POLITICIANS WHOM ONE WAY OR THE OTHER HAS WORKED DIRECTLY/INDIRECTLY WITH ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU
Yomi Osinbajo - The current Vice President of Nigeria was formerly a Member of Cabinet, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, also Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State from 1999-2007
Babatunde Raji Fashola - The immediate past Governor of Lagos State and the current Minister of Power, Works and Housing has in the past worked with ABAT in various capacity.
He was Chief of Staff to his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Fashola had during his tenure as Chief of Staff also dubbed as the Honourable Commissioner to the Governor's office. He was the first person to hold both offices simultaneously.
Babatunde Fashola also served in Lagos state in various capacities, including:
Secretary of the Lands Sub-Committee of the Transitional Work Groups. 1999.
Member of the panel of Enquiry into allocation of houses on the Mobolaji Johnson Housing Scheme at Lekki, 2000.
Member of the State Tenders Board- 2002– 2006.
Member of Lagos State Executive Council-2002-2006.
Member of the State Security Council-2002-2006
Member of the State Treasury Board-2002-2006
Chairman Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of Asset distribution among Local Government.
Kayode Fayemi - It was rumored that the former Ekiti State Governor was helped into power by ABAT and is influential in his appointment as the current Minister of Solid Minerals
Rauf Aregbesola - was formerly an activist. He was Lagos Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure when he ran for election in April 2007 on the Action Congress platform
Hon. James Faleke - He served as the pioneer executive secretary of Ojodu local government development area from November 2003 to April 2004. In 2004, he was elected as the executive chairman of Ojodu local government development area and served for two consecutive terms from 2004 to 2011. During his time as a council boss in Lagos, Abiodun Faleke was the chairman of Forum 57, a forum of LGA and LCDA bosses in Lagos state. In 2011, he was elected the federal legislator representing Ikeja federal constituency in the House of Representatives and he won re-election in March 2015. In December 2014 Faleke was appointed as the Lagos state campaign coordinator for the Buhari/ Osinbajo campaign group. Before his sojourn to be a running mate to the Late APC gubernatorial candidate in Kogi State- Abubakar Audu, He was a member House of Reps representing Ikeja Federal Constituency. James Faleke is believed to be very influential in the party as he is genuinely loyal to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
Akinwunmi Ambode - He was a civil servant for 27 years and a financial consultant before running for public office as Governor of Lagos State in 2015. In 2001, he became acting Auditor General for Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria. This position was confirmed by the State House of Assembly. In January 2005, Ambode was appointed the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance. From 2006- 2012, Ambode was the accountant general for Lagos State, in charge of all the financial activities of the state and directly responsible for over 1400 accountants in the state service. However, Ambode worked with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu when the latter was governor of Lagos State, in fact, he was said to have been very instrumental to the smooth running of the state’s finances during this period and also provided Asiwaju with the panacea for more internal revenue generation when the then Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo withheld Lagos State allocation. Having said these, after the tenure of Tinubu, Ambode also worked with Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola as Accountant-General of Lagos State, but the working relationship could not go beyond 2012, Ambode reportedly resigned voluntarily.
Dr. Idiat Adebule - The current Deputy Governor of Lagos State. Her political experience and sojourn began when she was appointed as a commissioner 1 in the Lagos State Post Primary Teaching Service Commission (PP-TESCOM), now Teachers’ Establishment and Pensions Office, by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from October 2000 to February 2005 and later as board member of the Lagos State Scholarship Board from February 2005 to November 2005. Dr. Adebule was appointed and sworn in as the Secretary to the State Government by the Governor of Lagos state, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) in July, 2011.
Yetunde Abosede Onanuga - The former Director in Lagos Civil Service is currently the Deputy Governor to the Ogun State Governor.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu - The wife of Jagaban. She ran for upper echelon of lawmaking in 2007 after serving as first lady for 8 years from 1999-2007 while her husband Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the then Governor of Lagos State. Obviously we cannot rule out her husband's influence on her election of being a senator since 2007
Mallam Ahmed Kabiru Abdullahi - An architect who hails from Katsina State in northern Nigeria.
He was appointed into the Agege Local Government Education Committee as a member. It was from there that he contested for the post of vice chairman in the Agege Local Government election in the mid 1990s, and he won. He served between 1996 and 1997 before the democratic struggle began. He took part in the struggle.
He later joined the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and supported Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who emerged as the party's governorship flag-bearer in the state. Tinubu became governor in 1999, and by 2001, he appointed him the chairman of LASPEMA. His responsibility was to monitor the environment against pollution. This was the position he held throughout the regime of ex-governor Babatunde Fashola too.
The new leader, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has now given him another challenge as the executive secretary of the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LSWRC) obviously without ruling out the influence of ABAT.
Compiled by Saka Yusuf Alabi - A teacher, a scientist and a researcher.
To be continued...
