Senator Ademola Adeleke, the next governor of Osun State, has disclosed purported plans by the outgoing governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, to select his friends as permanent secretaries.
The claim was made in a statement released on Monday and signed by Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke’s spokeswoman.
Adeleke claimed that the Oyetola administration had plans to name 15 new permanent secretaries a few weeks before his term was up.
According to the statement, Oyetola was already gathering the names of the supporters he intended to nominate as PS, and he might announce their selection at any time.
It further stated that Adeleke would review the state of the bureaucracy in the state when he took office in order to uphold due process and guarantee that senior staff members were placed in the proper positions through an open and merit-based procedure.
It thus urged Oyetola to drop the idea since it amounted to using appointment power at an inopportune moment when the electorate had chosen a new leader.
“We observe that Oyetola has been in charge of the government for the past three and a half years with only about nine permanent secretaries.
It’s still unclear how he came up with the idea to raise the number in the last months of his term.
When a new governor is due to take over the state’s government, it cannot be in good faith for you to designate important officials like permanent secretaries.
The team that the new governor will lead has a right to be chosen by him.
It should be obvious that attempting to predict the composition of the new government is pointless.
“The decision made by the departing governor is consequently distasteful and a continuation of ongoing efforts to undermine the incoming administration.
“We also urge senior administrators to refrain from accepting any Greek gifts that could harm their careers.
The statement concluded, “To be warned is to be careful.