By Christiana Ekpa
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Joe Igbokwe known for his anti-Igbo rhetorics during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has taken to his social media page to bash President Bola Ahmed Tinubu condemned what he called policy of continuing in the footsteps of his predecessor, which saw the South-East pushed to the fringes of Nigeria’s socio-political affairs.
The Lagos-based APC chieftain who hails from Anambra State lamented that the refusal of Tinubu to tap the South-East for the National Chairman of the party was a missed opportunity.
He said “What a missed opportunity! So what if the Igbos did not vote for Tinubu. Are we still practicing Buhari’s 96% versus 5% formula? The APC is reacting to the #NigerianElections2023, when they should be planning for the next elections.”
He argued that the party should have zoned its new vacant National Chairmanship seat to the South-East to placate the zone over long term injustice and marginalization.
He revealed this through his Facebook page, accusing President Tinubu of following the footsteps of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
Igbokwe’s statement read in full, “The APC missed a golden opportunity to reduce the tension in the Southeast and bring that geopolitical zone into the mainstream by failing to replace their National Chairman with someone from the Southeast. Part of why there is so much unrest in the Southeast is because they feel underrepresented in the national power structure.
“The President is from the Southwest. His vice is from the Northeast. The Senate President is from the South-South, while the Speaker of the House of Representatives is from the Northwest. The Chief Justice of Nigeria is from the Southwest, whereas the President of the Court of Appeal is from the North-central.
“Where does that leave the Southeast? Completely naked politically at the federal level. The imbalance is suffocating. No zone will accept what the Southeast is expected to accept, and the APC ought to have used this vacancy to placate the Southeast and prove to them that Buhari’s ‘dot in a circle’ philosophy went away with him”.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
