Lagos: Why Complaints of Lopsided Appointments Will Be Recurring, Former Gov'ship Candidate Reveals

• 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 governorship candidate during the 2023 election and practicing Muslim, has a different perspective

Epe, Lagos state - Tope Balogun, the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the 2023 election in Lagos state, on Wednesday, August 23, said those appointed into the cabinet of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu were allies of various political interests in Lagos state.

Balogun stated that the appointees are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and those presented are expected to be hands that can help the governor to perform optimally in all circumstances.

Read also

WAEC: “Govt, private school owners derailing Nigeria’s future leaders”, top education expert reveals

Lagos' cabinet list at Sanwo-Olu's prerogative: Balogun

The AA chieftain noted that the mistrust of getting justice has been a major reason some kind of considerations are put forward. He also questioned why the religion, gender, colour, tribe, and outlook of a public officer should be linked to the implementation of good governance and dividends of democracy.

Legit.ng recalls 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.

The demonstrators called for fair representation of Muslims in the 2023 Lagos state cabinet allocations.

Similarly, the aegis of the Joint Muslims Forum (JMF), Islamic scholars led by the National Missioner of Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Abdurrahman Ahmad, stated that Muslims in the state rejected the list as submitted by the governor.

Read also

Lagos: Former governorship candidate reacts to alleged lopsidedness in Sanwo-Olu’s commissioner-nominees

But Balogun explained to Legit.ng:

“There are so many interest groups in Lagos state that are not well captured in the present list of those selected by the governor, and if all of them had to come out to keep lamenting, we would be having an endless vicious circle debarring the progress of this state.

“You can only call something lopsided if, ab initio, the criteria for choosing cabinet members are close-ended and not open-ended like we have.

“If the governor has the sole authority to pick from a large pool of interest groups, then the political philosophy of lobbying should be the order of the day and not mortification of the person occupying the most prestigious seat of Lagos state.”

He continued:

“I have read, listened, and viewed various outbursts after the release of the list and I have asked if there is any treacherous situation where an agreement is deliberately breached. But what I see is a vague commitment which is yet to be foreclosed since opportunity for more appointments abound in various categories.

Read also

“For What Exactly”: Knocks, reactions over northern governor's appointment of 131 female SSAs

“As it appears to me presently, some part of Muslims in Lagos who committed to vote for the governor have zero nominee, and their agitations on the list about numbers of Muslims generally is reactionary because those few Muslims got into the list through their local government leaders and can't even be vouch for by any of the frontrunners among those agitators.

“The governor can decide to have a change of cabinet at any point which may include some tribes and religions that are totally not even on the list this time around. This is among other criteria that he thinks will work best for the state.”

Balogun concluded:

“Religious bodies should get closer to the governor as appropriate of their status, support him with prayers, and give him more counsel on how best to approach issues for the general interest of humanity. No matter the number of times the list is edited and presented, the lopsidedness issue will be a recurring one.”

Read also

Defence Ministry: Why Matawalle, Badaru's appointment is like 'own-goal' against security, analysts reveal

Lagos: Balogun speaks on Sanwo-Olu’s appointments

In a piece of related news, Legit.ng reported that Balogun said it is the constitutional right of Governor Sanwo-Olu to appoint those who will represent him in various ministries as members of his executive cabinet.

However, Balogun said appointments such as the one made by the governor “have no straight rules and methods known”.

Source: Legit.ng