APC leaders upset as Pres. Buhari appoints more Northerners

There was outrage in the ruling All Progressives Congress party on Thursday over the announcement of new appointments by President Buhari. Leaders of the APC complained that the appointments were mostly in favour of the North and  Northerners.

“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,” a leader of the party said on Tuesday.

He said, “Though the President did not get much votes from the South-East, 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.”

It was gathered that some leaders of the party are considering having a meeting where the appointments would be reviewed.

But another senior member of the APC said such a meeting, would have to wait until the party holds its Kogi State governorship primary on Saturday.

A member of the state executive of APC in a South-West state, said the appointments were lopsided against 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.”

The Speaker of one of the Houses of Assembly in the South-West, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also described the new appointments as shocking.

The Speaker, who is a member of the APC, 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.”

Similarly, an APC chairman in another South-West state, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the list of the new appointees left him perplexed.

He said:

“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.”

In the same vein, an APC member of the House of Representatives, said the leaders of the party in the South-West were shocked by Buhari’s latest appointments.

“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,” the female member of parliament said.

Punch