Encomium
GOVERNOR Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State had his own pound of flesh from the local government chairmen when he sacked all of them on Wednesday, October 29, 2014, when their three-year tenure expired.
ENCOMIUM Weekly gathered that the governor could have appointed the chairmen as sole administrators or executive secretaries of their various local government councils if they had been in his good book pending the time another local government election will be conducted.
But rather, he told all of them to go and asked their council managers to take over the administration of the councils pending the time the caretaker committees will be sworn-in to take over the administration.
We gathered that the governor had earlier threatened to appoint some directors in the state ministries as sole administrators to man the councils but had to change his mind when some party leaders prevailed on him that such a move will not augur well for their party.
Governor Fashola’s grouse with the LG chairmen, we gathered, is their absolute loyalty to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, rather than to him that they are serving under.
At every occasion where the LG chairmen are and Asiwaju Tinubu comes in, the LG chairmen will stand up to sing ‘On your mandate we shall stand’ even in the presence of Governor Fashola.
What probably peeved the governor most was their support of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the governorship aspirant of the party (All Progressives Congress), who is believed to have been sponsored by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Since Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has made his intention known to contest for the governorship of the state, the LG chairmen, led by their chairman Hon. Akeem Omoyele Sulaimon, have always been following him (Ambode) to all his public outing. Giving the impression that they are in support of his ambition. Although, we learnt that this was at the prompting of Asiwaju Tinubu, this did not go down well with Governor Fashola, who is said to be rooting for Dr. Femi Hamzat, his Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure as his successor.
So, his opportunity came when he was lobbied by some powerful party leaders in the state to retain the chairmen as sole administrators or executive secretaries pending the time the LG elections will be conducted next year (2015). He was said to have refused vehemently.
He (governor) later agreed to appoint a caretaker committee of five people with the executive secretary as the head, deputy executive secretary and three other members to serve as supervisors.
He was also said to have given a proviso that the names of those to be appointed members of the caretaker committee, particularly the Executive Secretaries and the Deputy Executive Secretaries, must be signed by all the party leaders in the local government area.
ENCOMIUM Weekly gathered that the lists have already been compiled in all of the 20 local government areas (LGA) and 37 local council development authorities, with some leaders refusing to sign it because their cronies were not included in the list.
As it is now, most of the LG and LCDA chairmen, particularly those that have served just one term are likely to return as executive secretaries or their LG or LCDA except in Surulere LG and Agbado, Oke-Odo LCDA, where the party leaders in areas vehemently opposed the appointment of the ex-chairmen as executive secretaries.
Another issue working against the appointment and swearing in of the caretaker committee is the law to back it.
The bill has been in the House of Assembly for sometime now. It has just passed the first reading. The House of Assembly which has been on recess for sometime now resumed plenary sitting on Monday, November 3, 2014.
Hopefully, it will start the second reading which may take one or two days depending on number of members who want to speak on the bill.
If it passes the second reading this week, then it will be ready very soon. If not, it will take another one or two weeks by which time the party primaries may have started delaying the passing of the bill into law and swearing in the caretaker committee.
-TOLANI ABATTI
