‘JMF Stoking Hate, Disunity over Commissioners List; More Muslims Hold Political Offices Than Christians in Lagos’ – Activist
By THECONSCIENCEng
A Lagos based social rights activist, Idowu Cole, has joined the swelling ranks of voices who have asked that the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu be allowed to choose his preferred capable hands to run an effective administration with him.
Cole argued that the overall focus of appointments should be about selecting talents and leaders that can collaborate with the Governor smoothly to deliver development rather than religious considerations and other sentiments.
He also rubished allegations of Christians getting more appointments in Lagos under Governor Sanwo-olu, insisting that if checked holistically, more Muslims actually hold political appointments and leadership roles in Lagos than Christians.
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The activist who reeled out some figures made the remark in Lagos on Thursday against the backdrop of comments made by a coalition of religious groups called Joint Muslims Forum JMF on Tuesday alleging lopsidedness in the ratio of Christians to Muslims in the newly submitted list of nominees on the Commissioners List in the state.
Governor Sanwo-olu had sent the list to the Mudashir Ajayi Obasa-led state assembly for screening and approval about two weeks ago.
The activist called on the JMF group to do a deeper check on the overall ratio of political appointments and power holders between Christians and Muslims in Lagos and see that there’s reason no cause for alarm.
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He cautioned the group against stoking the embers of hatred, disaffection and division within the state with dangerous comments.
“I advise the JMF Group to do a more thorough check and not just focus on commissioners list. For example it will interest the JMF Group to note that all the three Senators from Lagos State are Muslims. Again, out of all the fifty seven chairmen and chairwomen of the local government councils and development areas in Lagos, thirty five (35) are Muslims while only twenty two (22) are Christians and nobody has made any noise about that.
“For me, it should be about who the governor wants to work with to deliver development in Lagos because if we are to consider Christian Muslim imbalance in the new commissioner nominees list, there are many areas too that favour Muslims more than Christians in the ratio of political appointments and offices within the state. So there should be no noise at all about that if we are for peace and goodness of the state.
“JMF as a group should focus more on proffering ideas and solutions that can assist the state government in fostering peace and progress in Lagos state and not appointment sharing formula.”
