Governor Ademola Adeleke has been accused of nepotism and favoritism since announcing the Osun State cabinet and board chairmen.
However, several critics remarked that several appointees had excelled in previous positions.
However, Mrs. Adenike Adeleke’s appointment as Commissioner for Federal Matters intrigued them.
Adenike, from Osogbo, was the second wife of the first governor of Osun State, late Senator Isiaka Adeleke, the elder brother of the incumbent governor.
The state’s main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, was furious with the Abuja-based businesswoman’s selection as commissioner to fill one of the Osogbo Local Government Area’s cabinet posts.
In a statement, Osun State APC Chairman Tajudeen Lawal contended that Adenike should not have been given the commissioner post for Osogbo, her hometown, because she is still wedded to the Adeleke family from Ede.
Lawal also objected to the governor’s sister-in-law receiving a cabinet role, as if Osun government affairs had become the Adelekes’ private property.
Despite objections, the late Adeleke’s widow and 24 others went to the House of Assembly, were confirmed by parliamentarians after screening, and were sworn in by the governor.
The first Commissioner for Federal Matters was the widow of the governor.
Just as the dust from the late Adeleke’s wife appointment was beginning to settle, another furor hit Osun politics with the appointment of 30-year-old Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State graduate Tunji Adeleke (Jnr).
He is Adeleke’s oldest son and Osun’s current governor’s nephew.
If the younger Adeleke had not been named Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, a post virtually always reserved for persons in their 60s and 70s, perhaps the opposition to his choice would not have been so great.
In Osun’s history since 1999, four senior men have served as LGSC chairman, with the youngest being in his early 60s at the time of his appointment.
Late Chief Tunji Abolade served as Osun State governor from 1999 to 2003, followed by Chief Femi Omotara, who was head of the Local Government Service Commission during Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s 2003–2010 governorship.
Dr. Peter Babalola, Oyinlola’s former Chief of Staff, chaired the commission during Aregbesola’s term, while Mr. Tunde Adedeji led it during Adegboyega Oyetola’s.
All prior commissioners were Osun natives and averaged in their early 60s and early 70s when appointed. Before leading the commission, they had prominent careers in private industry, military, and politics.
Thus, the younger Adeleke’s selection as chairman of the state commission that promotes, trains, and transfers local government employees was atypical.
Mr. Tunde Adedeji, a 71-year-old who served as commission chairman for four years before resigning less than nine months ago, listed age, maturity, sound education, solid personnel management experience, and other qualities as necessary for the position.
However, Adedeji said Adeleke could thrive as commission chairman provided he was humble, learned quickly, and took counsel.
“I was 66 when I became chairman of Local Government Service Commission,” he stated. Civil service was short-lived for me. I worked for one year and traveled for two years for post-graduation.
I returned to the private sector and became a senior manager in Unilever before starting my own business in 1984. The Local Government Service Commission chairman oversees local government employees excluding politicians.
The Local Government Service Commission oversees all local government employees. They handle their allocation, career, welfare, and training. So, if you put a young guy who doesn’t have the experience, he could be able to handle if he’s well-trained, comes from a decent household, and is ready to learn.
He explained how Adeleke could handle the new position.
The previous commission boss stated, “If he is an arrogant and sassy kind, the civil employees would mess him up since they are more matured, experienced and elderly. We have civil workers close to 60 years old who doctored their ages to be under 60.
So, picture putting a 30-year-old in charge of 58-year-olds. Some brushes were inevitable.
I don’t know what the Governor saw or why he appointed him. Perhaps he wanted work for the boys. Let him do whatever they’re doing there. How can somebody supervise training if he has never had any training?
“Also, how would someone who has never worked appreciate the criteria for appointment, promotion, placement, advancement, and other things? How will he understand rank? Everything finishes on the local government service commission chairman’s table.”
The recently appointed Chairman of the Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, disagreed with Adedeji, believing the older ex-chairman was measuring Adeleke’s competence for his new post using outdated criteria.
Odeyemi believes that many younger people, with their vast knowledge of Information Communication Technology, have excelled in the terrain where the so-called more elderly technocrats stumbled, and that all signs point to the new appointee’s ability to manage the office.
Odeyemi said, “The way and manner the children of nowadays develop themselves in technology and governance generally is different from the time when age was almost the most important criterion for appointment into big offices.
“Now we believe in giving youth opportunities. Where do we begin if we tell the children not to run? Governor Ademola Adeleke deserves praise for providing his nephew that chance. We witnessed his brother becoming Chief of Staff. We witnessed someone appointing his wife as a commissioner without portfolio.
“But in this scenario, giving them an open appointment implies they will work for whatever money they make and know people are watching them work. It will be hard for them to abuse their state service.”
Dr. Misbau Lateef, a UK-based lawyer, claimed Adeleke did not break the law by nominating his relatives to public jobs.
Osogbo lawyer Nahim Adekilekun agreed.
However, University of Hull law lecturer Lateef said it was immoral for Adeleke to appoint family members to public jobs whose competency was unknown.
He added, “Generally speaking, the governor has not contravened any legislation appointing Tunji Adeleke or his family members or anybody into government offices. He can designate commissioners and others under Constitutional Section 192(2).
“Mr. Tunji Adeleke is competent to be a commissioner, and there is no law preventing his appointment. Qualified doesn’t necessarily mean competent. I’m aware of his competence concerns. The governor and the appointed’s final performance decide that.
Thus, the governor may not have treated all local government regions equally. As many have accused the governor of, selecting buddies and family members to government has the moral weight of nepotism.
Adekilekun remarked, “for the purpose of comparison, will anybody have protested if Davido had been made the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism?”
The lawyer added, “Another angle to this is, Mrs Adenike Adeleke is the daughter of the famed Baba Omidiran in Osogbo and a wife to the late Isiaka Adeleke. The position is not for financial benefit because Omidirans of Osogbo are wealthy.
“Tunji Adeleke (jnr) is a US-based son of the late governor Adeleke. He ran a US firm before his appointment, thus his appointment was not for financial gain.
Unlike the two legal practitioners who disagreed, two civil society organization leaders who commented on the Osun governor’s appointments of family members to sensitive posts said such action could not be right for a government riding the wave of massive support from the people.
The Convener of Nigerian For Good Governance, Mr. Wole Oladapo, and the Programme Officer of the Centre for Public Accountability, Ayo Ologun, criticized the governor’s nominations separately.
Oladapo said, “Appointing the wife of your brother as commissioner, the son of that same brother as the chairman of a sensitive organization as the Local Government Service Commission is unfortunate, and this is not what we bargained for in Osun at a time like this.”
