***says it violates Sec 14(4) of the Nigerian Constitution
By Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse
A member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa state has faulted the state governor, Malam Umar Namadi Danmodi over the list of 16 commissioner nominees sent to the state Assembly for screening.
The list contradicted section 14(4) of the Nigerian constitution.
This was contained in a press statement issued in Dutse, by one Malam Rabiu Karitsalle from Taura local government area in the state indicating that the recently released list of commissioner nominees by the Governor is bereft of majority representation by APC and the state in general.
According to the statement “The nomination of commissioners has flagrantly violated section 14(4) of the Nigerian constitution as amended.
He said the list manifestly is seen to have favoured some LGAs of Jigawa state that have two slots whereas some more politically influential LGAs were left with nothing”.
Mallam Taura expressed concern that Ringim, Gumel, Kazaure, Hadejia and Birnin Kudu were given undue favour with more slots than what the law guarantees at this stage.
He also expressed bitterness over the exclusion of some local government areas such as Taura, Gagarawa, Guri, Gwaram etc with no representation in the executive council despite the fact that they commissioner nominee in the last eight years of former governor Badaru Abubakar’s administration
The statement further indicated that the said local government areas garnered the highest votes for APC in the Presidential election and came third in the governorship elections in Jigawa state in the 2023 elections.
He added that “In fact a lot of people are wondering how Birnin Kudu local government area can boast of the SSG and commissioner slots at a time when the LGA performed poorly with abysmal outcomes.
He said the Party lost all the legislative seats in the LGA in the last elections”.
“The composition of the Executive Council sent for clearance by Danmodi is short of public expectations as some nominees have integrity issues.
For instance, he said a nominee is too young to be part of the Executive Council amongst other accusations”.
He therefore called on the governor and APC to do something urgently to address the anomally for justice, fairness and unity of the party.
When contacted through his mobile phone the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr Hamisu Mohd did not pick his calls