APC, PDP trade words over Adeleke’s Commissioner-nominees
By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo and Jeleel Olawale
Mixed reactions have followed the choice of Commissioner Nominees in Osun State by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State chapter in a statement issued by the state party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, consoled the people of the state over the choice of the new set of the commissioner-nominees rolled out by Governor Ademola Adeleke which was announced by Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Adewale Egbedun.
The party described it as the worst assemblage of the government actors that would ever be witnessed in the history of the 32-year-old State of the Virtuous, insisting that it has further exposed another failed promise of the Adeleke-led administration.
The Osun State Chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal in Osogbo over the weekend, stated that there is nothing to celebrate about the galaxy of Hallelujah men and women who will be annoyingly entrusted with the governance of the state through their various ministries.
Lawal however, stated that it would not be proper to be collective in his excoriation and castigation of the Adeleke administration cluster as there are few ones in the horrible, horrendous and obnoxious commissioner-nominees list that have distinguished themselves in their callings either in private endeavours or public offices.
In Lawal’s words: “What are we even saying about the composition of the Adeleke administration commissioner-nominees? Can a government be better than the quality of the head of such government? The answer is a capital NO.
“It is an impossible Utopia as one cannot plant corn and expect to harvest banana no matter the injection of the intervention of a scientific methodology”, the state APC chairman hinted.
Lawal also observed that the highlighted portion of the commissioner-nominees scenario that is hyper offensive to the sensibilities of the discerning minds in the state is the Governor’s explanation that a wife of his late brother, one Mrs Adenike Folashade Adeleke, could not be counted as a member of his immediate family in Ede.
He disclosed that all efforts by Governor Adeleke to confuse and convince any right-thinking members of the society with any grammatical and political chicanery to prove that he is not truly guilty of nepotism has fallen flat as in the Nigerian parlance, once a woman is married to any particular family, she has wholly become a part and parcel of such family.
The chairman also lamented the composition of Governor Adeleke’s commissioner-nominees, stating that the slots are heavy in some local governments without considering the propriety of others.
He added that “the parade of only two females in the list of 25 nominees is an errant and unmitigated balderdash, hogwash and bunkum which is against the adopted world standard in any saner state and also contrary to the promise the governor made to the women while campaigning.”
He stated that though it is not the business of the APC to teach Adeleke of the PDP extraction how to run his government, the party is concerned that most of the nominees have no sound and verifiable backgrounds.
Lawal noted that the list of the Adeleke commissioner-nominees further vindicated the Osun State chapter of the APC on the allegation that there were serpents with divided loyalty in the party as two chieftains of the defunct self-styled The Osun Progressives (TOP) under the patronship of former Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, in the persons of Barr Kolapo Alimi and Mr Biyi Odunlade, made the list. This further attests to the fact that there has been a secret alliance between the TOP members and the PDP.
It would be recalled that Adeleke voiced out shortly after his inauguration that the loyalists of Aregbesola were instrumental to his victory as they worked for him during the governorship and other elections in the state.
Lawal wondered why the delay till yesterday before he could make public the list of his commissioner-nominees when that was all that Adeleke could come up with in close to eight months of his administration.
He hinted that one would have thought that the delay in the generation of the commissioner-nominees by Adeleke was informed by his resolve to bring same from another planet.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, People Democratic Party, (PDP) Osun State Chapter, Hon Sunday Bisi, said that Governor Adeleke’s nominees are great patriots with enviable antecedents in private and public sectors.
He noted that individuals on the list are made up of experts in finance, education, economy, social sector, agriculture, sciences, law and engineering among others.
Bisi said, “The half baked response of Osun All Progressive Congress (APC) reconfirmed its incompetence and shallowness as the party is ignorantly condemning a commissioners’ list without perusing the robust profile of the nominees.
“Covering up its ignorance in questionable big words and phrases, the APC state Chairman and his stone age publicist shamelessly attempted to cast aspersions on credible professionals and administrators nominated to serve the state.
“How do you judge nominees without at least gaining access to their profiles? How do you condemn a list with almost two third professionals, technocrats and administrators? Nominees are great patriots with enviable antecedents in private and public sectors. We have a list made up of experts in finance, education, economy, social sector, agriculture, sciences, law and engineering among others.
“The PDP government in putting up the list applied such principles as spread across federal constituencies, interest groups, professional considerations among others.
“A serious opposition party will engage in thorough research to add value to its image. Unfortunately, the Osun APC is too bewildered by its post-election trauma to dig deeper to see the great team the PDP administration is putting in place.
“Our answer to APC as a party is that before the unveiling of the nominees, Osun is already enjoying the dividends of democracy. With the new cabinet coming on board, the state is billed for further growth and development under Governor Ademola Adeleke,” Bisi said.
