THE pan Igbo
socio-cultural organization, Ohaneze Ndigbo, said yesterday that it was not
surprised at the way the appointments of President Muhammadu Buhari were going,
insisting that it had shown the president’s deep rooted hatred for the Igbo
nation.
Anambra State
president of Ohaneze, Dr. Chris Eluemuno, in an interview at the state –owned
Anambra Broadcasting Service Television in Awka, said the situation would still
have been the same even if the entire Igbo voted for him.
He said: “I said
it during the campaigns that General Buhari does not like Igbo people and it is
happening now with all the appointments he has so far made since he came into
office on May 29, 2015
“He appointed
five service chiefs and there is no Igbo man, even though Igbo have qualified
people to occupy the positions.
“His party has
completed the selection of principal officers in the national assembly and
despite the fact that the speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara made case to apply the
federal character in allocating the offices, the president jettisoned it
through his intervention and left Igbo APC lawmakers out.
“He also
exhibited his vindictiveness during his recent visit to the United States of
America, USA, when he travelled with only governors from his party, leaving out
governors from the opposition parties.
“He was also
quoted as saying that he would favour those who voted for him and our position
is that there is no way the president should expect all Nigerians to vote for
him in the last presidential election.That statement contradicted Buhari’s
earlier stand that he belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody.”
Eluemuno, who is
also the chairman of chairmen of Ohaneze in the seven Igbo speaking states,
argued that Buhari had no reason to discriminate against the Igbo because
Igbonation played prominent roles in the development of Nigeria and should
therefore not be discriminated against in the scheme of things.
According to him,
apart from the Secretary to the Government of Federation, SGF, the remaining
appointments are ministers and board members, which constitutionally must go to
all the 36 states of the federation, adding that appointing an Igbo minister would
not therefore be a favour to them.
On the
president’s threat to probe only the Jonathan administration, Eluemuno said it
would amount to witch hunt if he limited it to the immediate past
administration, advising that the probe should start from the PDP civilian
administration that began 16 years ago with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who
governed for eight years.
He also advised
the President not to jettison the report of the Constitutional Conference
convoked by former President Goodluck Jonathan, arguing that the Constitutional
Conference report was key to fighting corruption in Nigeria as it contained
recommendations that could help him succeed in his fight against corruption in
the country.
Eluemunor said
the president might also be expecting too much if he thought that he would find
angels to make ministers, stressing that as long as those he described as the
corrupt civil servants were there, the ministers, no matter their background
and integrity would still be corrupt.
“He should know
that those who corrupt the ministers are the top civil servants. They are the
ones that show the ministers the way once they are sworn in. If he wants to
fight corruption in the service, he should start by cleaning up the civil
service,” he added.
He called on the
Igbos to brace up to the challenge posed to them by the APC- led federal
government.
