Former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka and a former Commissioner for Information in Ogun State, Dr Niran Malaolu on Sunday shared thoughts on how to salvage the statuses of Deputy Governors from their current spare tyre roles.
Speaking on the topic “The Relationship Between Roles of Governor and Deputy Governor in Nigeria’s Constitution -Rethinking The Conundrum in The States“, the duo proffered templates that could help the polity, engineer meaningful development in a peaceful environment.
Professor Olusola-Eleka, (55), is a 1989 graduate of the Department of Building of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University and former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State between 2014 and 2018. He was also the Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party Gubernatorial Candidate in the 2018 Election.
Dr. Patrick Oluwaniran Malaolu, popularly known as ‘Niran Malaolu is a Journalist, Writer, Poet, Public Affairs Commentator, Researcher and Scholar. He is one of those who sacrificed for the emergence of democratic rule in Nigeria.
As the editor of The Diet Newspaper at the height of the June 12 Struggles,, Dr. Malaolu was arrested over the December 1997 phantom coup by the Abacha junta when gun-wielding soldiers stormed The Diet’s newsroom at night.
Malaolu was court-marshalled without being a soldier and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He regained his freedom in 1999. He is a former commissioner for information and strategy in Ogun state and founder and CEO of Rockcity FM, the first independent radio station in Ogun state.
While delivering the keynote address, Oba (Prof) Saka Matemilola who is the Patron to the platform, addressed loyalty or lack of it, mutual mistrust and suspicion arising from not having a proper definition for the roles of the Deputy Governors as part of the challenges causing rift between the Governors and their Deputies.
Sharing his experience, Olusola- Eleka stated : ”The Governor nominates the Deputy Governor which implies a join ticket of working, reasoning together and harmonising thoughts. This entails mutual agreement to achieve the common purposes of coming to government. Unfortunately this does not happen leading to friction and most governors will not tolerate this. Loyalty should be towards serving the people for better results.
When a Deputy Governor follows the Governor sheepishly, it is not loyalty by sycophancy. Loyalty should be a continuous agreement towards delivering the mandates.
”I swore to an oath which means I purposed in my heart to follow the constitution. There must be adequate loyalty to the constitution of Nigeria and when you are loyal to the constitution, you will be loyal to the people”.
” It is important for the people in government to realise that they derive their powers from the people as enshrined in the constitution. Therefore, loyalty to the constitution is loyalty to the people. Loyalty should not be around an individual”.
Identifying some of the challenges, Malaoulu, for his part asserted : ”In Nigeria, the Governor is the Government. That is what people see. It is supposed to be a joint ticket. However, we have challenges of personality clashes in Nigeria’s political landscape.
On why Governors suspect their Deputies, he said, ”It is a legitimate aspiration of any human being to be ambitious. If the Governor is not ambitious, he would not be Governor”.
Continuing, the media icon said “The major challenge are those who surround the Governors and their Deputies apparently for pecuniary gains or political exigencies.
”In every relationship there must be friction. Without friction there cannot be growth and development. We need opposing opinions and views to move forward. it is the responsibility of the leader to synthesise the ideas to move the state forward rather than casting aspersions. If they are serious with development issues , they would not have time for rancour. Unfortunately most of our Governors are like Emperors”
”Sincerely , we do not have Governors but Emperors, Malaolu lamented.
Corroborating Malaolu on the influence of third party, Olusola- Eleka fired : ” I recall a man who came to my office and was running down my principal. The man was from the same town with my principal, Governor Ayodele Fayose. I simply walked the man out of my office.
“No single day of acrimony throughout the four years. This is based on my understanding of my constitutional role hinged on ‘as directed’.
I was able to manage my relationship with former Governor Ayo Fayose . I became Deputy Governor by God’s providence. I was called upon, became running mate and Deputy Governor
Godliness and contentment served as the fulcrum of my relationship as the Deputy Governor. These are virtues I have lived with for years and cannot be sacrificed on the altar of politics. Secondly, I made up my mind not to focus on money. Whether I was paid what was due to me or not, whether I got what other Deputy Governors in other states got did not really matter to me. My focus was simply to deliver in every assignment and the records are there till tomorrow. Thirdly, I decided from day one not to allow third party to cause friction”.
Speaking on ambition, Olusola – Eleka opined : ”There is nothing wrong in an ambition provided it is not inordinate. It is wrong for a Deputy Governor to abandon governance and start thinking of succeeding the Governor. Most Governors will not take it lightly. It was my personal decision to succeed in any assignment given to me regardless of the situation. I decided to know my limits and not cross my boundaries. The Governor had his errors and I also had mine”.
The Olusola-Eleka template appears to be a necessary tool for undue and unecessary heating up of the polity which shifts attention away from governance and delivery of programmes to the masses while a few croniw smile to the bank, ValidViewNetwork reports.
Contrary to wide speculations that a review of the constitution and assigning specific roles to the Deputy Governors would solve the repeated rifts between the States helmsmen and their Deputies, the discussants advocated a change of orientation rather than a review of the constitution.
Malaolu aptly submitted : ”Rewriting the constitution will not solve the problem but the human beings operating the constitution must have a changed orientation. When politicians think on how to entrench themselves in power, there will continue to be friction. There is a need for Governors to accommodate different opinions. There can be disagreements which must be presented in a civil manner and processed accordingly.
“We can write constitution from now to eternity and nothing will change. Creating a role for the Deputy Governors will not solve the problem. Elected officers need to be properly educated with a adequate orientation on the ingredients of governance before commencement of activities.
Speaking on the emergence of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, it was argued that his emergence was based on the facts that he was careful, strategic and consulting widely.
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