Kwara Govt House renovation gulps N.5bn

By Jimoh Sulyman
If the fillers from the government circle are anything to go by, the newly renovated Kwara State Government House is said to have cost a whopping sum of N500 million, which this medium has now discovered to be the taste of the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, though the initial cost of erecting the edifice was not up to half of renovation cost.
It was also alleged that the renovation contract was given to one Hajia Hajarat Waziri Ibrahim, a sister-in-law to the governor’s younger brother, Mallam Isiaq AbdulRazaq with the money paid in two tranches of N250million.
Governor AbdulRazaq who has been residing at the Presidential Lodge since he came to power in May, 2019, is said to have got ready to move to the seat of power next month now that it has been renovated, but the question on everybody’s lips now is; can’t half a billion naira construct another befitting Government House?
Meanwhile, in an interesting twist to the story, it was gathered that Lobbyists and power grabblers in state government have started going fetish in desperate ploy to forge more stranglehold influence in the administration of the state.
One of such instances was when an unidentified member of staff at Government House, sprinkled grains of maize (coated with honey) around the premises of the Government House, among other ritualistic acts reported from the ‘House’.
The battle for power and influence has continued to plague the APC-led administration in the state, with the APC members accusing the State Governor of aggregating to himself all the power in government.
It is also said that Governor AbdulRahman is now set to appoint new Chief of Staff and four new commissioners.
Chief of staff seat has had a lot of twists to it, the climax was when the Governor was said to have made a u-turn on his decision to appoint former Permanent Secretary in the Government House, Alhaji Mahee AbdulKadir after announcement has been made across several media platforms.
The position of Chief of Staff has remained vacant since the demise of the former occupant of the office, Alhaji Aminu Adisa Logun, who died sometimes in July 2020, due to complication from Covid-19 infection.
A death that drew many reactions especially when Governor AbdulRahman declared that he last had physical contact with his Chief of Staff, Adisa Logun, on April 6 which was two months before his death.
The Governor’s declaration then seems strange to some people considering that the chief of staff should be the closest person to the executive Governor of the state and a hand-on staff.
However fingers still remain crossed as to who the Governor will choose for the coveted position, a decision that is set to be made in the coming months.