The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Political appointments

  • Esan Central decries neglect in political appointments

    Esan Central decries neglect in political appointments

    Three communities in Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo State have urged Governor Godwin Obaseki to avoid neglecting them in the distribution of political appointments.

    Obaseki had requested for six weeks to work with permanent secretaries to enable him understand what shape his administration would take before making political appointments.

    But leaders of the communities – Ewu, Opoji and Ugbegun – vowed to resist any move to give juicy appointments to politicians from other communities in the locality.

    In a statement yesterday by Prince Tom Anuge and Mr Mathew Emiohe, the community leaders advised Obaseki to stop what they called injustice meted out to them in political appointments.

    They claimed to have always voted massively for the All Progressives Congress (APC) but allegedly forgotten during the distribution of dividends of democracy.

    The statement reads: “We, of these three kingdoms, seriously demand a change of attitude from the majority group by allowing equitable distribution of infrastructure, political appointments, elective offices, which are usually allocated to the local government area subsequently, as this will enhance development and peaceful co-existence among the component kingdoms that make up Esan Central.

    “Throughout the years, we have watched patiently and painfully from the political wilderness that we seemed to have been, how Irrua Kingdom continues to snatch, in the most unjust manner, most of the political positions of significance in our local government, especially the important position of council chairmanship.

    “From 1999 till date, the chairman of the council, all executive directors, special assistants, board chairman allocated to the local government are all centred in Irrrua Kingdom.

    “It is our humble hope to pursue political and peaceful avenue of a protest, which is available to us, until this great marginalisation, injustice meted out to us by Irrua residents is fully addressed. We shall agitate constructively, protest peacefully in order to avoid the real possibility of a breakdown of law and order, if this trend remains unattended to.”

  • Okowa’s cocktail of political appointments

    SIR: When the Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa announced to the Delta State House of Assembly in June that he inherited a debt of over N600 billion from his predecessor, not a few Deltans believed that his wailing were laced with half truths and untruths. Nevertheless, what was to transpire thereafter belies his strident cry for help. Although some people may suggest that it is too early to make a critique of Okowa’s government, he has made so many blunders that it would be a disservice to continue to let him treat Deltans as a conquered people.

    Too early in his administration, he tampered with the moral and economic fibre of the oil bearing communities, DESOPADEC and reduced it to a miniscule. A few weeks later, it became clear that the Okowa-led PDP government was going to be a continuation of the 16 years of rot in Delta State.

    Okowa’s political appointments so far running into more than 300 at the last count reveals the buffoonery and grotesque inequality that has been the hallmark of PDP administrations in Delta State since 1999. For instance, a former Managing Director of NDDC who was also a Senator is now a special Adviser to Okowa. Also a former chairman of the state PDP in the administration of James Ibori and who later became the Delta State representative in NDDC is now a Special Adviser with functions that is unclear and unspecific. A former speaker of the Delta House of Assembly who later became acting governor is today a Special Adviser to the Governor.

    A former Special Adviser on Project Monitoring and Evaluation to Goodluck Jonathan is now a Special Adviser to Governor Okowa. A former Speaker of the House of Assembly who hails from the same Local Government with Okowa is also a Special Adviser!

    What type of government would recycle spent politicians who have been on the scene since 1999 and claim it is spreading “Prosperity to all Deltans”? At these austere times when government should rather be concerned about the deplorable roads in Warri, Ughelli, Sapele, Agbor and even the Asaba metropolis, it is busy dispensing appointments as if that is all to governance. The floods have displaced persons in Ijaw and Itsekiri villages, Uzere, Oleh, Ozoro and many other places in Ndokwa East yet up till this moment these displaced persons have not been visited by the relevant government agencies let alone send them relief materials. Is this prosperity to all Deltans?

    The way Okowa is running government shows that he has no clear vision of what he wants to achieve and that is a negation of what he termed “Principles of continuous improvement”. Okowa is scaring potential investors from Delta State as investors are unable to see an investment friendly climate. For instance, Sarner Limited’s private sector driven tourism projects at Oleri and Ogwashi-Uku have been practically abandoned. So where is the “principle of continuous improvement”?

    Delta State is now run as a private estate thereby creating a wide gulf between government and the governed. All the disinherited PDP Abuja politicians of Delta State extraction have run back to the state to further heat up the economic climate and Okowa is giving them palliative appointments.

    The average Deltan is now enveloped in a dark cloud of apathy, disillusionment and grief. The Delta State government policies and programmes are shrouded in secrecy as no one is properly informed of government receipts from the federation accounts, other financial receipts and even the current position of our internally generated revenue (IGR). Rumours are everywhere of alleged payments to failed contractors in the Asaba airport and the Ughelli-Asaba 147km dualization projects.

    There is a thick smoke of anxiety and frustration on the faces of Deltans who are faced with only one choice: to find ways to extricate themselves from a political dynasty that has held Delta State prostrate for 16years and embrace the wind of CHANGE that is sweeping across Nigeria. That is the only option available to Deltans if they must take their collective destinies in their own hands.

     

    • George Ugbelaka &  Simeon Obegwara,

        For: Delta Solidarity Group, Asaba

  • Re: Political appointments in Ekiti State: Religion has no place

    The Ekiti State Chapter of the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO), in its reaction to Senior Citizen Deji Fasuan’s piece on Political appointments in Ekiti State: Religion has no place and published on September 3, condemns what it called his (Fasuan) misplaced views.

    JUST like our “highly revered leader and undisputed patriot”, Chief Deji Fasuan,  we would not have  dignified him with a reply on the highly misplaced views, he expressed in respect of the issue raised by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Ekiti State Council, which was published in The Nation newspaper of Thursday, September 3rd, 2015.

    In the first place, Chief Deji Fasuan appeared to be edgy to the release for two reasons: one, because Governor Fayose, his godson was involved and two, because the appointments made by Governor Fayose unduly favoured his town, Afao – Ekiti.

    To our greatest consternation, Chief Fasuan shifted what is ordinarily a group matter to a personal matter. For the information of Chief Fasuan and his ilk, Alhaji Yakubu Sanni, the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Ekiti State Council, merely signed for the body, hence, the attack on the person of Alhaji Yakubu Sanni is most unwarranted, highly misplaced and quite mischievous. We demand an unreserved apology from the Chief.

    To properly situate our position in the interest of those who might have been misinformed by Chief Fasuan’s views published on page 6 of the Nation of Friday, September 4, 2015; the NSCIA had been compelled to react to Governor Fayose’s attack on the President, Muhammadu Buhari on account of violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the threat to the unity of the country just because in his opinion, the President’s appointment of 31 people into political offices out of which only 7 were from the southern part of the country is “lopsided”

    It is amazing that Chief Deji Fasuan did not see anything wrong in the opinion expressed by Governor Ayodele Fayose in this respect. While the Muslims are not holding brief for the President, we feel Chief Fasuan who had the time to reply to our opinion within 24 hours and who has such positive views about the President’s appointment could keep sealed lips until the Muslims’ reaction.

    In his first tour of duties in the state, Governor Fayose treated Muslims in Ekiti State the same shabby way. Governor Adeniyi Adebayo appointed Muslims into the offices of Commissioner, Permanent Secretary and other top positions in the public service. The Muslims felt short changed, and protested. Chief Fasuan was in Ekiti State then and he did not see anything wrong in the Muslims’ position. Governor Segun Oni had a Muslim as Deputy Governor, Commissioner and other appointments. Muslims felt they were not fairly treated and they reacted. Yet, our “revered father” did not see anything wrong with the opinions expressed by the Muslims.

    Governor Kayode Fayemi appointed over fifty (50) Muslims, including Commissioners, SSG, Special Advisers, Chairmen and members of statutory Commissions as well as Special and Senior Special Assistants into other strategic positions. Even though Muslims felt what they got was not enough, they saw the development as a significant improvement. If Papa wants to be fair, as he pretends to be, Governor Fayose would have picked some of Chief Fasuan’s Muslim relatives in Afao Ekiti and the Muslims would have been more than pleased. Governor Fayose has appointed 122 people into different offices in Ekiti out of which ONLY FOUR are Muslims. If Gov, Fayose sees the lopsidedness in the appointment of 31 people out of which 7 were southerners as infraction of the Constitution and threat to the unity of Nigeria, what do we call the action of Governor Fayose who made his appointment in complete contravention of section 14(4) and 15(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. Section 15(2) in particular states; “Accordingly, national integration shall be actively encouraged whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, RELIGIOUS STATUS (emphasis ours), ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited”.

    Though Pa Fasuan may not see any good in appointing Muslims into political offices in Ekiti State but Governor Fayose saw the need when he was campaigning and he dressed in turban and appeared in the Mosque before Muslim congregations and he promised to give Muslims fair consideration but alas, this is pure deceit! This was in the public domain and we are sure that Chief Deji Fasuan, as our very enlightened leader, is no doubt aware of this. When then is religion no longer a factor in the affairs of the state according to our revered Chief? We note that Chief Fasuan’s attack is on Islam and Muslims in Ekiti State we take exception to this.

    On a final note, we don’t know when Chief Deji Fasuan became the Information Commissioner to Governor Fayose or his  Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media. If Pa Fasuan is not, he should be more reserved rather than getting himself busy in matters in which he knows little or nothing about.

     

    Signed:

     

    Engr. Abdullah Adebayo- Amir, Muslim Student Society of Nigeria, Ekiti State

    Barrister Tajudeen Ahmed- National Legal Officer, National Council of Youth Muslim Organisations (NACOMYO)

     

     

     

  • Joda denies delaying political appointments

    Joda denies delaying political appointments

    The Chairman of the Transition Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Joda on Friday debunked the report that delay in submitting his committee’s report was stalling political appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He spoke with journalists after presenting the over 800 pages report to Buhari at the Defence House, Abuja.

    According to him, political appointments are entirely at the prerogative of the President.

    He said that his committee’s report came late because the committee received 18,000 pages of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s handover note on the 25th of May, few days to the handover date.

    His words: “One of the terms of references for our committee is to receive the handover note of President Jonathan and this we did not receive until about weeks after our inauguration. We received the handover note on the 25th of May and that report was about 18,000 pages and it took time to even sort them out and to make sense from them, read them, analyze them and come up with recommendations.

    “Political appointments are entirely at the prerogative of the President. He will go through our report and understand our recommendation. I think he deserves a little bit more time.

    “This is not an ordinary transfer of government from one President to the other, in this country we have never witnessed this kind of transition from one political party to another, the political party in opposition won the election.

    “Previous transition from one president to the other did not require long process like this. I think this is part of the evolution of democracy. The country has to be a little bit more patient, it cannot be with immediate effect,” he added

    Continuing, he said: “For about five weeks, we went through memorandum, listening to presentations from all over this country. Today we submitted about 800 pages of the report to Mr President, it is now his property and I believe in due course he will begin to act on it.”