The news of the appointment of 7 Special Advisers to assist the Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq pilot the affairs of the State is a welcome development. Even though long overdue, it is better late than never.
The appointment, which comes almost 70 days after the dissolution of the cabinet, has left the State on a subtle autopilot with the Governor functioning without the constitutionally sanctioned State Executive Council (SEC), and thus its statutory functions buried or probably carried out, which if true, will be a rape of the constitution.
While one can heave a sigh of relief that the voice of reasoning has finally, albeit belatedly prevailed, the new appointments come with total disregard for equity, justice and fairness, the triparte threshold on which the otoge movement stands.
The imbalance in the spread of the new appointments has once again brought to the fore, the Governor’s contempt for social equity and geographical balancing.
The new appointments saw Kwara North getting just one Special Adviser in Mr. Attahiru Ibrahim (SA Sport), who was returned to his Office, while Kwara South and Central got 3 each, with Brigadier General Saliu Tunde Bello (Security); Professor Adekunle Dunmade and Alh. Bashir Adigun making up the Kwara South slot and Ahmed Yinka Aluko (Special Duties), Saadu Salau and Abdulateef Alakawa making up the Kwara Central slot.
This is a clear case of injustice to the Northern part of the State, which was one of the major contributors to the otoge struggle and flagrant disregard for the feelings of the people of the zone.
The injustice didn’t end there, the Governor, while turning a blind eye to the history and tradition of Ifelodun Local Government area of the State, has systematically annihilated Constituency A (Share/Oke-Ode constituency), which is now left with 1 appointive position in the Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye from Alabe, while making no fewer than 4 key appointments from Igbaja township, a community in Constituency B (Omupo constituency), namely Prof. Adekunle Dunmade (SA Health), Kayode Oyin-Zubair (SSA Community intervention), Bashir Adigun (SA Political Communication), and Hon. Femi Yusuf (Chairman, Assembly Service Commission) all from Igbaja.
The glaring skewness in appointment and patronage in the state has assumed a frightening dimension since the berthing of the Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq administration and needs an urgent redress to guard against animosity among kith and kins.
While not advocating for the murder of merit over primordial sentiments, it’s an unarguably established fact, that democracy’s oxygen is fairness, equity and balance.
This, the numerous appointments made thus far by the Governor, has refused to take into cognisance and is a likely keg of gunpowder.
