Lagos assembly invites Sanwo-Olu’s nominees for final screening

The Lagos State House of Assembly has invited the 11 nominees for the State Executive Council, Civil Service Commission and the state House of Assembly Service Commission (LAHASCOM) for final screening on January 16.

The Assembly made the resolution after adopting the report of an eight-man ad-hoc committee on the screening of the nominees.

It agreed that the final confirmation would be done after the final screening of the nominees on Thursday.

The committee’s Chairman, Rotimi Abiru, while submitting the report to the committee of the whole on Monday, said that all the nominees met the criteria of the committee.

Mr Abiru said that while three persons were nominated for the state executive council, three for LAHASCOM while five others were for the civil service commission.

He said that all of them were screened by the committee on December 13 and they all answered the questions put to them and provided all the necessary documents.

However, some lawmakers, including Tunde Braimoh, Rotimi Olowo and Gbolahan Yishawu, queried the criteria used by the committee in the nomination and sought to know the specific performances of the nominees.

However, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, said there was no need to doubt the competence of the committee.

“The nominees will still be invited by the Assembly to defend their nominations and this would give us an opportunity to know their ability and capability,” he said.

Three commissioner-nominees, including Ganiyu Ayuba, Olugbenga Oyerinde and Bamigbose Martins, were screened by the committee on December 13, 2019.

The assembly had, on August 16, 2019, rejected three of the cabinet nominees presented to it for approval by Sanwo-Olu, thus necessitating their replacements.

Those rejected by the assembly included Ajayi Bembe, George Obafemi and Olanrewaju Sanusi.

The eight other nominees screened by the committee included three for the state House of Assembly Service Commission and five for the state Civil Service Commission.

Those screened for the Assembly Service Commission included Akeem Bello, a member of the eighth assembly, Kabiru Lawal, a member of the assembly between 2007 and 2015 and Richard Osungboye.

The nominees screened for the state Civil Service Commission were Babatunde Seriki, a former member of the assembly, Avoseh Suuru, Adesina Odeyemi, Olubunmi Fabanwo, and Kamalrudeen Olorunoje.