Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who represents Abia South, has expressed strong disappointment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent cabinet reshuffle, accusing him of neglecting the South East.
According to Abaribe, the latest appointments were even less favorable to the South East than those under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) leader, who spoke to Arise TV, stressed that the South-East deserves at least six ministerial posts in the Tinubu administration.
On Wednesday, Tinubu reshuffled his cabinet, sacking five ministers, including Ujuken Ohanenye, the women’s minister from the southeast, but appointed Bianca Odinaka Odumegwu Ojukwu as minister of foreign affairs.
“For my constituents, nothing has changed. They don’t call it ‘new hope’; they call it ‘new shege’ (suffering),” Abaribe said. The Southeast, in particular, has doubts about the envisaged changes. Merely replacing one minister in the southeastern region does not seem like progress. ”
The senators argued that the appointments did not reflect the principles of federal character and accused Mr Tinubu of violating Article 14(3)(4) of the Constitution since taking office.
“The president has been in violation for the past 18 months, and we think that with these changes, there will be adjustments that will soften what is going on in the minds of the people of the southeast,” Abaribe said. I did.
“What I want to say to you is that Igbo people want fairness and equity as provided in our constitution. Treat us the same way you treat everyone else.”
He further lamented that despite calls for fairness and equity in the South-East, Tinubu’s actions continue to marginalize the region.
He further said, “When it comes to the South East, the South East has been lacking from the beginning. What does the Constitution say? It says there should be one minister in each province.
“Even President (Muhammadu) Buhari, who had no sympathy for the South-East, still gave the South-East another cabinet minister. But what do we have today? Just five states in the South-East. We are worse now than we were before.”
The senator also pointed out that other regions have been allocated more ministers than states, calling into question the fairness of this distribution. “Some geopolitical zones have seven, nine, even 10 ministers,” Abaribe said, adding that he urged Tinubu to rectify this imbalance rather than follow the path of his predecessors. I urged them to do so.
