Uzodinma and Umahi don’t press case of South East before Tinubu, he adds
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Imo Governor Hope Uzodinma and former Ebonyi Governor now Senator Dave Umahi are not keen on lobbying for the growth of the South East and rather pitch their own personal interests when they meet with President Bola Tinubu, laments Osita Okechukwu.
Okechukwu, Voice of Nigeria (VON) Director General and a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), levelled the allegation on Arise TV, arguing the South East has fewer ministerial slots because the political leaders of zone prefer individualism which negates the public good for selfish interests.
“I did not absolve President Bola Ahmed Tinubu …. My framework of statement or message is that he should not be blamed too much as regards the South East,” he said.
“What is sad is that, if there’s a blame game to be played, that it should be laid exactly where it lies – on the door steps, mostly, on the so-called APC leaders of the South East, the so called new APC leaders, who I noticed, while the whole negotiation was going on, were busy trying to knock-off our first 11 in the various five states [in the South East].
“Their reason is that they might pose a danger to their own political career or their kingdom.
“Even in the face of the fact that we were happy when our brother, the Governor of Imo State …. Hope Uzodinma, got the APC Governors’ Forum Chairman, we thought that by presiding over such important caucus – in fact the foremost power bloc, in any political party in Nigeria is the Governors’ Forum, and as Chairman of the Governor’s Forum, he had a very intimate access with Mr. President, and throughout that period, I didn’t see him in Imo.
“He had been in Abuja throughout that period. We had expected him to be negotiating for the good of the geo-political zone, the South East, not for his personal preferences.
“And the results have shown that his preferences and those of … Senator Umahi were at play.”
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Umahi’s ‘knock-out’ in pursuit of personal interest
Okechukwu cited the “knock-out” Umahi gave his brother and Agom Eze to get a Senate position, instead of speaking on behalf of growth for the South East to Tinubu, according to reporting by Arise TV.
“I thought, between Senator Umahi and Governor Hope Uzodinma, as leaders of the South East, that they could have been more patriotic, more collective in their reasoning, instead of being petty in their negotiation.”
Okechukwu explained he is not an apologist for Tinubu but is rather focused on reducing “lies that make hatred flourish in our communities.
“If I lead my people to think that it’s only Tinubu that marginalised them, that will not help in building harmony in a plural society like ours.
“Even those names that President Tinubu had in mind, they knocked most of them off, that they might constitute a problem in the zone. Pettiness cost us where we are now.”
Okechukwu stressed Tinubu would probably not have been “hardened” if these South East leaders lobbied him for the growth of the South East since he listened to the nudges of political power brokers in Kano.
He recounted how former APC Chairman Abdullahi Adamu saying: “he headed the reconciliation committee of the party, had all the facts in his hand, he didn’t reconcile it.
“The outcome is that the South East produced the poorest presidential result in 2003.”