Group Sues Fashola For Hoarding Information

Fashola

Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola and the State Attorney General, Adetoro Ipaye have been dragged before Justice Saliu Saidu by a group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, challenging their refusal to make available the information which was sought for in accordance with the Freedom of Information, FoI Act.

But Lagos State, in a counter-affidavit to the suit, argued that the FoI, being a legislation of the National Assembly, was only applicable in relation to public records of government of the federation and not of the states.

In the counter-affidavit, which was deposed to by Toluwanimi Odupitan, a counsel in the civil litigation department of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, the state government reiterated the fact that Nigeria was a federation, and that the power to make laws on public records had been concurrently shared between the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly in their respective sphere of jurisdiction.

SERAP had asked the Lagos State government to provide information on education sector spending, a request turned down by the government.