From CLEMENT ADEYI, Osogbo
ALMOST two years into his second tenure as Governor of Osun State after his election on August 9, 2010 and inauguration on November 27, Rauf Aregbesola has not formed his cabinet. The cabinet he constituted during his first tenure was not inaugurated until August, 2011, almost nine months after he was sworn in on November 27, 2010.
That was the last time he inaugurated any cabinet. Daily Sun gathered that the governor has been making use of his former cabinet members and friends as consultants to run his government since November 27, 2014.
Similarly, the governor has not conducted any local government elections since 2010. He used executive secretaries deployed from different ministries to function as local government chairmen. When their tenure expired in March 2016, he appointed council managers from Grade Level 14 to run the council areas now numbering 67 after creating 31 additional ones recently.
As for the non-conduction of local government elections since he came on board, it was gathered that lingering legal proceedings instituted by both the APC and later PDP over appointment of State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) officials that are supposed to conduct the elections have been the albatross.
These generated some flaks from different quarters, including the opposition party (PDP), constitutional lawyers, political analysts, public commentators, residents among others.
While others feel that Aregbesola has not committed any crime nor breached any law, others believe that he is running a one-man administration and must go ahead to form his cabinet and also conduct local government elections as soon as possible without recourse to the financial challenges on ground.
While defending the non-constitution of cabinet, Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Semiu Okanlawon, attributed the situation to financial incapacitation:
“When Aregbesola came on board during his first term, he met a terrible financial situation on ground. There was a challenge of how to pay the debt of the 18.3 billion naira loan which the PDP administration had taken shortly before the advent of his administration. The financial constraints did not allow the governor to go ahead immediately to form a cabinet until eight months later. In the interim, he decided to make do with civil servants and some of his friends in government who are ready to work free of charge because they believe in his personality and credibility, vision and capacity to turn things around.”
He said the governor had had a harbinger of financial challenges even before he settled down for the second term after his inauguration in 2014: “Almost immediately after his resumption, he had given a warning that, given the precarious financial crunch he had suspected, he was not likely to constitute a cabinet immediately. Whether it was going to be two, three or four months, we were not sure. But this has taken more than months now. However, government keeps on running.”
Okanlawon said the non-constitution of the executive council had not actually posed any challenges to smooth administration in the state. He added that it was the former cabinet members who are rendering free service: “They willingly offer themselves to give helping hands because they were parts of the system and believe in the vision of the governor.
“The governor refers to them as consultants. They offer a selfless service as a sacrifice because they understand the financial challenges across the country. Their services are their own contributions to the state in the efforts to ameliorate the hardship that the financial crunch has brought on the people.
“If you constitute a cabinet, you have to pay their salaries, allowances and make them comfortable to do their jobs. But where is the money to do these in the face of the poor economic realities?
“We know that not having a cabinet in place is not a normal situation because the governor and the kitchen cabinet are under pressure going extra mile to do the job of commissioners, but there is nothing anybody can do for now. It is not a tea party for the governor, the kitchen cabinet and others that are making sacrifices to the bridge the gap. But it is a sacrifice that must be made for the future of the state.”
He, however, ruled out the sacrifice as a yardstick that could be used in appointing them as members of the cabinet that the governor has promised to constitute very soon.
Okanlawon, while also reacting to the opposition party’s (PDP) harangues over the zero-cabinet situation, took a swipe at the Olagunsoye Oyinlola administration: “During the eight-year reign of PDP, what did they do with the cabinet they had in place? How many times did they hold executive council meeting? I don’t think the totality of the number of weeks they held exco meeting was up to one year but government was running. So, if Aregbesola does not have a cabinet in place now, it doesn’t make much difference.”
While insisting that the financial crisis worsened during Aregbesola’s second tenure, attributing it to the dwindling federal allocation, he expressed optimism that the governor would form a cabinet before he leaves office in 2018: “He promised to do so and he has not said anything contrary. I am sure he will constitute his cabinet soon.
“We cannot quantify the amount that has been saved from not having a cabinet in place because the money is not there in the first place. But to a large extent, the little resources on ground are being used judiciously to run government and for the ongoing infrastructural development in the state.
“There is no legal implication. Has the constitution that says that the governor should form a cabinet stipulated a time lag? If the constitution had stipulated that the governor must constitute his cabinet within a certain number of days or months after his inauguration, then we can say Aregbesola had violated the law.”
He added that the non-cabinet structure was neither unprecedented nor peculiar to Osun State, noting that there were a few governors that do not have cabinet. He said a former governor of old Kaduna State, did not have a cabinet for the period he governed: “I am not saying that the legislature is a rubber stamp. They are also feeling the pains of the financial challenges. Do you see the members of the House of Assembly with assorted official cars? Apparently no!”
He defended the state on bailout by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), even without a cabinet: “There were conditions listed for the bailout. If the state had failed to meet the conditions, would it have been given the bailout by the CBN?”
The ruling All Progressives Party (APC), Secretary, Abdulrasaq Salinsile, argued that Aregbesola’s decision not to form a cabinet was not because he wanted to be running governance alone:
“It was borne out of the current economic problems which Osun is part of. It is very important to have a cabinet in place but because of the financial crunch on ground, it has not been possible.” He said very soon, the cabinet would be in place “because we are already getting over our financial challenges.”
The party scribe added that the non-setting up of cabinet was not because the governor is contented with the kitchen cabinet which comprises the deputy governor, the Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG): “There is an adage that two heads are better than one. No matter how dogged, committed and talented the kitchen cabinet is, if you have the real cabinet members on hand, the jobs would become easier.
“One cannot really say that absence of cabinet is not regrettable because, apart from their administrative responsibilities, including their pieces of advice to government and support, they also have peculiar contributions to their various constituencies. The link that they would have opened up between the grassroots and their party as well as other benefits are not there. The diverse ways that their people would have been benefitting from their positions have been lost.
“We are talking to the people and they understand. They are hopeful that very soon, things will normalise when the economy improves.”
He explained the non conduct of local government election this way: “The last administration of PDP, during the tenure of Oyinlola, had failed to follow due process in appointing the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) commissioners. We were in Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), then as the opposition party. We went to court where the case pended for a very long time. Eventually, the judge gave a ruling against them and they were disbanded and sent packing.
“When our party came to power and appointed SIEC commissioners, the PDP also went to court to challenge their appointment, insisting that it was their own members in SIEC that were disbanded that must be retained. The case also lingered in court for a very long time. That is why Aregbesola has not been able to conduct local government elections.”
He, however, gave a hint that since the judgement had been passed in favour of APC recently, the local government elections will soon be conducted.
In the interim, it is council managers that have been functioning as local council chairmen since the executive secretaries that had been playing the roles were dissolved after the expiration of their tenure.
For a retired media executive, Adetoyese Shittu-Alamu, Argebesola’s non-constitution of cabinet is unconstitutional and should be resisted:
“That Aregbesola has not constituted this all important body 18 months into his administration is unfortunate. So, one can ask, where are the human rights activists and crusaders? Where are the legal luminaries? Where is the NBA? It is the state House of Assembly that must tackle the governor on such an aberration. But would they?
“The PDP as an alternative party should test this constitutional matter in court, but are they willing? I am not a lawyer, but I think there should be a lacuna in the law, which the governor is capitalizing on by not forming a cabinet, but this may not help his party in the long run.
“I advise the governor to form his cabinet and place them on the half salary that the senior civil servants are being paid due to the current financial crisis in the state.”
Yinka Salaam, a public commentator and political analyst: “If there is no law that says government can not operate without a cabinet, I don’t think Aregbesola has committed any offence nor broken any law. What the government is trying to avoid is unnecessary spending on things that are not sacrosanct. Although it is important to have a cabinet in place, if the governor feels that there is no luxury of funds to have it, so be it. It is quite expensive to maintain a cabinet in the face of the current financial crisis in the state.”
On the non-conduction of local government election: “Aregbesola understands the terrain very well. He may have observed that corruption is at its peak at the grassroots. What do local government chairmen do? They only collect the money from the government and share it, putting grassroots development at stake.
Another resident and public commentator, Otunba Olugbenga Olarinde, faulted the governor: “It is constitutionally wrong because the governor can not take certain decisions on governance without the approval of the state council executive. You must carry people along and it is through the cabinet that you can do this. Whatever decision taken without the cabinet is illegal. Decisions taken without the approval of the representatives of the people you are governing smacks of autocracy.
“When President Muhammadu Buhari discovered the cost implication of having a full capacity ministers, he only pruned down the number. He did not decide to operate on a zero-cabinet structure. Aregbesola should have decided to prune down the number instead of his zero-cabinet administration, if the rationale behind it is actually to save cost.
“His kitchen cabinet (the deputy governor, his chief of staff, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) including himself who are administering the state currently are not true representatives of the people at the grassroots.”
A lawyer, Kanmi Ajibola, insisted that Aregbesola is running what he described as an unconstitutional governance: “Aregbesola is operating a monocracy in Osun State. In the second year of his monocratic government, he has not appointed commissioners as envisaged by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
“Until the government is formed, it cannot function. There are some decisions and policies of government that need the ratification of the exco. He observed that for six years running, “Aregbesola has practised illegality by appointing caretakers to run the affairs of local government areas.
“By the provision of Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is guaranteed. Any other thing other than this will be in a violation of the constitution. As such, Section 1 (3) of the said constitution will become operative to the effect that any law passed by any state introducing appointive governance in the local government will be considered inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution, and to every extent of the inconsistency it is void.
“The Supreme Court in the case of Eze v. Governor of Abia State (2014) LPELR-23276 (SC) has vheld that “The frequent dissolution of local governments and appointment of caretaker councils by state governors in this country is not only illegal but highly undemocratic.”
He stressed that Aregebsola’s monocratic government was being run in his personal interest, lamenting that the local government funds are not being released to them. He alleged that there was no due processes as well as check and balances within the executive mechanism. According to him, all the steps were borne out of the governor’s breach of oath of office and code of conduct.
PDP spokesman, Diran Odeyemi, who expressed the party’s discontentment with the administration’s zero-cabinet, said it had been largely responsible for what he described as several mistakes being made by the Aregbesola’s administration as well as mismanagement of public funds. He urged the National Assembly to call on the governor to order by constituting a cabinet and also conduct local government elections to ensuring smooth governance:
“It’s very unfortunate that Aregbesola has not formed a cabinet since two years of his second tenure. This is the reason for many of his mistakes. He has been thinking alone and working alone. He is a sole administrator. It is a slap of the constitution. He is not helping the state at all and I wonder why people are silent over the anomaly. Even, some members of his party are not happy with him.
“Nothing is working well in the state. It gives room for mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds. There can’t be accountability when you don’t have the relevant people to ask how public funds are being spent. That is why we are currently in a financial mess now and that is why workers’ salaries are not being paid up to date.”