Christopher Oji
One of the contractors working with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mrs Ola Williams, popularly known as Iron Lady, has cleared the air on allegation that she had been swindling the state government through LAWMA contract.
Williams, at a press conference yesterday in Lagos, said the reports in the media about her conduct on the contract was not the truth.
According Williams, the ongoing auditing by the state government would reveal the truth.
Williams, who just came out of her sickbed, however, said that the allegations against her were the handiworks of her antagonists.
She said: “My attention has been drawn to allegations and propaganda going on in the media that I defrauded the state government through the sweepers’ salary. To set the record straight, I will like to let the public know that nothing of such has ever happened from me. This is nothing but the handiwork of my antagonists. As a matter of fact and for reference purposes, this contract was a little way to compensating the widows and also create jobs for the unemployed youths in the society, who worked tirelessly during the election.
“When we were going through rough experience during the election period, they were not with us but now that we were given the contract to help the youths and the widows who worked tirelessly, they are peddling rumours. However, whoever that says I swindled the state government should come up with the proof. I have the record of all the sweepers under me. Let the auditors proceed with their work for verification purposes. And I will appreciate that the auditor visits the sweepers beat during their working hours, which is between 7am and 1pm to confirm if actually they are ghost workers.”
On the recent protest over none payment of sweepers’ salary, Williams said this was done without her prior notice, adding that she was hospitalized when the protest was done.
Meanwhile, sources from the LAWMA office had claimed that Williams’ ordeal was orchestrated by some forces in the agency, who were not pleased with her getting the contract.
It was also learnt that audited reports provided to implicate her was falsified in order to rubbish her.
“The commotion was created by some forces in the agency. They felt the woman was getting too much, so, they had to deal with her. The claimed audited report was forged to implicate her. Let proper auditing be done and the truth unveiled.”