Lagos: Former Governorship Candidate Reacts to Alleged Lopsidedness in Sanwo-Olu’s Commissioner-Nominees
- Criticism trailed the list of commissioners nominated by the Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu
- Some Muslims had described the composition of Sanwo-Olu's nominees “as a continuation of the governor’s longstanding bias against Muslims in the state"
- But speaking to Legit.ng in an interview, Tope Abdurrazaq Balogun, a one-time governorship candidate and practicing Muslim, has a different perspective
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Ikeja, Lagos state - Tope Abdurrazaq Balogun, the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the 2023 election in Lagos state, on Monday, August 21, said it is the constitutional right of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to appoint those that will represent him in various ministries as members of his executive cabinet.
It would be recalled that Muslim faithful in Lagos stormed the state House of Assembly to protest the alleged lopsidedness in the list of commissioner nominees submitted to it by Sanwo-Olu.
Source: Facebook
Lagos: Balogun speaks on Sanwo-Olu’s appointments
The demonstrators called for fair representation of Muslims in the 2023 Lagos state cabinet allocations.
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Similarly, the aegis of the Joint Muslims Forum (JMF), Islamic scholars led by the National Missioner of Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Abdrahman Ahmad, stated that Muslims in the state rejected the list as submitted by the governor.
But reacting to the development, Balogun said appointments such as the one made by the governor “has no straight rules and methods known”.
He told Legit.ng:
“It is an open opportunity under the prerogative of the state governor that can't be submerged as it will constitute a tacit hijack of his rights to choose who he is comfortable working with in achieving his planned agenda.
“As for me, I believe strongly that the constitution asks him to consider varying variables while making the appointments to represent diverse interests which cannot be exhaustive because of the nature of Lagos being cosmopolitan depicting the herculean task of adequate representatives across boards.
“Hence, what I see him do is appoint people from various local governments using criteria which are not made public to the best of my knowledge but definitely premised on some factors.”
Protest in Lagos over Sanwo Olu's cabinet list
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Governor Sanwo-Olu suffered a backlash over releasing his 39-man commissioner-nominee, which contained eight Muslims and 31 Christians, a move that did not go down well with the Islamic community in Lagos State.
Leaders of the Lagos State's Islamic community trooped out in their numbers to stage a protest at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Wednesday, July 16, urging the lawmakers to review and reject the list.
Meanwhile, the governor denied the allegation, saying his administration has no preference for one faith over another, and that excellence has been the watchword of his government.
Source: Legit.ng
