The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Saturday berated Governor Ademola Adeleke over the people he nominated for appointment as commissioners.
The party in a statement by its chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, said it was offensive to the sensibilities of Osun people that Adeleke would nominate the wife of his elder brother, Mrs Adenike Adeleke, as a commissioner.
Lawal who said the governor was guilty of nepotism, added that nominating only two women out of 25 nominees was against Adeleke’s campaign promise to women in the state.
The statement added, “Highlighted portion of the commissioner-nominees scenario that is hyper offensive to the sensibilities of the discerning minds in the state is the governor’s explanation that a wife of his late brother, one Mrs Adenike Folashade Adeleke, could not be counted as a member of his immediate family in Ede.
“All efforts by Governor Adeleke to confuse and convince any right-thinking members of the society with any grammatical and political chicanery to prove that he is not truly guilty of nepotism has fallen flat as in the Nigerian parlance, once a woman is married to any particular family, she has wholly become a part and parcel of such family.
“The composition of the Adeleke commissioner-nominees, apart from the fact that the slots are heavy in some local governments without considering the propriety of others, the parade of only two females in the list of 25 nominees is against the adopted World standard in any saner state and contrary to the promise the governor made to the women while campaigning.”
He charged the people not to expect any miracle from the Adeleke administration through his new commissioners, saying people do not give what they don’t have.
But responding, the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Mr Sunday Bisi, said APC demonstrated ignorance by attacking the commissioner-nominees without checking through their resume to be familiar with their antecedents.
Bisi in a statement said, “Covering up its ignorance in questionable big words and phrases, the APC state chairman and his stone age publicist shamelessly attempted to cast aspersions on credible professionals and administrators nominated to serve the state.
“How do you judge nominees without at least gaining access to their profiles? How do you condemn a list with almost two-thirds professionals, technocrats and administrators? Nominees are great patriots with enviable antecedents in private and public sectors. We have a list made up of experts in finance, education, economy, social sector, agriculture, sciences, law and engineering among others.”