Ex-VP Atiku’s daughter becomes commissioner, donates salary, allowances
http://www.gatewaymail.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Dr.-Fatima-Abubakar.jpgNIGERIA: DAUGHTER of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former Nigeria’s Vice President, Fatima, has been appointed Commissioner for Health in Adamawa State.
It would be recalled that shortly after he become governor in 2003, ex-Ogun State helmsman, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, appointed Mrs. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as commissioner.
Iyabo, who also headed the State Ministry of Health, served one term before she fell apart with the erstwhile governor over alleged rift between her father, who was then serving as the president, and Daniel.
Daniel and Obasanjo were both in power between 2007 and 2011 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party that suffered loss in the last general election at the federal and several states under its control.
And in her first move, Fatima said she would not earn salary and has decided to donate it and her allowances to the revitalization of the state’s health sector.
The medical consultant, who was sworn in on Friday with 21 others, told reporters in Yola, the state capital, that her decision was based on the various health challenges facing the state.
“I am very grateful to the governor for appointing me to head the Health Ministry,” Fatima said, adding: “The ministry is the most challenging because of the insurgency problem that had caused some damages to the health system in the state.”
She added: “For this reason, I shall be donating my salary and allowances for use in enhancing the delivery of healthcare service in the state.’’
The GatewayMail gathered that two other close associates of Atiku who were apointed are Ibrahim Mijinyawa, a former All Progressives Congress gubernatorial aspirant and Umar Daware, while two ex-commissioners in Murtala Nyako’s government were appointed and four women – Shanti Victoria Shashi, Kaletapwa Farauta, Lilian Nabe Kayode and Fatima Atiku Abubakar – also became commissioners.
Earlier, while swearing in the commissioners, Governor Bindow Jibrilla explained that the decision to appoint them was based on merit.
Jibrilla, who enjoined the commissioners to cooperate with him in turning the state around, stated that their loyalty, at all times, should be to the people who they are out to serve.
“Your loyalty is to the people of Adamawa, whom you represent, and not to me,” the governor charged them.
The Commissioner for Education, Kaletapwa Farauta, who responded on behalf of the newly appointees, commended Jibrilla for appointing them.
Farauta assured the governor that the commissioners would remain loyal and not betray the confidence reposed in them.
