True! despite law, Adeleke hasn’t appointed commissioners 8 months into office

A Twitter user, @akomscopy in his tweet on Wednesday, June 28, said the governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has not appointed commissioners in the state. The tweet has generated reactions on social media. In the tweet, he said “Governor Adeleke is almost a year in office and not a single commissioner appointed. It’s funny […]

True! despite law, Adeleke hasn’t appointed commissioners 8 months into office

A Twitter user, @akomscopy in his tweet on Wednesday, June 28, said the governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has not appointed commissioners in the state.

The tweet has generated reactions on social media.

In the tweet, he said “Governor Adeleke is almost a year in office and not a single commissioner appointed. It’s funny a charlatan with money and affluence was allowed to take over Osun State Government House. Someone who joined politics by accident and became a senator with no tangible contributions in the Senate yet people of Osun said he’s their choice,” he tweeted.

Verdict: True

Verification

Checks by Daily Trust on Sunday show that Governor Adeleke has not appointed commissioners since assuming office on November 27, 2022.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that Governor Ademola Adeleke defeated the then incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, in the gubernatorial election that took place in the state on July 16, 2022.

Although, there had been reports that the governor will appoint his cabinet soon after coming to office, no official announcement has been made on the appointments till date.

This is despite the fact that there’s a law now in place that mandates the president and state governors to appoint ministers and commissioners within the first two months of taking over power.

About the new Law

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that former President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the bill that mandates the president and governors to submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly.

He also assented to the State Houses of Assembly Financial and State Judiciary autonomy bills and 14 other constitutional amendment bills alongside three other bills.

This, according to the Presidency, is in furtherance of Section 58 (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare, made the announcement in a statement on March 17, 2023.

The statement read, “Others are ensuring that the President and governors submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or State House of Assembly; and for related matters; enabling states generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid; and for related matters.

“Excluding the period of intervening events in the computation of time for determining pre-election matters petitions, etc; regulating the first session and inauguration of members-elect of the national and state assemblies; changing prisons to correctional service and re-designate correctional service in the concurrent list; and moving item “railway” from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.”

Conclusion: Checks by Daily Trust on Sunday validate the claim by the Twitter user that the Osun State governor has not appointed commissioners after over eight months in office despite a subsisting law mandating chief executives of states to do so.

This Fact Check is produced in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development CDD