As APC Stakeholders Await Federal Appointments…

Some stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress who contributed to the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu  but were left out in the appointments so far made may receive favourable consideration from the President, writes Charles Ajunwa.

One of the major selling points of President Bola Tinubu during the 2023 presidential campaign is that he was a quintessential politician who knows how to reward party faithfuls. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case as several major party stakeholders have been ignored in the appointments released so far by the President.                                                                                              

Some of the party chieftains who are yet to be accommodated in Tinubu’s government, state by state in alphabetical order include  Ikechi Emenike (Abia), Aisha Binani (Adamawa), Akanimo Udofia (Akwa Ibom), Joe Igbokwe (Anambra), Musa Babayo (Bauchi), David Lyon (Bayelsa), Steven Lawani (Benue), Kashim Imam (Borno), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Otega Emerhor (Delta).

Others are Ize Iyamu (Edo), Dayo Adeyeye (Ekiti), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna (Gombe), Kashifu Inuwa (Jigawa), Muhammad Hafiz Bayero (Kaduna), Bashir Lado (Kano), Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Aminu Suleiman TSO (Kebbi) and James Faleke (Kogi) and Alimi Abdul Rasaq (Kwara).

Also included are Babatunde Ogala (Lagos), Silas Agara (Nasarawa), Sani Ndanusa (Niger), Dimeji Bankole, Bayo Onanuga (Ogun), Olusola Oke, Akin Awodeyi (Ondo), Femi Fani-Kayode (Osun), Teslim Folarin (Oyo), Nentawe Yilwatda (Plateau), Magnus Abe (Rivers), Hon. Musa Sarkin Adar (Sokoto), Bwacha (Taraba),

Mohammed Hassan (Yobe), Mamuda Shinkafi and Ahmad Sani Yerima (Zamfara).

Of course, the President does not have enough positions to satisfy everybody, but ignoring major stakeholders in the party and appointing what APC stakeholder called “second eleven or no eleven at all” is causing ripples across the states.

He gave the example of Senator Aisha Binani of Adamawa State who thrashed several so-called heavyweights including a former governor and current National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. He asked “who among the female ministers is as qualified as her?                                                                                                                         According to the stakeholder: “There is also the case of Chief Ikechi Emenike, a very hardworking and brilliant economist who had worked closely with both President Buhari and Tinubu in the past. Also to be mentioned is Chief Femi Fani-Kayode who has made life-long enemies both home and abroad in pursuit and defense of President Tinubu’s mandate.”   

Leaving out these major APC chieftains by the President in his appointments so far have received mixed reactions from some states.  For example, some members of APC in Oyo State have continued to lament that despite working assiduously for the emergence of President Tinubu, they have been abandoned.

They lamented that the ministerial slot of the state was given to the governorship candidate of the Accord party, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who is now the Minister of Power.

The state Chairman of the party, Hon. Isaac Omodewu, made their feelings known to the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, during a recent visit to the state secretariat of the party in Ibadan.

He said: “As events that heralded the last general elections are still fresh in our memory, we must inform you that Oyo APC remains an unsung hero because we got little support but we delivered beyond expectations. In spite of the fact that we had no sitting governor in Oyo, electioneering was quite challenging as we had to face a lot of hostilities from the PDP government in the state. All these attacks were documented and reported but unfortunately, the same people behind the attacks are now the one laying claim to our hard-earned victory at the February 25 presidential poll.”

The story was not different in Rivers State as APC members voiced out their displeasure over the way and manner the President went about appointing those from opposition that worked against the interest of the party.

Rivers State spokesperson of the APC, Darlington Nwauju, expressed sadness that members of the party in the state are yet to benefit from the present federal government, but noted that President Tinubu has the power to appoint anyone he chooses to be in his cabinet.

According to him: “We in the APC in Rivers State have always conceded to the fact that Mr. President has discretionary powers to appoint. This is a presidential system of government and the bulk stops at the table of Mr. President. As a political party, the plank of our argument is that the President looks at the direction of the party given the abundance of human resources within our own fold.”

The mood of APC stakeholders in Adamawa State is also that of mixed feelings.

The party’s Public Relation Officer (PRO), Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, said though Binani never lobbied to be part of the President’s cabinet as she was busy at the tribunal trying to recover her hard-earned mandate, he maintained that she is eminently qualified to be appointed minister.

For other party stakeholders who worked for the success of the President, Abdullahi said “they would surely be rewarded because President Tinubu is a man of his word,” adding that “appointments are done gradually in every new government.

“There are lots of appointments of heads of parastatals, commissions and MDAs still pending,” he added.

Another APC stakeholder in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Gamawa, called on APC members to be calm and have hope in the new administration of Tinubu.