Chuwang Emmanuel
Mixed reactions are trailing the list of commissioners forwarded by the Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas to the state House of Assembly.
Kefas list of 21 commissioners came out with a big surprise, according to a cross-section of Taraba people.
Apart from being accused of nominating a “political novice,” without due consultation as earlier promised, Yorro local government council does not have representation in the proposed cabinet.
Consequently, a lawyer from State, Pius Dimgba has written an open letter to the governor accusing him of violating the constitution and short-changing the people of the local government.
Dimgba in his letter send to UNIVERSALREPORTERS on Wednesday said the governor’s action is in violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Consequently, only 21 Commissioners will be nominated and appointed as provided by the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria with at least one from each Local Government of the State. See section 14(4) and 192 of CFRN 1999.”
“Surprisingly, the Governor has now purportedly nominated 21 people for confirmation by the State House of Assembly without nominating anyone from Yorro Local Government. This is purely unconstitutional, ill-advised, and not in line with the law.
“Funny enough, some Local Governments had more than one nominee. For instance, Wukari has 3 nominees, Sardauna 2, Jalingo 2, Takum 2, and Karim 2.
Yorro is completely excluded from Zero.
“The screening exercise currently going on at State House of Assembly is an unconstitutional, illegal, and futile exercise unless a Yorro nominee is included.” He spoke
Mr Dimgba said the governor is now left with the choice, “to recant and deny the purported restructuring of the Ministries by creating another Ministry to accommodate a new nominee from Yorro Local Government or break the heart of one of the nominees by removing his name citing error and replace him with a nominee from Yorro.” He added.
The Governor, while interacting with the media shortly after assuming office said 80 percent of his appointees will be youths hinting that whoever will emerge would be grassroots-based and in keeping to that philosophy, names would be submitted by stakeholders across the 16 local governments of the state and forwarded to him to pick those deemed suitable.
“80% of my commissioners will be young people so that we can have a succession plan and also have results. That is why I have appointed well-experienced and mature persons as SSG and Chief of Staff so that they will be a guide to the young persons.”
“I don’t want to be seen as Mr. Know it all, I already have the names of those I want to work with, I just want to carry people along otherwise, I can roll out my commissioners today.” He said.
The governor then wrote a letter through the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Timothy Kataps, to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, directing them to meet with stakeholders to recommend names for appointments into his cabinet and other positions.
The state party chairman Abubakar Bawa who disclosed the content of the letter to newsmen said the governor specifically asked them to recommend worthy and competent individuals, especially the youths.
He noted that the governor’s emphasis on young persons was based on his pronouncement that eighty percent of his appointees will be young persons.
“The governor has directed us to liaise with stakeholders of each of the local governments for appointments of commissioners, special advisers, special assistants, local government chairmen, and members of boards and parastatals. Especially youths because that was his promise during the campaign.
“We have directed the party zonal chairmen to go and liaise with the party chairmen at local government levels with various stakeholders, including traditional rulers to come up with credible men and women with verse education and experience.
“The governor has the right and power to appoint whosoever he wants but in the spirit of inclusiveness and respect for the party and the stakeholders he decided to ask us for our recommendation,” Bawa explained.
He further outlined that the consultation process would involve collaboration with local communities and traditional rulers to ensure the selection of the most suitable candidates.
Mr Bawa said, “The selection will not be based on popularity within the local government but will primarily rely on the trust and confidence bestowed upon the nominees by the local communities.
|
And truly to his words about 80 percent of the nominees are young persons with professional educational backgrounds in various fields of learning.
However political stakeholders who felt bad about the list said all the nominees were appointed in violation of the governor’s earlier promise to select names from the stakeholder’s nomination.
The majority of the stakeholders who were said to have battled to ensure Kefas victory during the election were eventually disappointed with the list that was made public.
“Almost all the appointees are not known by Tarabians. Some of them were to be family members of his friends.” An aggrieved former commissioner who begged for anonymity told UNIVERSALREPORTERS.
He expressed disappointment that the governor deceived them to submit list of possible appointees only to turn out to do otherwise.
“All the names we submitted on the governor’s directive after due consultations non was considered” he lamented.
“The pronouncement by the governor turned out to be a mere statement. It turned out that the list of commissioners contained those not submitted by the stakeholders but that of those who have personal relationships with him.
“They governor’s action as pitched us against our political loyalist and supporters.
“He should have safe us the stressed of making unnecessary consultation by announcing his choice.” He noted
A political analyst Iliya Dogo, told UNIVERSALREPORTERS that, “it is very clear that the majority of the people who fought for the emergence of Kefas are not comfortable or happy with the turn of events.”
“To them, the appointments were not grassroots–based because they did not enjoy the popular support of those who worked for PDP. “If not properly handled, it will bring a crack in the PDP camp in the state.”
“Yes the governor has the constitutional power to singlehandedly pick his commissioners. But in politics, there is the need to be sensitive to the people’s feelings because they elected you.”
“With the challenges on the ground, we need young persons with not only rich educational background but also with experience in managing human resources.”
Speaking on the issues the chief press secretary to the governor, Yusuf Sanda said, “The most important thing is that all those nominated are indigenes of Taraba and are technocrats that can handle any form of responsibility” he said.
“The governor made it very clear that he is bringing in new and young people with the qualifications to bring fresh and new ideas into governance.
He said contrary to speculations that the governor ignored the list submitted by the stakeholders, Mr. Sanda said “Many of those on the list were recommended by the stakeholders and they are well known by the governor personally.”
He said the old breed of politicians should not express fear because there are more other appointments that he is sure the governor will consider them.
“There is no way the governor will forget those that worked towards his victory, I am sure there will be a place for them to add value to governance,” he explained.
Speaking on the issue of Yorro, he said ” I don’t want to speak on what I am not aware of; I think the governor will be in a better position to give an explanation on why there was no nominee from Yorro.”
