Contrary to speculations in some media that Governor Ambode sacked three commissioners in his cabinet recently because of his overbearing attitude and his failure to carry commissioners along, information reaching Oriwu Sun suggest otherwise.
Our correspondents can authoritatively state that there were evident gaps between the number one citizen of the state and the affected commissioners.
The sacked Commissioner for Tourism, Mr. Folarin Coker was said to have been having a running battle with Governor Ambode since December 2015 arising from the handling of the count-down Lagos carnival project.
At state were the donations from corporate bodies towards the programme and the subvention from the state government which Coker was alleged not to have given a proper account of.
Besides, he was accused of running a – one – man show not carrying along the permanent secretary of the ministry and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Tourism in the execution of the programme and other activities of the ministry.
It was also gathered that Mr. Coker draw the anger of Ambode because he operated on separate account for the Lagos Count down/Cross over carnival of last year, which he was the sole signatory. This is believed to be against public service accounting/financial rule and procedure.
Also, the sacked commissioner was said to have travelled out of the country sometime ago without informing the governor, this contravening the expectations from an executive council member.
These were said to have angered the governor, but Ambode rather than sack Coker at the beginning of the year may have given him opportunity to change. He was said to have side tracked the commissioner and dealt with the Special Adviser, Hon. Adebimpe Akinsola and the permanent secretary of that ministry, Mr. Jamiu Adewale Ashimi and vice versa on matters concerning Tourism; hence, files moved from the Governor’s office through the special adviser on Tourism to the permanent secretary and vice versa by passing the Commissioner Coker.
Some Ministry staff told Oriwu Sun that whereas Hon. Adebimpe Akinsola is friendly with them, the former commissioner was arrogant and showed pride in his dealings with them.
Ninuola Folorunsho Folarin-Coker was born on the 27th of July 1965 in Lagos. He Attended Corona School Ikoyi, Lagos and St Gregory College, Lagos for his primary and secondary education respectively.
He was at St Bees School in Cumbria, England for his Advance Level Certificate and graduated from Manchester University with a BA Hons in Combined Studies, Economics and Geography. He also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate from the University of Westminster, Diplomatic Academy in Diplomacy, International Trade and Finance. Mr. Coker is a self-employed and self-made entrepreneur who deals in commodity trading and other businesses. He served as the Personal Assistant to His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from 1999 until 2003 when he was appointed and served as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Governor’s Office. After a year of working as the Deputy Chief of staff, he was handed over an additional responsibility to serve as the managing director of the Lagos State Number Plates Production Agency. In 2014, His Excellency, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola appointed him as a member of the State Executive Council and Special Adviser on Central Business Districts
The sack hammer also visited the Ministry of Transportation, where Mr. Dayo Mobereola the Commissioner was sent packing.
Reliable sources told Oriwu Sun that this former commissioner who was one time boss of LAMATA was a very comfortable man (rich) before he became the Commissioner of Transportation. He was also seen by many as a greedy man.
His undoing was said to be his refusal to follow the governor’s directives on contracts. We gathered that Governor Ambode who believes that the masses who voted for his party APC ought to benefit from his administration by getting out of some contracts awarded.
According to the sources the sacked commissioner either paid contractors in bits or delayed their payments and would not heed to the small ones in job allocations thus discrediting the administration.
Some people also alleged that because he was wealthy before coming into the cabinet, he may have carried himself proudly (pompously) before the governor who of course believes in getting good results and would not want anything to drag his performance rating down.
Dr. Dayo Mobereola is the pioneer managing director of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the Lagos State Agency charged with the overall planning and regulation of transport activities in the state He attended St Patrick’s Primary School, Yaba, Lagos from 1965 – 1971 and proceeded to St Patrick’s Grammar School, Orita Bashorun, Ibadan between 1972-1976 after which he left Nigeria for the United Kingdom for further studies.
A doctorate degree holder in Transport Economics with more than 20 year experience at a senior level in the transport sector in Eastern Europe, United Kingdom and Nigeria, Dr. Mobereola specialises in transport management, project management, corporate management and economic analysis, multimodal studies, congestion costs, econometric analysis of shipping and railway demand and behavioural impact on passenger travel among others.
The next victim was the Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Mustapha Akinkunmi a guru in information technology but who reportedly could not use the knowledge to handle the state finances properly.
Being a brilliant IT consultant, Dr. Akinkunmi, Governor Ambode was said to have found lapses in that ministry under him and when he could not cope with the situation, he gave the commissioner marching orders.
Some staffers in the ministry told Oriwu Sun that most of the job were being done by the permanent secretary, Mr. Tairu Ogunleye; hence, Governor Ambode provided him with a safe landing.
Dr. Mustapha Abiodun Akinkunmi 51, is a Financial Economist and Technology Strategist He was educated at Methodist Boys High School, Lagos, Nigeria and Newman Preparatory School, Boston, MA, USA; His tertiary education was at New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY, USA and Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA where he obtained BS, MS, MA and PhD degrees respectively.
He has over twenty-five years of experience in revenue generation, collection and estimation, planning and forecasting using Statistical and Econometrics methods, with particular expertise in macroeconomic, trade analysis and exchange rate modelling. Dr. Akinkunmi has done extensive software development on revenue and payment gateway, predictive analytics, data mining on large databases, web analytics, fraud detection, and credit risk management. He has a record of success in identifying and implementing change management programmes and institutional development initiatives in both public and private sector.
Sources at Alausa told Oriwu Sun that more commissioners are likely to go soon for non-performance and disloyalty.
Some of the cabinet members are said not to have understood the Governor’s mission and style of work and administration and have failed to key into his pace and principles; hence, they resort to blackmail and going behind Ambode to speak evil and wrongly of him. This is why inside sources in Alausa believe there will be more sacks in the government.