By Mahmud Saba Dumagi
The Otoge movement which many had thought would birth a fresh air in Kwara as widely claimed in the build up to the 2019 general election that led to public outcry against the last administration has not only failed in getting the fresh air promised, but also got the air polluted with the decision Kwarans made in 2019.
Kwarans have witnessed leadership and governance but I don’t think we’ve had it worse in the history of our dear state of harmony. This is what you get when a Governor’s only purpose is to make headlines to look good but not to sincerely serve his people.
One would wonder why Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq failed to have the state executive council meeting, atleast for once but getting to know the reasons behind it, you will definitely agree with me that it is needless with the PPS that has taken over the job of the Chief of Staff, SSG, Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners and other aides.
Since her assumption of office, we have been to realize that, it is very possible to run a state without holding state executive council meetings when you have a woman like Olajumoke Monsura Gafar because she is so powerful than the entire executive members.
Right in the Ahmadu Bello Way Government House, Kwara State of Nigeria we have the Super Principal Private Secretary to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Jumoke Monsura Gafar. This lady has grown so wide and influential in the government of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq along with all the benefits expected of a Deputy Governor, Chief of Staff, SSG, SA combine, and she has dominated the state airwaves for a while now.
The news around the affairs of the state, especially as it has to do with the governor’s involvement in governance is that it is not Mallam Abdulrahman that is snapping his fingers to get many things underway and rolling, but Jumoke Gafar, who with her nod and approval could get things done and determine who gets what in the state of harmony, with the governor backing though..
To set the record straight – if all informations gathered are to be believed, PPS Jumoke Gafar has taken charge and control of Governor AA administration, having conveniently grasped the state machineries via the administrative scope of POSDCORB, as she’s seen at the centre of Planning, Organising, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting. Without mincing words, no operation of government is carried out without her input as it stands today in Kwara.
Contractors are not spared in the league of worshipers of the Queenship who many of them see as the lender of their last resort in getting the favour of the governor. The story goes that many political gladiators and players of sort now seek appointments and portfolios through the former UK sales girl who is now a demigod in the formation of power in Kwara.
And so is the narrative being publicised about a PPS whose office has submerged the role of the Deputy Governor/CoS/SSG put together. She’s an aide transformed into a boss, and an executive recklessness aided through misuse of power.
Beyond going on social media to flunt Agbada and distributing gas cylinders to their friends, ask the Commissioners and other governrment appointees what they’ve been able to achieve and the values they’ve added to the administration of Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq in Kwara State, their response will always be nothing because Olajumoke Monsura Gafar has been the one determining ‘what happens where’ and ‘who gets what’ in their various ministries while they are just flower verse for decorations in their respective offices.
It is astonishing to see how an unsuccessful lady from the UK suddenly became so powerful to render all the other political appointees in the AA administration useless including the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Alhaji Mamman Saba Jubril from Kwara North.
History would not skip the record that Kwara north had the SSG from 2019-2023 and at the same time on record that he could not function as the SSG to serve his people and state better because of a Principal Private Secretary appointed by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
The former Chief of Staff, Late Adisa Logun died on the 7th of July, 2020. Till this day, no Chief of Staff has been appointed to replace the deceased when the governor already has Olajumoke Monsura Gafar working in that capacity.
We are not surprised that this is happening in Kwara but surprised to know that even the legislative arm of government is not exempted in Jumoke’s lordship, as many of the state legislators are seen paying homage to her to sought favour as they all know the work stops on her table.
Thinking Kwara Northerners will vote for Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for second term is a joke taken too far because we will always question the impact of our sons and daughters appointed in the cabinet.
Hon. Mahmud Saba Dumagi writes from Edu LGA of Kwara State.
