Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra stats says Igbo have not been marginalised in the appointment made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The governor said the president should be commended for appointing more persons from the region into his government.
According to him, the president has shown goodwill towards the south east region, for instance, by appointing one of their sons, Dave Umahi, a former govrnor of Ebonyi state as the minister of Works despite the fact that the region did not vote for him in the last pesidential election.
Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party, LP defeated Tinubu who represented the All Progressives Congress, APC, by scoring over 90 percent of the votes from the region.
The president, despite his abysmal performance in the region during the election still went ahead to appoint people from the region to important positions in his government, the Anambra helmsman said.
Soludo said: “Giving the totality of votes we contributed from Southeast and looking at the ministerial portfolios, we may not have the basis to begin to demand for “juicy” portfolios.
“But, the President graciously gave us one of our finest and best, one of the few engineers who pioneered concrete pavement as current standard for road construction.
” Nigeria is a federation. You cannot stay in your state, clap with one hand and expect noise. You need the other hand, which is the federal government, for things to work.”
“With you, Engr. Umahi in office, you are a perfect round peg in a round hole. Please, keep showing your leadership.
“What you said about the possibility of coming back again for us to move around in Anambra State will be fantastic because we have fundamental challenges on road infrastructure and especially how it’s delivered by the Federal Government.”
Apart from Umahi, other ministers appointed from the region by President Tinubu are from Doris Anite ( Industry, Trade and Investment; Imo state); Uche Nnaji (Innovation, Science and Technology; Enugu), Nkiru Onyejeocha, Minister of State, Labour and Employment; Abia); anf Uju Kennedy (Women Affairs; Anambra).
The president has received applause for appointing Rear Admiral Emmauel Ogalla among the Service Chiefs.
His preecessor President Muhammadu Buhari shunned demand from people of the region to appoint one of their own into the position for the eight years he spent in office.
