Lagos government accuses community of blackmail

The Lagos State Government has alleged that it was being blackmailed by the White Sand Estate residents.

According to PUNCH, the estate resident’s chairman, Pastor Adewale Oyewo, said that a government official demanded bribe as a precondition for getting the attention of relevant government authorities to attend to their challenges on infrastructure.

PUNCH had on Thursday October 9, 2014, published a report where it quoted Oyewo as alleging that the community gave the official N20,000, but he demanded more money.

However, the government, through the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, insisted that it was being blackmailed.

The government, in a letter by the ministry’s spokesman, Biola Fagunwa, on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, accused Oyewo of either lying about the bribe allegation, or simply blackmailing the state government to get attention.

The ministry said it came to the conclusion based on Oyewo’s uncooperative attitude towards the ministry’s bid to investigate the allegation.

The letter reads in part, “As an agency of government with a high level commitment to service delivery and zero tolerance for ineptitude, the allegation of demand for ‘bribe’ as a precondition for getting government’s attention required to be taken seriously.

“It is against this background that Pastor Adewale Oyewo, who was quoted in the publication as having made the allegation, was invited to a meeting scheduled for Wednesday October 15, 2014. He failed to honour the invitation despite agreeing to so do in a telephone conversation. He thereafter requested that a formal letter of invitation be addressed to his residence.

“The meeting was rescheduled and Oyewo again refused to honour the invitation. The ministry also made contact with the association’s Secretary, one Sylvester, who categorically declared that he was unaware of any demand for or offer of money to an official of any government agency.

“Our conclusions are therefore simple. It is either there was no demand for bribe or Pastor Oyewo was simply blackmailing the state government to get attention.”

The ministry assured Lagos residents that it was aware of its statutory responsibilities, but had to prioritise due to the lack of available resources. It also said White Sand Estate would receive attention in due course.

Oyewo is yet to respond to the government’s allegations.