Apprehension In Osun Over Delay In Cabinet Constitution

The delay in the constitution of cabinet by Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State may have started generating apprehension among members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and residents of the state.

Adeleke who was sworn in as the sixth executive governor of the state on 27th of November 2022, has been running his administration with his appointed kitchen cabinet made up of the Secretary to the State Government, his Chief of Staff among few others.

Despite the absence of fully constituted cabinet, Adeleke has been able to hit the ground running on assumption of office and recently celebrated his 100 days in office with remarkable achievements.

However, pundits are attributing the inability of the governor to take prompt decision and present his cabinet nominees to the State House of Assembly, as stipulated by Nigeria Constitution to enable him far reaching policy statement on some important issues to lack of fully constituted cabinet.

Residents of the state are for instance expecting white papers on reports of several panels he constituted on assumption of duty for the purpose of moving the state forward.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari recently signed into law a bill mandating newly sworn in president of Nigeria and governors, to present their cabinet nominees to the legislators within two months of assumption in office.

Pundits are of the opinion that there would have been no need for such a bill if there was no recognised need for prompt formation of cabinet to steer the ship of the state.

Speaking recently during a radio personality interview programme, the secretary to the state government, Mr. Teslim Igbalaye assured the people of the state that the cabinet will be formed very soon.

He attributed the delay in constituting the cabinet to the need to ensure that party members work assiduously for the victory of Peoples Democratic Party in the state in the just concluded elections.

He stated categorically that it would amount to injustice to appoint somebody who cannot win his polling booth not to talk of ward as commissioner while those who performed creditably well are not considered.

Igbalaye however assured that now that the elections were over, Governor Adeleke will soon send the list of his nominees as commissioners to the State House of Assembly for approval.

But a political analyst, Ben Ajumobi however attributed the inability of Governor Adeleke to forward the list of his nominees to lack of majority of members of his party in the State House of Assembly.

Only three members of the 26-member Assembly are from the ruling party while the rest are members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ajumobi was of the opinion that lack of majority in the House might constitute a clog on the wheels of prompt approval of the proposed nominees, who are expected to be predominantly PDP members.