[UPDATE] ‘MARGINALIZING’ MINISTERIAL LIST: S/East blows hot, mulls legal action

Political leaders and socio-cultural organizations from the South-East geo-political zone have tackled President Bola Tinubu over perceived lopsidedness in the ministerial nominations, describing his action as a calculated attempt to continue the marginalization of Ndigbo.

The Igbo leaders accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of a deliberate policy to exclude the region from Nigeria’s political equation and further the marginalization from where President Muhammadu Buhari stopped.

The Senate, last week, screened and confirmed 48 ministerial nominees.

The list has been generating angry reactions particularly, from the South-East leaders who alleged marginalization of the zone by the President.

According to the list, apart from each of the 36 states and the FCT getting one nominee as prescribed by the Constitution, North-West and South-West geopolitical zones got three extra ministers each; North-East, North-Central and South-South have extra two respectively, while the South-East got no extra nominees.

This did not go down well with the South-East leaders who argued that every part of the country should be fairly treated and evenly accommodated in the political equilibrium.

Senator representing Anambra North, Tony Nwoye, last week, drew attention to the “lopsidedness” in the ministerial appointments.

Nwoye posited that the South-East was shortchanged in the nominations.

But a former presidential aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Reno Omokri, applauded Tínubu for ignoring the region as doing so would affect him negatively in future elections.

Igbo leaders, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, expressed concerns that after over 50 years after the civil war ended, the Nigeria State had continued to treat the people of South-East as war prisoners.

They wondered if the zones that received additional slots were more human and more Nigerian than the people of South-East.

They urged Tinubu to reconsider his actions and correct the imbalance by picking more credible and qualified persons from the zone as “what is sauce for the goose is equally sauce for the gander”.

The stakeholders, however, charged the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to initiate legal action against the Federal Government to address the imbalance if the President failed to do the needful.

More slots

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, appealed for more slots in Tinubu’s cabinet.

Reacting, former Minister of Education, Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, described the action as “a calculated attempt to continue the marginalisation of Ndigbo.

Also, the Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, said denying South-East extra ministerial nominees amounted to unconstitutionality and disrespect to the principle of federal character as enshrined in the Constitution.

COSEYL, through its President, Comrade Goodluck Ibem, described Tinubu’s action as a deliberate policy of the APC to exclude Ndigbo from Nigeria’s political equation.

He insisted that Ndigbo have equal stakes in Nigeria and should be accorded their due right.

He further demanded extra three ministerial slots for South-East to bring the zone at par with others, stressing that Igbo youths would not tolerate any attempt to relegate the region to the background or treat the race as second-class citizens.

Deliberate policy

Contributing, a former Secretary to State Government and Commissioner for Information in Abia State, Pastor Ralph Egbu, said the development was part of a deliberate attempt to turn the Igbo, one of the three major tribes in Nigeria, into a minority.

Egbu maintained that every part of the country should be fairly treated and evenly accommodated in the political equilibrium to avoid mistrust.

Legal action

In his reaction, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, Igbo Think Tank, Professor Madubuike Ezeibe, said Tinubu had violated the federal character policy, noting that the Senate, which should have corrected the imbalance, had allowed the President to get away with it.

Ezeibe charged the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to initiate a legal action against the Federal Government to address the imbalance.

“Ohaneze should take the Federal Government and the National Assembly to court to enforce adherence to the Federal Character law”, he said.

In addition, the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in the 2023 governorship election in Abia State, Professor Greg Ibe, commended the South-East Senate Caucus for its move to protest the marginalization.

Inclusive Government

Similarly, Ikoro Ndigbo Assembly charged the President to run an inclusive government.

The Convener of the group, Prince Ugochimereze Asuzu, noted that the South-East suffered a lot of calculated and aggregated marginalization during the Buhari administration.

“It seems to me like this government of Bola Tinubu is gradually borrowing a leaf or two from his predecessor in marginalizing the southeast region”, Asuzu stated. “Though we wish to believe otherwise, hence we ask that the right things be done, for whatever is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

“In lieu of this ugly development, we’ll ask that the President reconsiders his actions and correct the imbalance by picking more credible and qualified persons from the South-East as part of his cabinet, thereby giving the zone the right sense of belonging”.

Carryover

In the same vein, the Igboezue International Association Nigeria and the Diaspora, IIAND, described the exercise as a carry-over of Buhari’s marginalization of Ndigbo.

The National President of IIAND, Chief Pius Okoye, urged the President to correct the imbalance and never follow in the footsteps of his predecessor.

No apologies

He said: “Let it be known to Nigerians and their leaders that this time around, South-East will not beg anybody for its rightful share in the project called Nigeria.

“We will take what belongs to us without apologies to anybody. If federal character is still obtainable in Nigeria, it should be followed to its letters.

“There should not be short cut or cutting corners in its implementation. Nigeria belongs to all of us, not to any particular ethnic group or politicians of a particular ethnic group.

“It is either we are treated equally or we go our separate ways. President Tinubu should be guided and made to understand that his administration is not just for Yoruba but for Nigeria as a country.”

Not interested

Also reacting, the Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, said the South-East is only interested in the presidency of Nigeria and not in any ministerial appointment.

The President of OYC, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, said: “The South-East is only interested in the presidency and not in any ministerial appointment because we want to fix Nigeria.

“We want every tribe in this country to have a sense of belonging. We believe that someone from the South-East has the capacity to unite Nigeria.

“South-East wouldn’t be part of a country where injustice and marginalization strive. “We are true Nigerians and have proved it by extending our developmental strides in all 36 states of the federation and Abuja.

“So, we are not struggling for ministerial appointments. We are the real Nigerians because we are everywhere in the country developing Nigeria more than any tribe. “Therefore, we are overqualified to produce the President of Nigeria and any injustice against us cannot be accepted.”

Meanwhile, not only Igbo leaders were disappointed over the President’s appointments so far.

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Segun Sowunmi, said he was not impressed with the lopsidedness of the appointments.

Cherries

“I have looked at the people the President is putting together and I’m a little bit uncomfortable with it”, Sowunmi said.

“If I am to be honest with you as a Yoruba man, it’s beginning to seem that our people are going to get the best of the cherries and, if you want, I can tell you the things we’ve gotten already.

“We’re in charge of Customs, Police, Army, the CBN, FIRS, Taxation, and Appropriation.

“Have we become such a people that we can only be fair when we’re talking about others?

“I am beginning to see a pattern that we are getting all of the creams and what we will not accept from Buhari who wasn’t fairer to us than he was to his people.

“We must be brave enough to say this is not the right way to go even for us.

“We’re not going to suddenly become a parochial people who insist that Yoruba people will get all of the things in the country.

“Does it not prick your soul that you are putting 10 in one place, nine in one place, eight in one place and you’re giving the South-East five and, I can tell you for free that there is no mental capacity, validation, education or authentication that you are looking for in the world that you will not find with Ndigbo either in Nigeria or in the Diaspora.

“So, why would you now start telling me that you can get 10 from the North-West and nine from the South-West but you can only get five from the South-East? So, these are the issues we are talking about”.

Political consequences

But Omokri did not see anything wrong in all the appointments the President had made.

He said: “Political choices have consequences. If a zone that did not vote for you is rewarded with extra ministerial slots at the expense of zones that voted for you, you are automatically going to reduce your votes in those zones that voted for you in the next election, and there is no guarantee that the zone you are trying to please will fill the void of what you will lose.

“I don’t know why people carry emotions into politics. Logic will always triumph over sentiments.

“As long as the constitutional requirements are met for each zone, nobody can complain. But if they are not met, I will be the first to come out guns a-blazing. But that is not the case here. You reap what you sow in religion, politics, and relationships.”