Several leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday, August 27, 2015 showed their displeasure over President Buhari’s decision to appoint mainly Northerners in his administration.
Speaking after the announcement of sensitive appointments by the President, several leaders of the party who spoke to The Punch, said the party must move fast to prevent the President from destroying Federal Character.
A leader of the party who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “The President does not consult before making most of these appointments and I can tell you that Nigerians are going to term the party and the President as a northern party and the President of Northern Nigeria.”
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Another APC leader said the party must find a way to remedy the situation before it become embarrassing. He said: “Though the President did not get much votes from the South-East but we must not neglect the zone in key appointments.
“Even the South-West that supported and was the backbone of the party, what are we giving the zone in appreciation? We need to be careful before the party is destroyed.”
A member of the state executive of APC in a South-West state condemned the president for being bias towards the North and forgetting the South.
He said: “When President Olusegun Obasanjo took over, you saw balance in appointments as he reflected federal character. President Goodluck Jonathan too reflected a semblance of balance. Buhari is pursuing a northern agenda. This is the same agenda pursued by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, when everything was pro-North. Buhari made six appointments at a go and five of them are northerners.”
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Another APC member, who is the Speaker of one of the Houses of Assembly in the South-West, described the development as shocking.
The speaker said: “This is shocking. It doesn’t speak well at all. The South-West has been completely neglected and the South-East too. The South-West was neglected during the President Goodluck Jonathan years. The South-West must rise up against this.”
The APC Chairman in one of the South West states also lent his voice to the growing condemnation, saying President Buhari did not consult with anyone before making the appointments.
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His words: “This is not good at all. Why should he choose everybody from the North? I am sure he did not confide in anybody before drawing up the list and making the announcement. We will continue to watch. It is condemnable.”
On her own part, a female APC member of the House of Representatives from the South West said they were shocked by Buhari’s latest appointments.
She posited: “He didn’t tell anybody. We are all shocked. The real shocker would be when he is going to appoint ministers. The only thing that would save us is that he is mandated constitutionally to choose from all states, otherwise, he would have chosen all the ministers too from the North.”
