By Adadareporters
About twenty-six state governors in Nigeria yet to constitute their respective cabinets are uncertain about what the verdicts of their tribunal litigations will be.
This is the submission of some analysts who aired their views in Enugu on Tuesday. They also mentioned unpreparedness, godfather influences and looting as among other factors.
Our correspondent reports that governors are constitutionally required to constitute their cabinet at most sixty days after their inauguration. However, only six of them have so far fulfilled this provision.
Ozor Charly Okwesili, a media expert, said, “Some of them are recouping what they spent during the polls because not appointing commissioners means saving the money that would have been paid to them. And because they already have SSAs, SAs, and EAs, they can do without commissioners to save cost. They may also be under pressure to satisfy their godfathers and other super stakeholders. Above all, some are in court battling to save their mandates. This is where blames go to INEC for conducting elections being contested at all level.”
Mr David Ugwu, a development expert, said the failure of the governors to constitute their cabinet almost sixty days after being sworn in ‘shows that they are not prepared’.
Quoting him, “Being governors with executive powers empowers them to perform immediately. Members of the cabinet ought to be planned even during campaigns. It is called agenda setting. Waiting till the 60 days provided elapses is a mark of failure.
“It is not the business of the electorate to check what governors are going through before constituting their cabinets because they ought to come fully prepared. I have always advocated compulsory training for elected governors before they are sworn in. Most of them don’t know why they are there.
“Their sole mandate is to perform. Their ignorance of this is why they fail woefully. But they should know that time is gone when godfathers determine who becomes what. The voters now determine who wins, irrespective of how INEC truncated the system during the 2023 elections. Their failure to appoint their commissioners up until now shows they are not ready.”
