The former First Lady of Lagos State, Abimbola Fashola, has said when she was in office, no money was paid into her account until President Bola Tinubu intervened.
The wife of former Governor Babatunde Fashola said all the projects she did while in office as First Lady were her personal projects.
In an interview with News Central on Thursday, Mrs. Fashola disclosed that some persons were receiving money from the Ministry of Education in her name without her knowledge.
She stressed that she did not influence her husband’s decision when they were in office. According to her, the empowerment programs she organized as First Lady were presented to President Bola Tinubu during her 45th Birthday.
It was on her birthday that Tinubu learned she was doing the projects without government funding and directed local government chairmen in the state to pay money into her account.
“I remember at a particular time, the Ministry of Education felt that they were giving me money from the education department. That’s to date, I don’t know what happened in between. Maybe somebody was collecting money. I do not know. But I heard later on to say that they were giving me a particular amount. And I said, even if you gave me that, if you gave me half of it, I know what I would have done with it. But nobody gave me any money.
Aside from when I did my 45th birthday, and the president of Nigeria now, heard about all that I have done. They showed my programs and all. And he turned to me and said, did anyone support me at all? And I said, no. And only at that time did he tell the chairman of all the local governments, because I worked in every local government, that they should give me money. And that was the only time that money went into my account,” she said.
The former First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Fashola, said she still continued with her empowerment programmes after she left office.
“My projects, I’m not giving it to the state. My project is my project. So it’s still mine and that’s why I’m still running it till tomorrow,” she added.