An All Progressive Congress chieftain in Ogun State, Hon Waliu Olayiwola Taiwo has lashed out at some few politicians complaining of marginalization over the commissioners’ list submitted by the governor of the state, Prince Dapo Abiodun to the Stae House of Assembly a few days ago.
It would be recalled that no sooner had the commissioners nominees list been made public than a group under the aegis of Osoba Political Family issued a press statement condemning and rejecting the nominees’ list.
In a press statement jointly signed by Ayo Martins, Chief Olalekan Kelani and 22 others, it was alleged that the governor has used his earlier promise to run an all-inclusive government as a deliberate ploy to ease out members of the Chief Olusegun Osoba’s political bloc from the current administration.
The statement alleged that “The governor, after his victory at the poll, promised to run an all-inclusive government that will represent the interest of blocs that worked for his victory and other groups interested in contributing positively in running the affairs of the state.
“However, to our dismay, the words of the governor were reduced to stillborn on the face of the list of commissioners-nominee and other appointments made by the governor so far.
“We have observed that the slang ‘all-inclusive,’ is a ploy to specifically ease out the Osoba Political Family from the administration of Dapo Abiodun and which was sold to the governor by some power mongers and unscrupulous elements who participated actively in the misrule of the state in the past and are now surrounding the governor like hyenas, ready to pounce on anyone who does not belong to their camp or pay homage.”
But in a recent press interview, Hon Waliu Taiwo, took a swipe at the authors of the press statement while describing the allegations against the governor as myopic, unfounded and self serving.
“I recall vividly that Gov Dapo Abiodun held a meeting with the APC State caucus meeting with Chief Olusegun Osoba among other top leaders sometimes ago where it was agreed that leaders in all the federal constituencies in the state should put their heads together and generate names of three potential commissioner nominees and five names for local government caretaker committee members. The governor made it clear that it is among the names submitted by the leaders that he would choose one name. He never spoke about a bloc or group in the party.
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Throughout the whole period when names were being generated, governor Abiodun did not visit any of the federal constituencies or sent emissary to influence any name. He made it an affair of leaders of each constituency to give him names. So, tell me where the governor has gone wrong. Should he impose you on your leaders if you did not make the list of three from your federal constituency?
Politicians should stop using subtle blackmail and primordial sentiments for political advantage. This group has refused to state in clear terms which federal constituency was conceded to the Osoba group at the stakeholders meeting, or how many slot they were given across the state. They are just crying wolf where there is non.
“For example, in my own federal constituency of of Ado-Odo/Ota, when we, the leaders wanted to have our meeting to choose the nominees, we notified all the who is who of APC to come make their inputs. Interestingly, one of the interested nominees, Hon Tunji Akinosi was supposed to travel to America, on the day of our meeting before it was postponed to a later date.
It will interest you that Akinosi cancelled the trip and made sure he lobbied all the leaders for his name to be among the three Commissioner-nominees. The meeting was eventually held at the residence of Her Excellency, Alhaja Noimot Salako-Oyedele under the chairmanship of Senator Akin Odunsi, who is the second in command of the Osoba political group in Ogun State.
“I must also emphasize here that we, the leaders had already zoned the commissioners nominees to Ado-Odo/Igbesa because of the peculiar nature of our federal constituency which is made up of two state constituencies, that is Ota state constituency and Ado/Igesa constituency. We did the zoning for fairness and equity because the governor has been magnanimous to choose his deputy governor from Ota, therefore the commissioner must come from Ado/Igesa constituency.
“So, we sent three names, all from Ado/Igbesa to the governor to choose one from. It is the prerogative of the governor to choose among the three. Nobody could beat his chest that this person or that person will be picked by the governor because they all qualified. At the end of the day, governor Abiodun chose Tunji Akinosi and sent his name with others to the House of Assembly for confirmation. Why i brought this up is because if Akinosi had not lobbied for his name to be among the three and depended solely on his closeness to the governor, i can assure you that he would not make the commissioners list today.
While admonishing the aggrieved APC members to join hands with the young but progressive administration Gov Abiodun, Hon Waliu Taiwo advised that politicians should play the game by the rules of politics and not expect to be served appointments on a platter of gold in the comfort of their rooms.
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“Let me also say it here that politicians believe they are the alpha and omega of any electoral success, while forgetting that there are people who support with huge amount of money while others give spiritual support that cant be quantified. So, a governor that wants to succeed must accommodate all these interests. This is where lobbying becomes important. Lobbying is a veritable tool in getting what you want in politics globally.
Even our dear president Mohammadu Buhari lobbies to get things done in this country. I am certain Gov Dapo Abiodun is not against any group in the state and i make bold to say that Chief Osoba could not have endorsed the statement by the group because chief Osoba is a good father with many children scattered across the state.
All APC members in Ogun state are members of baba Osoba’s family and we accept wholeheartedly, with joy the Commissioners nominees list sent to the House of Assembly by governor Dapo Abiodun. We are happy with him and pledge unalloyed loyalty to his government and the APC. However, there are other appointments yet to be made and im confident governor Abiodun will give appointments to those with genuine complaints.”. Hon Waliu Taiwo declared.
