ABS Foundation Appoints Ex-Kwara SSG, Gold As Ag. Executive Director
* Dismisses political claims for exit of its former Executive Director
Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
Former Secretary to the Government (SSG) of Kwara State, Alhaji Isiaka Sola Gold, has been appointed the Acting Executive Director of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Foundation.
Gold, who retired as a Permanent Secretary in the Kwara State Civil Service, served as SSG between 2011 and 2019, after heading various Ministries and Agencies, including the State’s Liaison Office in Abuja.
A statement by the Regional Director, North Central of the
Abubakar Bukola Saraki Foundation, Mr. Lawal Olanrewaju Temitayo, said Gold’s new appointment takes immediate effect.
With this appointment, Gold is expected to draw on his wealth of experience as a public administrator to coordinate the activities, projects, and initiatives of the Foundation across the country and to ensure that the Foundation continues to make meaningful impacts in its core areas, the statement added.
It would be recalled that the Foundation was established in 2019 as a philanthropic, non-partisan, and apolitical organisation to contribute to the growth and development of Nigeria in a manner that would ensure optimal deployment of available resources towards creating opportunities that would yield maximum benefits for all Nigerians without prejudice to ethnicity, religion, or political leanings.
According to Temitayo, the Foundation has over the years translated that objective into visible, measurable community-centre interventions such as access to potable water, education, healthcare, rural electrification, livelihood support, and humanitarian relief.
Meanwhile, the Foundation has dismissed claims linking the exit of its former Executive Director, Dr. Audu Musa Idowu, to his political differences with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that the Foundation’s programmes and finances are solely funded by its Founder, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
The Foundation said Idowu’s departure should be treated strictly as an employment matter and not connected to his decision to leave the PDP after failing to secure the party’s ticket for the Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero/Ekiti Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.
In a statement by its Regional Director, North Central, Mr. Lawal Olanrewaju Temitayo, the Foundation clarified that Idowu was a salaried employee whose position did not confer ownership or financial responsibility for the organisation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Foundation wishes to state unequivocally that its establishment, funding, programmes, and financial sponsorship are solely the responsibility of its founder, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki,” the statement said.
It added that Idowu neither funded nor sponsored the Foundation and was not responsible for its financial sustenance.
Established in 2019, the Foundation said it was created to promote Nigeria’s development through the effective use of available resources to create opportunities and deliver benefits to citizens, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or political affiliation.
It maintained that it operates as a philanthropic, non-partisan and apolitical organisation, with its activities deliberately separated from partisan politics, political mobilisation and electoral activities.
According to the statement, the Foundation has pursued its objectives through community-based interventions in potable water, education, healthcare, rural electrification, livelihood support and humanitarian relief.
The organisation further disclosed that it had removed politically exposed persons and aides associated with its founder from its operational structure to reinforce its neutrality and institutional independence.
Those affected, it said, included Alhaji Nasir Subair, Hon. Oye Adetula, Abdulganiyu Abdulqadir, Ibrahim Olayinka Otukoko and Kawu Ndanusa, among others, who were replaced with neutral, non-partisan outsourced personnel and professionals.
The Foundation stressed that neither its programmes nor its humanitarian interventions were personally funded by any former or serving staff member.
It reiterated that Saraki’s commitment to philanthropy predated and remained independent of the political activities and ambitions of individuals who had worked with the organisation.
While acknowledging Idowu’s right to make personal political decisions, including his resignation from the PDP, the Foundation urged the public not to conflate such choices with its ownership, funding or administration.
“The Foundation respects Dr. Audu Musa Idowu’s right to make personal political decisions, including his decision to resign from the PDP. However, such political decisions should not be conflated with the ownership, funding, and administration of the Foundation,” the statement added.
The organisation reaffirmed its commitment to philanthropy, professionalism, neutrality and service to humanity, saying it would continue to pursue its humanitarian objectives independently of individual political interests.
