A chieftain of the All
Progressives Congress, (APC), in Enugu State, Mr Osita Okechukwu has absolved
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of any blame in the nomination of only five people
from the South-East as members of his cabinet.
Criticism has trailed Tinubu’s
ministerial list, with some South-East leaders accusing him of marginalising
the zone.
While the South-East was given
its statutory five slots out of the 48 nominees, other zones got extra slots.
But answering questions from
journalists in Enugu on Sunday on the perceived shabby treatment meted out to
the South East, Mr Okechukwu, a foundation member of APC quipped that without
holding brief or defending Mr President, “instead of blaming him, we should
rather blame our so-called South East APC leaders.”
Okechukwu, the Director General
of Voice of Nigeria, (VON) said: “As you are aware, I am not a President
Tinubu’s apologist; however we must be diligent in our analysis by adopting
pragmatic analysis.
“My take is that we should more
pungently blame our APC’s leaders, who instead of genuine advancement of South
East interest were more or less petty in their lobby strategy. After all one
chairs the APC Governors Forum, the foremost Power Bloc and the other was
already in the senate.”
He added: “To be honest, I was
worried when I noticed them blocking our first eleven, and one ridiculously was
busy routing for himself as if he is the only qualified person from his State.
Their strategy was akin to chasing rats, whilst others were bidding for
elephants.”
Accused of playing blame games to
gain favour, as Tinubu a veteran politician does not need any lobby strategy to
give the South East their due shares, Okechukwu reminded journalists that it is
on record that he was the only one who in December 2021, publicly appealed to
Tinubu “to support any Igbo in the race, and his men replied instantly that the
Kingmaker wants to be King.”
Okechukwu asked: “Is it not
because from day one these so-called leaders mangled and dislocated South East
APC’s structures from ward level to State level that we scored the poorest
regional presidential election score?
“Secondly, is it not because they
bided petty, and blocked our first eleven, that we lost the moral high ground
for bigger cakes?
“If there are blame games, they
should be laid squarely where they belong most.”
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