The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, the Ohanaeze yesterday frowned at what it called the continued refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a South Easterner the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, even after the ruling party zoned it to the region.
In a statement signed by Ohanaeze President General, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, the body said that the President has failed again to play the father figure which his office demands in presiding over a plural and divergent society as ours, adding that the President’s action has further denied the people of the region a strong place in the executive arm of the administration.Nwodo expressed regret that the President by his action has failed to seize the opportunity of running an inclusive government and assuaging the feelings of Ndigbo by side tracking them again in the appointment of the SGF. “It also shows the President’s insensitivity to the over flogged issue of marginalization of Ndigbo by his administration. “We had thought that the recent meeting of South East leaders with the President at the Aso Rock Villa opened an avenue for a new relationship with the zone which appointing an SGF from the area would have helped to cement especially as the ruling party originally zoned the position to the region.
According to Chief Nwodo, the President’s remarks on the South East Ministers in his cabinet during the meeting could not have been a good reason to continue sidetracking them of a position zoned to them especially when such appointment would have helped to heal wounds and reconcile a disgruntled people. Chief Nwodo said it’s saddening that the President who has had the enviable opportunity of working across the country in his military career and has been a huge player in the polity for almost two decades, cannot find somebody from the South East he can trust for the SGF position. The Ohanaeze finally urged the President to open his mind and have a positive attitude about Ndigbo whose contributions to the socio economic and political development of the country is not in doubt.
