Lagos Assembly rejected Sanwo-Olu’s technocrats, why this happened?

From what transpired at the screening panel, the Lagos State House of Assembly may have a strong case against 17 out of 39 commissioner-nominees of Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu, Shakirah Adunola and Kehinde Olatunji report.

The last has not been heard of the brewing tension between the executive and legislative arms of government in Lagos State, especially over the choice of nominees for commissioners.

And if the performances of some of the rejected nominees are anything to go by, coupled with some lawmakers that already have an axe to grind with the executive, then the battle royal may be at scene one.

Recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu had presented 39 cabinet nominees to the Lagos State House of Assembly for screening and confirmation. Among them are 20 immediate past commissioners that were expected to scale the hurdle based on good antecedents. But only 10 were confirmed by the Hon. Mojeed Fatai-led special committee of the House. The Lagos Assembly also confirmed 12 out of 19 new entrants.

Findings showed that 22 commissioner-nominees cleared are politicians, with a strong political base in the state – either as children of prominent politicians or former public office holders.

Those left out, however, turned out to be the core professionals, with little or no strong political ties to godfathers or power brokers in the state.
Interestingly, 16 out of the 17 nominees not confirmed are Christians, which might be the outcome of the public protest by the Muslim community that there are more Christians than Muslims in the governor’s nominees. The overall list, which has 39 names, is made up of 23 Christians and 12 Muslims.

Why they were not cleared: Political

On one hand, it was alleged that Sanwo-olu did not “lobby the lawmakers very well” even when some of them wanted to use the opportunity to “negotiate deals with him.”

On the other hand, some of the rejected nominees, who served in the first tenure of Sanwo-olu, were allegedly found out at the screening to be “overhyped” technocrats with no evidence of contributing to the electoral success of the party at the last election.

The nominees were asked a series of questions regarding their credentials, state of origin, their constituencies and their involvement in the just concluded elections, but with some interesting feedback.

It was gathered that the international passports of some of the nominees collected and scrutinised revealed that some of them, who served between 2019 and 2023, were not in the country and did not participate in both the presidential and governorship elections.

Also, the lawmakers demanded the receipt of payment of party dues to confirm whether they were party members, just as they also investigated the nominee’s “relationship with party members and leaders” during their first term.

It was discovered that many of the nominees rejected did not have a political base in Lagos, one of the reasons APC struggled to win the last gubernatorial poll.

For instance, it was said that former commissioners including Folasade Adefisayo (Education), Gbenga Omotoso (Information) and Prof. Akin Abayomi (Health); who were rejected, have no political base in the state.

A party source said: “If performance is the yardstick, there is no way Prof. Abayomi, Omotoso, Adefisayo and Sam Egube would have been rejected.” It was also discovered that some civil servants used pseudonyms to petition the Assembly against some nominees, because of their alleged highhandedness while in office.

Other criteria used include, their educational qualifications, as their certificates from primary to tertiary institutions, as well as their NYSC certificates were demanded for and checked during the screening.
Those who did not present them were asked to provide copies during the next screening. It was also gathered that some of the nominees were not coordinated while responding to questions. Also, the factor of indigeneship was used to determine the fate of some rejected nominees.

it was also learnt that some key leaders in various local governments where the nominees reside wrote to the Assembly, expressing discontentment with not being duly consulted by the governor.

It was learnt that the Assembly has the support of some party leaders and Muslim leaders in the state, who have expressed misgiving over the number of commissioners-nominees that were in favour of non-indigenes and Christians.

The Ikorodu division petitioned the state Assembly and equally, placed an advertorial in the national newspaper demanding three additional nominees for their division.

They protested the appointment of one commissioner slot for the entire division with two constituencies, saying, “one slot is not acceptable to the indigenes and residents who toiled day and night to keep the progressive spirit of their forefathers in the state.”

Also, Epetedo indigenes, in a press statement, condemned the nominees’ list and described it “as disappointing, falling short of the electorate’s expectations.”

They called on the “Lagos State Government, APC leaders in Lagos Island and all others concerned in the exercise of appointing, nominating, and recommending, to revisit the 39 names as published and do a holistic reappraisal to justify equity and balance of distribution.”

The Muslim community, led by Professor Gbadamosi, had also staged a protest at the Assembly complex requesting that the list be rejected by the lawmakers and returned to the executive for re-composition in such a way to favour Muslims 60 per cent to Christian 40 per cent.

Rumbling in the ruling party
On Monday, the Speaker of the Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, alleged that some people were threatening to attack him and some lawmakers for failing to endorse some commissioner-nominees warning, “those who live in glass houses must not throw stones; else the glass would be shattered.”

The House, however, said its action concerning the nominees was in tandem with the Constitution, which stipulates its responsibilities and, as such, would not succumb to threats and intimidations, including planned sponsored protests and analysis by some civil society groups and activists.

The Speaker also berated the rejected nominees for wanting to “reap where they did not sow”. He said they would not have gotten appointments if there was no party, or if the party had lost the election.

Obasa said: “They said we are placing politics ahead of technocracy! What technocracy? What do you mean by a technocrat, who is not a technocrat in this hallowed chamber? We must understand that a political party is about a group of people who aspire to gain power.

“We have gained power since 1999 and we have to sustain it. We must protect our party. We’ve had technocrats in the past and this will come and go, but we will remain. If there is any reason to reverse our decision, I think we will, but not by threat.”

The 40-member House of Assembly is controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) with 38 members, while the Labour Party (LP) has two. Despite an absolute majority, Sanwo-olu, who also won his re-election on the platform of the party, is finding it difficult to convince the lawmaker to endorse his proposed members of his cabinet.

However, some political watchers in the state are quick to blame the power tussle between the governor and Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, on the inability of President Bola Tinubu to moderate the political game among prominent politicians in the state.

They said the President, who has been calling the shots and determining who gets what in Lagos State since 1999, is “too busy in Abuja to be involved in the local affairs in Lagos.”

The rancour is also seen as a pointer to what will happen in the “post-Tinubu political era in the state.” However, a member of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) on said that APC elders would soon meet to resolve the matter.

He said: “We have been officially informed about the crisis and we shall soon meet to resolve the matter, it is not out of hand for us to resolve. How can we explain that 44 per cent of the nominees from the governor are rejected?”

Nigeria News