Funso Doherty, the 2023 African Democratic Congress (ADC)’s Lagos governorship candidate, has faulted the Lagos State Government’s response to his initial open letter on selected public procurements in the state.

Doherty wrote a letter to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos State Governor, on Monday, calling the state government’s response problematic.

The letter also asked for an independent special investigator to look into N200 million of public funds in personal legal representation for Sanwo-Olu.

“…in the wider engagement arising from these issues, our attention has been drawn to four awards from the Ministry of Justice in January 2023 totaling N200 million to four law firms in respect of personal legal representation for you, Mr. Governor, in a partisan political matter,” Doherty’s letter stated.

“In light of the obvious irregularity of such awards, and the apparent involvement of the Justice Ministry, I hereby suggest that an independent special investigator be appointed to examine this specific matter and report findings to the public.”

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In one of Doherty’s counter-comments, he dismissed the state government’s defence of N2 billion spent on consultancy services for the engagement of a loan facilitator. The state government had said that the consultant played a significant role in securing funding for the Red Line and Blue Line rail projects by mitigating “the State’s exposure to exchange rate risks”.

“This is even more problematic given this explanation,” Doherty responded.

“Apart from being their host Sub-national Government, LASG has deep, broad, long-standing and ongoing relationships with the Nigerian Banks. It should not be paying any intermediary billions of naira in feed to facilitate funding from local Nigerian banks.”

In a different response, the state government had said that the procurement of just one bulletproof Lexus LX 600 SUV “for use in the Pool of Office of Chief” at N440.7 million was “in tandem with economic realities”.

Doherty pushed back by stating that N440.7 million for a single vehicle was far removed from the economic realities of many Lagos residents.

The state government also tried to defend N100 million spent on an “extensive capacity building programme for all auditors statewide” and another N100 million paid to a consultant “with a wealth of experience in works projects” to conduct a statewide training for auditors.

The state said it used N531 million to renovate Saint Andrews Anglican Church in Oke-Popo because it was a significant historical landmark in Lagos State. It also said that the whole amount included refurbishment and compensation given to the church for demolishing some of its sections due to a road expansion.

The state government has come under fire for wasteful spending with the state’s Public Procurement Agency (PPA) struggling to defend some of the questionable billion-naira contracts it approved in 2023 alone.