Ministerial Slots: Ex-lawmaker Renews Call for Additional State in S’East

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

With the South East getting the least number of ministers in the present dispensation, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Sam Onuigbo, has renewed the call for additional state in the zone.
He made the call while appearing as a guest on Arise TV News programme discussing how the South East Zone has fared so far in the Bola Ahmed Tinubu government.

Onuigbo, who represented Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South federal constituency in the 9th National Assembly, noted that the South East has continued to be a victim of imbalance and unfair treatment.
He said the unsavoury situation was a symptom of a foundational issue relating to the imbalance in the number of states allocated to each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The former federal lawmaker hinged the perceived marginalisation of the South East on a wrong foundation in the polity, which predated the present administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“That wrong foundation,” he said, “is that the South East is not supposed to have five states” when other zines have upwards of six states, pointing out that while the North West has seven states and four other regions of the federation have six states each.
Onuigbo argued that this structural imbalance has already placed the South East on disadvantage position even if the ministerial positions were shared on the basis of the number states in each zone.

 “So, even if you are doing a minister per state, South East will still fall short, at least two when compared to the North West. That is something we are going to address in the near future using a constitutional amendment to be able to create a state at least to balance the South East to have six states,” he said.