Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide has demanded justice, fairness and equity in President Bola Tinubu’s appointments, as the South-East has the least representation in his list of ministerial nominees.
“We wish to observe that this situation was not caused by the current administration, but we, however, appeal to His Excellency, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to help us remedy the situation and restore justice, equity and fairness in Nigeria,” said the Igbo group.
Ohaneze added, “We pray the Almighty to bless and prosper our country, Nigeria and give our leaders the wisdom and knowledge to steer the ship of Nigerian nation to peace, happiness and prosperity for all Nigerians irrespective of ethnicity, creed and political persuasion.”
The group said they were disturbed about the president’s ministerial nominees, in which the South-East has only five ministers, and every other geopolitical zone has nine or 10 nominees each.
Ohaneze president-general Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu expressed displeasure in a statement issued on Thursday.
“We, therefore, demand justice, fairness and equity for every ethnic group in Nigeria, including the Igbo. Recall that the states and geopolitical zones were created by the military administrations,” stated the Igbo group. “All honest Nigerians know that the Igbo did not play much part during this exercise.”
It added, “As a result, the South-East was shortchanged with five states while other zones have minimum of six states.”
Ohaneze explained that the situation placed the South-East in a difficult position, politically, economically and socially.
“Our political power has been reduced as we have a few senators and also in the House of Representatives; governors, house of assembly and local governments,” Ohaneze said.
The Igbo group added that in federal revenue allocation, the region was denied commensurate revenue based on states, federal board appointments, and other resource distributions after being strategically shortchanged.
(NAN)
