APPARENTLY uncomfortable with seeming marginalization of Ndigbo in the appointments made so far by President Mohammadu Buhari, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo, has warned the people of South East to stop hoping for appointments in the present administration.
The group also warned against any attempt to thwart the election of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, describing it as an affront on Ndigbo.
Ohaneze Ndigbo through its National Treasurer, Chief Damian Okeke- Ogene, expressed concern over the failure of the Buhari-led federal government to appoint any Igbo man into any office so far, since inception of the administration. Chief Okeke-Ogene further advised Ndigbo not to expect any favour from President Buhari, adding that his steps so far, had vindicated the people of the zone, who showed their reservation of him during the presidential election.
“President Buhari recently sacked five service chiefs and appointed five others as their replacement without looking the way of the South East, a development that has not gone down well with Ndigbo after they had missed out in the reckoning for Senate presidency and the speakership of the House of Representatives,” he said. He advised the Igbo nation against expecting too much from the Buhari administration, noting that their fear against Buhari which made them shun him during the presidential election had been proved right after all. ”In all these appointments, Buhari is bold to tell the Igbos that he based the appointments on merit, but it seems his basic yardstick for merit is Hausa-Fulani. It is good that it is happening now for some of our billionaire politicians, elders and captains of industry will now know that it’s time for us not just to think home but to actualize it. ”That is why we said we voted for the lesser evil as represented by former President, Goodluck Jonathan, because from Obasanjo’s time to now, Igbo have not been treated fairly by the federal government,” he stated. Chief Okeke- Ogene noted that this was the best time for the South East Governors to provide the enabling environment to help the industrialists from the zone to make it viable for them to establish industries that would take up the teeming mass of the unemployed in the zone.
The Ohaneze chieftain further opined that if the Igbo nation could survive the civil war, they have enough now to make the South East a viable economic zone. ”It is the only option left to us now. That is to bring our economy home. Over 80 per cent of our wealth is outside Igboland. Other tribes invest more in their areas,” he said.
