APC, Ogagun Ajimobi in Action: I DEY LAAFU Ooo! #Oyo Commissioners, Special Advisers Lose 50% Salary# The modern-day emperor of Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, has ordered a 50 per cent reduction in the salaries of his cabinet members with effect from September. The fiat, which shocked all the commissioners, special advisers, senior special assistants and special assistants to their bone marrows, was handed down at the State Executive Council meeting held on Thursday. The decision has a direct link with a piercing interview a chieftain of the APCin the state, Honourable Kazeem Adesile Adedeji granted on a programme called Bull’s Eye on Splash F.M, a private radio station in Ibadan metropolis. Adedeji, who was sacked as a Commissioner in the state by Emperor Ajimobi on the suspicion of nursing governorship ambition in 2015, had lampooned the Ajimobi-led government of being peopled by strangers while those who worked hard for the success of the party at the polls were left suffering. NEWSLEAK was reliably informed that no sooner had the meeting started than Ajimobi told the cabinet members that “Kazeem granted an interview on Splash F.M and accused us of not empowering those who worked for us during election.” “So, to accommodate those who are complaining, I suggest we slash your salary by 10 per cent beginning from this month (September). The deductions will be set aside for those complaining and this will be so till 2015 when we shall hold election.” Ajimobi asked the bewildered cabinet members to contribute to the debate and in response, one of the sycophantic members and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Honourable Isaac Omodewu, was said to have suggested the deduction be raised to 15 per cent. Irked, the Commissioner for Justice, Adebayo Ojo and the Special Adviser on BCOS, Mr Yanju Adegbite quickly objected to Omodewu’s proposal, asking that the pay slash should not be further increased beyond the 10 per cent suggested by Ajimobi. Ojo, it was gathered, told the governor that most of the Commissioners were servicing loans taken from banks with their salaries and that the decision should be re-considered. Responding to the division, Emperor Ajimobi said he was disappointed in his cabinet that the members could not afford to sacrifice even their entire pay for those “who have not benefitted from his government.” He added that the 10 per cent he suggested was to test the cabinet members, instructing them that 50 per cent would be deducted from their pay. “If there is anyone here who has not made at least 50 million in almost three years in office, that person is lazy, uncreative or just simply stupid. Are you saying there are people who never had their own cars before they joined this government?” The order was said to have generated a lot of discontent against the governor from the cabinet members. Some of them were said to have expressed shock that Ajimobi, who could not boast of N1 million while contesting for the gubernatorial ticket of the ACN but has now amassed so much could come with such ill-thought decision. Cabinet members in Oyo State are among the least paid in the entire country. A commissioner earns about N400, 000, while a Special adviser takes home about N360, 000. Cabinet sources hinted of a likely mass resignation from the cabinet and that this will add to the ever growing list of enemies Ajimobi has attracted to himself as a result of the “couple-padlock- toko taya” government being run in the state. The other option left for those that will stay is to be “creative” as the governor has advised, a move interpreted to mean looking for avenue to make money through legitimate and illegitimate means to make up for the deduction.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 05:25:57 +0000
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