If the current governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu wants to succeed in his new assignment as head honcho of the state of excellence, he should drop Mrs Uzamot Akinbile-Yusuf from the list sent to the state Assembly.
The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday, sent the names of 25 commissioners and special advisers to the House of Assembly for ratification.
Among those on the list are the former Secretary to the State Government, Tunji Bello; former Commissioner for Information, Wale Ahmed; former Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, among others.
The list contained twenty-five names who are to assume duty as Commissioners and Special Advisers upon ratification by the legislature.
Not a few residents of Alimoso disagreed with Sanwo-Olu’s choice of Akinbile.
Referring to her as ‘a woman of low substance who cannot string a clean sentence in English language, it should be noted that her proposed appointment didn’t get the consent of major players in Alimoso constituency.
“We see her as a flighty politician who claims to be a pharmacist but has built more gas stations in Alimoso than having a chemist’s shop. The self-acclaimed Pharmacist Akinbile-Yusuf is a curious choice that might dent the image of the government and bring the exalted office of a commissioner to an all-time low if her name passes through the screening without having a thorough look at her incompetence at the ministry of Youths and Social Development (where she first served under Ambode) and then in the ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment. Her performance was abysmally low.
However, it was gathered a certain cabal in the Alimosho caucus of Lagos West Senatorial district has always being behind her appointments despite the glaring ineptitude she exhibits.
Close sources disclosed that some stakeholders within Lagos APC are uncomfortable with the choice of Akinbile-Yusuf, for many reasons. One of the reasons cited is her academic qualification, which they insist is suspect; as she can hardly string a clean sentence in English together. Also, this group explains if she is a pharmacist at all, they say it must be a carry-over of her ability to dispense local herbs to ill and infected locals in Osun State where she was raised and schooled but merely later sought to validate her “eleweomo” prowess with a procured certificate in Pharmacy.
“Is she the only woman in Alimoso? Why ‘Moremi’ again? She has been building gas stations everywhere with embezzled funds and she is now going to work with Sanwo-Olu? She must be dropped and another competent woman appointed,” sources disclosed.
Though said to be married, Akinbile-Yususf is alleged to be living with a boyfriend who practically feeds off her after she left her husband (Akinbile) in curious circumstances a few years ago. Strangely, Akinbile-Yusuf has now added Shehu Yusuf’s name to her former (now late) husband’s name without formal wedlock even as the current man-about-town boyfriend has two other wives at home.
“How can this type of woman return to Alausa again as commissioner? Is it because she is an in-law to a notorious political goon, Abdulahi Enilolobo and shares birthday with her godfather and “close” ally, Governor Rauf Aregbesola?” a reliable source disclosed.
Will Sanwo-Olu’s cabinet include a low substance commissioner who will be a hard sell to Islamic clerics; who will shy away from debates and media interviews and one who has even always struggled through prepared speeches thereby shelving most of her responsibilities to her Permanent Secretary?
Time will tell.