APC Chieftain: Don’t Blame Tinubu over Nomination of Five Ministers from South-east

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Enugu State, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has absolved President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of any blame for nominating only five people from the South-east into his cabinet.

Tinubu has faced several criticisms by leaders in the region who are accusing him of marginalising the zone with the nomination of only five ministers and more from other zones out of the 48 nominees.

However, responding to questions on the matter yesterday, Okechukwu, who is the Director General of Voice of Nigeria, (VON), said that rather than heap the blames on Tinubu, the so-called South-east APC’s leaders should blame themselves.

He said: “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.”

The APC’s chieftain described Tinubu as a  veteran politician who does not need any lobby strategy to give the South-east their due shares, adding 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 noted that the so-called leaders mangled and dislocated South-east APC’s structures from ward level to state level, hence the party had the poorest regional presidential election score.

“If there are blame games, they should be laid squarely where they belong most, on the shoulders of leaders of the party in the region,” he said.