How Ambode mismanaged Lagos Mass Transit, spent unapproved billions

The last Lagosians heard about former Lagos Gov. Akinwumi Ambode’s travail was the N9.9bn stash, for which the FCC busted his Epe and Ikoyi homes last week.

It seems more woes are still in stock for the accountant.

The Lagos House of Assembly is raking up more muck in the past administration of the APC.

A committee now investigates the purchase of 820 buses meant for mass transit under Ambode.

The former governor did not get the House approval for the spending, yet he went ahead to buy 5000 buses, out of which only 820—for N7bn—were delivered.

In a motion titled ‘Lagos State House of Assembly Motion Number 2, member representing Eti Osa 2, Gbolahan Yishawu, stated that the executive proposed to spend N17bn to purchase the buses in the 2017 budget. It was not approved by the Assembly.

“In the 2018 and 2019 budgets, the state government proposed N24bn and N7bn respectively, but these were not approved.

“The state government still went ahead to import 820 buses at N7bn, and out of them, 520 are still awaiting clearance at the ports,” he said.

He added that the House was worried that 520 buses were still awaiting clearance from the bonded warehouse and that they were purchased with taxpayers’ money without approval.

Ambode’s proble with state lawmakers dates back the twilight of his administarion expiration early in 2019 when the House was readying an impeachment strategy against him.

It took a long time and psychological warfare before the House even approved the 2019 budget.

Ambode’s media handlers are yet to respond officially to the probe stories–as they swiftly did to other allegations against their boss.