Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “wasteful and fraudulent” the purported N3.2 billion earmarked for the reception of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was scheduled to visit the state last Monday but eventually failed to come, sending Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to represent him.

Lagos PDP in a statement issued and signed by its Publicity Secretary Taofik Gani said that APC “is too haphazard in governance, hence the total disconnect between the State Governor and the Presidency, thereby causing the state not to know that the president had changed his mind on visiting the state at this time.”

The party charged Governor Ambode to account for the money claimed to have been expended on the visit, saying: “We demand that the over 3.2 billion naira claimed to have been spent to welcome the president to Lagos must be accounted for. The beneficiaries of the contracts and the costs of the contracts involved in the ceremonies must be made public for Lagosians to know. This is needless waste of public funds.

“The State Governor embarked on hasty beautification of the city, particularly areas marked for the passage of the president by placing flags and pictures of already known Governor Ambode and Buhari – things that can only last for the period of the visit. That is prodigal, especially because the president did not eventually honour the invitation.

“As a matter of fact, it is even wasteful for public funds to be allocated for reasons of inviting the nation’s president to commission ordinary rehabilitation of roads that are not more than seven in a state with over 7,868 roads.

“We however sympathise with the president for reasons given for refusing the visit now, but we also advise that the president should not condone mismanagement of public funds in the name of receiving a president.”

•Photo shows Governor Ambode.

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