, adding that as a Minister whose annual salary was 2million Naira, he could not even have afforded that.
“When Alhaji Jakande was Governor, I bought a form for 1 Naira 50kobo, I was a clerk working in Union Bank, he actually built for the poor. I bought a form, I bought a flat, and you paid 1,500 Naira to be a house owner at that time.”
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, also provided explanation to several other allegations that borders on his activities as a politician, especially as regards those made by Nigeria’s main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The issue of the Minister’s salary was also revisited as he was asked to clarify with details, his actual earning. Obanikoro insisted, “My annual salary is 2million Naira, everything put together plus my allowances is 4million Naira.”