Women Makes Serious Accusation Against Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu

Punch reported that barely 24 hours after the Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, released the list of his 18 Commissioner-nominees, some women in the state on Wednesday faulted the list, saying the governor was bias for not including many women in his cabinet.

The governor on Tuesday sent the names of the nominees to the Ondo State House of Assembly for confirmation. The list comprised 16 males and two females.

The women under the auspices of the Ondo State Women Must Count kicked against the development, saying women were marginalised by the governor.

In a statement issued in Akure, the leader of the women group, Mrs. Olamide Falana, complained that the inclusion of just two women out of 18 Commissioner-nominees was unacceptable.

She said,

“We express our displeasure and find unacceptable the recent list of Commissioner-nominees submitted by Governor Akeredolu to the state House of Assembly for screening.

“The said list shows a total disregard to the yearnings of the women of the state who hitherto had very high hope of a better representation in numbers in the leadership of the state especially with the new thinking the governor professed.”

Aside marginalisation, Falana also faulted alleged lopsidedness in the previous appointments made by the governor, saying “The government is merely paying lip service to issues of gender parity promised in his manifesto.”

Falana added,

“We demand the 35 per cent affirmative action in all government appointments.”

But in his reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Segun Ajiboye, said Akeredolu

“is a true democrat who recognises the role played by the women during the election period and will never maginalise them.”

“Women will still get more appointments and it is important that we exercise patience and continue to support the governor in the task of moving the state forward,” he said.