Five ministerial nominees: Hold South East leaders responsible, not Tinubu – Osita Okechukwu

Mr. Osita Okechukwu, chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, has cleared President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of any wrongdoing in the selection of just five individuals from the region to serve in his cabinet.

Tinubu’s cabinet choice has drawn criticism, with some South-East politicians accusing him of undervaluing the region.

Out of the 48 nominees, the South-East received its constitutional five spots, but other zones received additional spaces.

However, in response to questions from journalists in Enugu on Sunday regarding the alleged unfair treatment of the South East, Mr. Okechukwu, a founding member of the APC, joked that “instead of blaming him, we should rather blame our so-called South East APC leaders.”

“As you are aware, I am not President Tinubu’s apologist; however, we must be diligent in our analysis by adopting pragmatic analysis,” stated Okechukwu, Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON).

“In my opinion, we should hold our APC leaders more severely accountable because their lobbying tactics were largely petty rather than serving the true interests of the South East. The APC Governors Forum is the leading Power Bloc, and one of them is its chair, while the other is already a senator.

Since they were obstructing our first eleven, and one of them was ludicrously busy routing for himself as if he were the only qualified person from his State, he continued:

“To be honest, I was concerned. While others were attempting to buy elephants, their technique was akin to pursuing rats.

Accused of playing political games to win favor, Okechukwu reminded journalists that it is on record that he was the only one who publicly pleaded with Tinubu in December 2021 “to support any Igbo in the race, and his men replied instantly that the Kingmaker wants to be King.” Tinubu, a seasoned politician, does not need any lobby strategy to give the South East their due shares.

We received the lowest regional score for the presidential election, 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.”