Date: 2019-05-26

The socio-cultural body of "Omo Ibile Igbomina" in Kwara has recommended Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, for re-appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The group made the recommendation in a statement issued on Sunday and made available to newsmen in Abuja. In the statement, Mr Oni Martins, the National Public Relations Officer/Social Secretary of the group, said the group has "implicit confidence in the ability of the minister to do better." Martins, on behalf of the group, assured that if re-appointed, Mohammed "will not let down Mr President and the good people of Nigeria."

"Above all, we are proud of him as our Ambassador in the larger Nigerian setting, in our collective efforts to take Nigeria to the next level."

He described as "unfortunate," the statement credited to one Chief J.B. Ayeni and Mr Jide Usman at a news conference they held on May 22, asking the President not to re-appoint Mohammed as a minister. "Our Socio-Cultural Body led by Engr. Timothy Niyi Adebayo (FNSE) home and abroad would have let this matter fizzle out naturally, more so it is a dialectic of party politics affecting the entire Kwara south. "However, there is the need to put straight available records to the teaming supporters of the Minister and those on the other side.

"A careful study of their grouse against the Hon Minister shows calculated mischief and blackmail,'' he said. Martins said that the allegation by the duo that "the minister is not home-based, he doesn't relate with the home-based politicians" was the figment of their imagination. He also described as unfounded the allegation that the minister mismanaged election fund and materials.

Martins said the demand by the duo "is not only callous, divisive, a gratuitous insult, but unacceptable to Igbomina people at home and abroad." He urged President Buhari to look at the sterling qualities of leadership which Mohammed is endowed with.

"A documentary of the 2019 electoral victory will not be complete and authentic without the minister's valuable contributions. "He is professionally prolific and versed in the discharge of his assignment to the admiration of his employer as Minister of Information and Culture.

"His carriage exemplifies maturity, discipline and uncommon leadership template, a committed Igbomina citizen and by extension a senior stakeholder and political leader in Kwara State. "He equally attracted lots of development push and projects to Kwara State, a community leader per excellence and a man of the people.

"He occupies a high orbit when records of the electoral victory of his party in Kwara state 2019 is put on the table,'' he said. Martins admonished politicians in Kwara south to shun ''politics of bitterness and run-him-down political strategy,"stressing that it would ultimately backfire with consequences on cohesion, focus and development. (NAN)