South East Zone of the Peoples Democratic Party has also accused Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha of master minding the exclusion of Igbos in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.
PDP made this statement right after southeast spokesman of All Progressives Congress ( APC), Osita Okechukwwu made the same accusations.
Okechukwu said “Okorocha should take responsibility for Igbo exclusion in the appointments rather than passing the buck to Ndigbo.”
The PDP in a statement by its South-east Publicity Secretary, Regis Uwakwe described Okorocha as the problem of the Ndigbo.
The statement read “It is on record that Okorocha while campaigning for his party APC after he had dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the platform that made him governor, promised Ndigbo that he would take them to the ‘mainstream’ and ‘centre of power’ immediately APC wins the presidential elections. Unfortunately he has failed today to take them not even to the periphery of the ‘mainstream’ nor near the ‘centre of power’ judging by President Muhammadu Buhari’s total exclusion of Ndigbo from his kitchen cabinet.
“Instead of apologising to Ndigbo, Governor Okorocha is now telling ‘Ndigbo to blame themselves’ what an irony!Ndigbo Beware! We know subsequentely that southeast states are entitled to a ministerial nomination each, constitutionally. We also know that it is not a favour. It has been severally said by close associates, that the president appointed into his kitchen cabinet only those that he could trust.
“Then it follows that amongst all the leaders of APC in the entire southeast including HE Ogbonnaya Onu, Senator Chris Ngige and Osita Izunaso, Chief George Muoghalu, Chief Festus Odimegwu, Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba etc could not qualify to be trusted?
“The principal position of Deputy Whip was zoned to the South-east by the new leadership of House of Representatives. What happened? Before Nigerians, his party’s national leader lobbied the powers that be in his party to garner the position of majority leader inclusive of the Deputy speakership, as his zone already had thereby denying the South-east the deputy whip! It should be noted that this is the first time since the return of democracy that a principal officer of the House of Representatives has not come from the South-east zone.
“Finally, we could not but be sympathetic to the South-east zone publicity secretary of APC, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, as Okorocha has taken over his job and playing comic politics with it. If Okorocha is not telling Ndigbos to be “patient” today, he is blaming them to be responsible for their predicament the next day.
“The entire Ndigbo of the South-east and South-south know the party that has protected their interest, appointed their sons and daughters into very prominent positions, and also given them opportunities in the mainstream of power politics in Nigeria. That party is the PDP. It is known that the Southeast is a PDP zone and very tiny interlopers and Nollywood politicians would know their end, come 2019.”