Themmy's : TENSION MOUNTS AS FASHOLA SEEKS SUCCESSOR (CONTINUED)

Senator Ganiu Olanrewaju Solomon (GOS)

GOS as he popularly called was born on the 19th day of December, 1959 in Mushin to the Family of Alhaji Rafiu Ishola and Alhaja Idiat Abike Solomon (Née Oluwa).

He had his secondary education at the Oke-Ona Grammer School, Abeokuta, Ogun State between 1972 and 1976 and later proceeded to Lagos State College of Education (now Adeniran Ogusanya College of Education) from 1980 - 1982. He obtained a B.SC in Political Science from the University of Lagos in 1985.

Senator Solomon had his National Youth Service Corps at the NYSC Secretariat in Abeokuta and finished in 1986. He took after his father, both in business and politics. He joined the family property and general merchandising business before venturing into politics.

His father Alhaji Rafiu Ishola Solomon, had considerable influence in Lagos Politics being a politician whose career spell spanned the Pre- Independence era to the Late 80's. The Late Politician, who was most active politically in Ikorodu area of the State as a Councilor in the 40's later grew stronger to become one of the few political godfathers in the state body politics.

His (GOS) first entry into politics was during the transition program of Late General Sani Abacha in 1997 when he contested election into the Lagos State House of Assembly to represent Mushin 2 constituency on the platform of Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) and won in a landslide victory. Unfortunately that era was short lived.

When the Nation return to democracy in 1999, Solomon aligned with the Progressives who had formed Alliance for Democracy(AD) in the South-West region of the Country. As a pioneer member of the party, he contested and won election as Chairman of Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State where he displayed quality delivery of good governance at the grass root level.

By 2003, following his outstanding performance his people encouraged him to move up the ladder and he contested election into the House of Representatives where he represented Mushin 1 Federal Constituency for four years.

He served in the Following Committee's in the House;

Committee on Internal Affairs.
Committee on States and Local Government.

By the following election year, 2007 to be precise, GOS proceeded to the Senate where he represented the largest district in Lagos State and indeed Nigeria (LAgos South West Senatorial district). He had barely settled down in the Senate, when he was handed the responsibility of overseeing the Senate Committee on Capital Market. This responsibility, though huge, had brought to fore, the ingenuity and intelligence of the lawmaker, who despite the many crises that plagued the market, came out untainted.

He also served in the following Committee's

Committee on Capital Market (Chairman)
Committee on Sports and Social Development
Committee's on Works
Committee Rules and Business

In the run-up to the April 2011 elections., Solomon was unopposed in his bid to seek re-election in his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria. Factors responsible for this were not farfetched because he had upped the status of his party as well as improved his rating as an individual. He was, unsurprisingly re-elected on the 9th of April, 2011.

Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon is presently the Minority Whip of the Senate till date.

He is a member of the under listed Committee's;

Selection Committee
Committee on Petroleum Upstream
Committee on Navy
Committee on Constitution Review
Committee on Capital Market
Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs

His Legislative agenda and interests include, Poverty alleviation, Social Security, Education, Employment Generation, Security and Providing Legislative Framework for meeting MDG'S.

Solomon has continued to sustain the philanthropic legacies of his late father through his GOS Foundation. The Foundation has over the years provided assistance in skills acquisition, educational development, micro-credit, health care and poverty alleviation to Lagosians irrespective of political leanings.
Link to other project achievements of his are on constituency project and bills and motions sponsored.

AKINWUNMI AMBODE

Akinwunmi Ambode

If you Google the word “ambode”, you are likely to come across “Ambode is one of the main side dishes prepared during festivals and for many happy occasions in Karnataka. It is a type of fried lentil ball, flavoured with curry leaves, coconut, and asafetida”.

But we are talking about a human here, a Nigerian for that matter, a Lagosian per excellence (as claimed), Akinwunmi Ambode’s name first went viral when the Oba of Lagos (Oba Rilwan Akiolu) declared him as the in-coming governor for Lagos state after Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s two-term tenure ends.

Akinwunmi Ambode is an Accountant (Chartered), Administrator, Public Finance expert, a retired Civil Servant who served Lagos State meritoriously for 27years; holding key positions across all cadres of the state’s civil service such as the Auditor General for Local Governments, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Accountant General of Lagos State.

After his retirement from the Civil Service at 49, he established Brandsmiths Consulting Limited – a public finance and management-consulting firm with a deep knowledge of the Nigerian public sector. He serves as the Managing Consultant/CEO and has used his wealth of experience and social network to build alliances that will establish Brandsmiths as a world-class professional services provider, engaging in strategic planning, operations improvement, business planning and public financial management. The firm and its associates are presently working with State and Federal government agencies to cut-over to the new IPSAS system of public accounting which takes effect from 2014.

He graduated with Honours in Accounting from the University of Lagos at the age of 21. At 24, he had become a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and finished a Masters degree in Accounting specializing in Financial Management, also at the University of Lagos, via a Federal Government Scholarship. He also received a US Fulbright scholarship for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship at Boston University in Massachusetts.

He is an alumnus of Wharton Business School Advance Management Programme.
He has attended courses at renowned institutions such as Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England,
The Institute of Management Development Lausanne, Switzerland,
INSEAD Singapore and
The Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston, USA.

He is passionate about Lagos, developing young leaders and professionals and contributing to the society from which he has gained so much.

A sound professional record, yes, but he has a lineage issue to clarify, shortly after Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Lagos monarch openly endorsed him at a book presentation in the state and having corroborated Ambode's claim of being of the Edu family of Epe, Head of the Buraimo Edu family, which he claimed to belong, said the family do not know him as one of them. In a press release signed by Alhaji M. Oladeinde Edu and Alhaji T. A. Edu, this was done in a press release, read extract below;

"At this juncture, we can categorically state here that in actual fact, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode was a son of Festus Akinwale Ambode, one of the teachers posted to Epe in the old Western Region; a native of Ilaje Ese Odo in the present day Ondo State.

“As a school teacher, the elder Ambode was very familiar and friendly with several Epe indigenes. The older Ambode came to Epe through the waterways. He came with his wife, Christianah Oluleye Ambode (nee Oresanya), who though initially did not stay with him which made the older Ambode marry a second wife, an Epe daughter, popularly called ‘Iya Vice’ from Poka, Epe.

“She was a food seller in Epe Grammar School. This development led to Akinwunmi Ambode’s mother who also hails from Ilaje Ese Odo in Ondo State to eventually relocate to Epe to stay with her husband," the Edu family said, setting the records straight.

The Edu family further added that at death, the corpse of Ambode's father was conveyed back to Ilaje, Ondo State for burial as a prince of his area.

Meanwhile, Ambode responded by directing those investigating his roots to two of the royal fathers who had reportedly confirmed that he was not just from Epe but a member of the Edu family. He cited the Olu of Epe, and the Alara of Ara, who had been on the throne for the past 54 years as confirming it as well as Akiolu. And that’s it!

He has this hurdle to cross but I wish him well in his endeavours.

Please let me take a pause before we consider these other competent candidates too Commisioner Muiz Banire, Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa, Sen. Gbenga Ashafa and Tola Kasali