Lagos Assembly screens commissioner-nominees Igbokwe, Arobieke, five others

THE Lagos State House of Assembly ad hoc committee screening Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s commissioner-nominees and advisers resumed the exercise yesterday with the final batch of 13 nominees it received over the weekend.

On Thursday, the 16-man committee chaired by the Chief Whip, Rotimi Abiru, screened seven of the 13 nominees.

The remaining six will take their turn today.

Among those screened on Thursday was the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe.

Despite being the party’s publicity secretary and the good work he had done projecting the image of APC, Igbokwe was subjected to questions by the committee members.

He confessed that as a loyal party member, he had expected that he would just be told to take a bow and go by the committee members, but to his surprise, he was drilled even more than the nominees who appeared before him.

Answering questions from reporters after his screening, Igbokwe said: “The screening was quite excruciating. I was asked about 15 questions, which I answered.

“I thought they would just ask me to take a bow and go, having served the party for a number of years, because all of them are party members, but I met a different thing. I thought it was just to go and take a bow and go but I ended up spending more time.”

Igbokwe said it is difficult for him to disengage from the image-making job, which he has been doing for the party over the years.

“I have been doing the job for too long. It is almost a part of me, but you know we must move on. I am happy about my nomination; it is a call to service,” he said.

Though a trained mechanical engineer, the APC image-maker said he can fit in anywhere because “I had an all-round training in my undergraduate days at the university and I can fit in anywhere.

“My idea about life is that you must add value where ever you find yourself; I will have to continue to work and to continue to render service to the people.”

He also explained that why his kinsmen had issues with APC in Lagos in the last election was because the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) fielded Peter Obi, an Igbo man, as its vice presidential candidate, saying the people felt naturally drawn to their kinsman.

He ascribed low Igbo votes in the state for President Muhammad Buhari at the 2019 general elections to ethnicity.

He explained that there was no way the APC could get much votes from the Igbo concentrated areas in the state during the last presidential elections as the PDP was smart to have picked the former Anambra State governor, as Alhaji Abubakar Atiku’s running mate.

As at the time of filling this report, five of the seven nominees slated for screening yesterday had been attended to and they are  Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, Mr. Oluwatoyin Fayinka, Mr. Oladele Ajayi and Arc. Kabir Ahmed.

The remaining are: Mr. Olanrewaju Sanusi, Mr. Bonu Solomon Saanu, Mrs. Lola Akande, Prince Anofi Olanrewaju Elegushi Mrs. Solape Hammond, Mr. Moruf Akinderu Fatai, Mrs. Shulamite Olufunke Adebolu and Mr. Tokyo Wahab.