Facts have emerged on why veteran works commissioner, Engr. Ganiyu Johnson, who has served the works ministry and Lagos State government in that top hierarchy, resigned his appointment recently in a suspicious manner.
For a man, who has held the topmost positions in the works ministry for more than twenty (20) years, serving as a former Director of Works, a former permanent secretary, a former special adviser to Governor Fashola on Works and Infrastructure, and lately as Commissioner for Works under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, his sudden resignation raised eyebrows.
Sources at Alausa told Oriwu Sun that it could have been because of alleged contract inflation in his ministry. The sources disclosed that a gigantic project estimated at over billions naira was handed over to Engr. Ganiyu to re-evaluate. He was said to have completed his reassessment report and submitted to Governor Ambode. Unknown to Ganiyu, the Governor, who had served in the civil service before and is versatile with the working in all ministries in Alausa, had set up another committee to do the same re-evaluation job.
According to our sources, the committee’s report indicated that Ganiyu’s assessment was highly inflated. This infuriated Governor Ambode, who reportedly summoned the Commissioner to express his anger and disappointment. Engr Johnson was said to have become jittery when the committee’s report on the same project was shown to him by the Governor. The committee’s re-evaluation featured a much lower amount than the one Ganiyu reportedly submitted. Since the Commissioner knew the consequence of his action, which is a sack, he was said to have taken the most honourable option of resigning his appointment immediately.
Another source in the Works Ministry told Oriwu Sun that though Ganiyu donated heavily to the APC campaigns and is known as one of Tinubu’s henchmen, some party men view him with mistrust. They believe that he is already a billionaire, who could use his vast wealth to challenge Ambode in 2019. Oriwu Sun gathered that if care is not taken, the man may become too powerful and pose a threat to progressive forces in the APC at present, who support Ambode’s furtherance of the good work he is doing in the state.
Already, the air is filled with rumour that Ganiyu and some Commissioners, penciled to be sacked by Ambode in a cabinet shakeup, have allegedly been holding secret meetings with some anti-Ambode group members in APC to fight him in 2019. For this reason, Oriwu Sun learnt that to those Ambode die-hards, the exit of Ganiyu is a good riddance to bad rubbish since he and his cohorts are said to be insincere to Ambode and can no longer be trusted by him. They are accused of blackmailing the Governor and labelling him as an authoritarian leader, contrary to the belief of many Lagosians.
As at the time of filing this report and going to press, the resignation of Ganiyu had not been blown open. It was still kept a secret according to sources in order to give the ex-Commissioner a soft landing. However, what is certain is that very soon, a new commissioner for that strategic ministry will be announced, leaving unanswered the crucial question, “Why is Ambode sacking all the Tinubu’s men in his cabinet?”
The speculation is that since many of those, who Tinubu raised and brought to prominence both at the State and National levels of politics, turned round lately to plot against him, he may have left them to their fate in the hands of Ambode. After all, according to some political watchers, Ambode is also Tinubu and Akiolu’s boy but unlike those ones, he has not betrayed his mentor Asiwaju; hence, Asiwaju may have left Ambode to deal with those he deemed fit and would do nothing to save such.
An analyst said all these are nothing but political games towards 2019, “It’s all about the next election,” he said.