Amidst allegations of lopsidedness in appointment of commissioners, Governor Abiodun promises creation of more ministries

Ogun state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun on Friday sworn-in 20 commissioners and 22 special advisers. The swearing-in is expected to kick-start effective service delivery to the people of Ogun in his second term in office.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the appointment of commissioners and special advisers had triggered agitations, condemnations and resentment from some sections in the state over the exclusion of some local governments in the appointment.

The governor had while swearing-in the new commissioners and special advisers announced plans to create more ministries and more appointments.

Findings by ValidViewNetwork show that some stakeholders, and politicians even within the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) are not pleased with the distribution of the appointments.

To some political watchers, the action smears of a grudge against the LGs performance in the 2023 governorship election.

A critical look by ValidViewNetwork at the list of commissioners appointed revealed that while some local government areas got more than 2 slots others were left out with nothing :

• Ijebu-ode – 4; Abeokuta North & Sagamu – 2.

Ogun state has 20 LG and for inclusion, many would have expected the governor to have picked commissioners from each of the local govt areas and not give some local government areas more status than others.

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A breakdown of the local govt and number of commissioners shows 15 LG got commissioner appointment while 5 did not. Of the 5 LG that did not get commissioner appointment, 4 are from Ogun East, same senatorial district as the governor while the remaining one is from Ogun West (Ipokia).

Abeokuta South – 1
Abeokuta North – 2
Ewekoro – 1
Ifo – 1
Obafemi – Owode – 1
Odeda – 1
Ado-Odo Ota – 1
Yewa North – 1
Yewa South – 1
Imeko- Afon – 1
Ipokia – nil
Ijebu East – nil
Ijebu North – 1
Ijebu North East – 1
Ijebu Ode – 4
Ikenne – 1
Odogbolu. – nil
Ogun Waterside – nil
Remo North – nil
Sagamu – 2

The political players have argued that there is no justifiable reason to leave out some local government areas while others got multiples of slots citing that there is nothing extraordinary in the appointees such that local government areas left out cannot produce their match or better representatives.

There are insinuations that the local governments that are currently left out will be of topmost consideration for the new miniatures though no-one knows when the new ministries will be created, ValidViewNetwork reports.