G
George Oshogwe Ogbolu
Guest
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South, has voiced strong disappointment over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent cabinet reshuffle, criticizing it as neglectful of the South East.
According to Abaribe, this reshuffle has been even less favorable to the South East than those under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking in an interview on Arise TV, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) leader emphasized that the South East merits at least six ministerial positions in Tinubu’s administration.
On Wednesday, Tinubu reorganized his cabinet, dismissing five ministers, including Uju-Ken Ohanenye, the Minister of Women Affairs, who hails from the South East, but appointed Bianca Odinaka Odumegwu-Ojukwu as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Abaribe said, “For my constituents, nothing has changed. They don’t refer to it as ‘Renewed Hope’ but rather as ‘Renewed Shege (Suffering).’ The South East, in particular, is questioning the supposed changes. Removing one South East minister only to replace them doesn’t feel like progress.”
The senator argued that the reshuffle fails to reflect the federal character principle, accusing Tinubu of violating Section 14 (3) (4) of the constitution since taking office.
Abaribe decried, “The president has breached it for the last 18 months. We thought that with these changes, maybe there will be some adjustments that will also put some balm on what is going on in the minds of people from the South East.
“I want to tell everyone that the Igbos want fairness and equity which is in the constitution. Treat us as you are treating everybody else.”
He further lamented that, despite the South East’s calls for equity and fairness, Tinubu’s actions continue to overlook the region.
He continued, “For the South East, as far as they are concerned, the South East from the beginning has been shortchanged. What does the constitution say? It says you have to have one minister per state.
“Even President (Muhammadu) Buhari who did not have any empathy for the South East still gave one more minister to the South East. But what do we have today? Just that five for the five South East states. We are even worse off than before now.”
The senator also noted that other zones have been assigned more ministers than their number of states, questioning the fairness of this distribution. “Some geopolitical zones have seven, nine, even ten ministers,” Abaribe stated, urging Tinubu to correct this imbalance instead of following his predecessor’s path.
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