A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Enugu State,and Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has blamed the Leaders of the APC in the south East zone for President Bola Tinubu’s nomination of only five people from the zone as members of his cabinet.
Tinubu had nominated only five persons( statutory slots) from the south east zone
out of the 48 nominees, while other zones got extra slots.
Speaking with journalists in Enugu on Sunday on the perceived shabby treatment meted to the South Eastt zone, Okechukwu, said: “instead of blaming him, we should rather blame our so-called South East APC leaders.”
He said: “As you are aware, I am not a President Tinubu’s apologist; however, we must be diligent in our analysis by adopting pragmatic analysis.
“My take is that 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.
“To be honest, I was worried when I noticed them blocking our first eleven, and one ridiculously was busy routing for himself as if he is the only qualified person from his state.
“Their strategy was akin to chasing rats, whilst others were bidding for elephants, ” Okechulwu said.
Accused of playing blame games to gain favour, as Tinubu a veteran politician does not need any lobby strategy to give the South East their due shares, Okechukwu reminded journalists that it is on record that he was the only one who in December 2021, publicly appealed to Tinubu “to support any Igbo in the race.
“Then, his (Tinubu) men replied instantly that the Kingmaker wants to be King.”
“Is it not because from day one these so-called leaders mangled and dislocated South East APC’s structures from ward level to state level that we scored the poorest regional presidential election score?
“Secondly, is it not because they bided petty, and blocked our first eleven, that we lost the moral high ground for bigger cakes?
“If there are blame games, they should be laid squarely where they belong most,” Okechulwu said.