…set to forward names to Gov, Monday
Mumini AbdulKareem
The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has received a large list of party nominees who will be considered for appointive positions in the new cabinet, National Pilot reliably gathered last night.
The list that has about six hundred names, it was learnt, include loyalists of top party chieftains of the APC and members who were nominated across the state.
According to sources who spoke on the issue last night on condition of anonymity, three names were requested to be submitted each from the 193 wards in the state while one nominee each were demanded per ward from the state caucus.
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is expected to make his appointments of commissioners, Special Advisers, members of board and other employments from the large pool of the list.
“Three names were requested by the party and collated ward by ward across the entire sixteen local governments in the state and one nominee from each ward each from (state caucus). The Governor will then appoint his commissioners, special advisers and other aides from the large pool of the list that will be submitted to him.
“It does not mean all the people from the large list submitted will be appointed at the end of the day, but the Governor is not expected to go outside the list to make his appointment, which comprised input for party stakeholders across the wards”, the source added
Another source who also confirmed receipt of the list by the party told this reporter that it will however be forwarded to the Governor on Monday from where names of preferred appointees are expected to be streamlined for engagement in the new cabinet.
“Those names were already submitted to the State Working Committee (SWC) of the APC for onward delivery to the Governor on Monday, (next) week. The local government executive used their “discretion” to “share it towards under them. Meanwhile some wards were asked to submit one name and others two”, he added
It was not clear how long will the governor and other top party chieftains act on the submitted list but the party hinted that more names may be forwards after the initial submission. The Publicity Secretary of the APC in Kwara, Alhaji Tajudeen Aro in a telephone chart told this reporter that no deadline has been fixed for the submission of names.
Although Governor Abdulrazaq is yet to make any official announcement on the size of the cabinet, there are widespread insinuations among some tops officials of the party that he has decided to reduce it some the 19 operated by the last administration.
When contacted for comments on telephone about the latest development, the APC chairman in the state, Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa said he was at a noisy place and requested the reporter to call back. But response to text message sent to him was still being awaited before this paper went to bed last night.
Recall that this medium had reported the commencement process of selection of names of party members who are to be subsequently considered for appointive positions in the next cabinet in line with the directive of the party.
After the initial appointment of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief of State (CoS) and Chief Press Secretary (CPS) recently, the Governor ceased to make further announcement amidst agitations from party members.
The halt in further announcement since then by the Governor has however attracted differing comments from within and outside the fold of the party with some attributing it to the high wire lobbying among top members and vested stakeholders interest.
