Ministerial list: Nigerians deserve better, not assemblage of spent forces – LP

By Christiana Ekpa

Labour Party has said that Nigerians deserve better, and not an assembly of some spent forces and anti democratic elements as members of the cabinet of President Ahmed Bola Tínubu.

In a statement issued yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, Labour Party said the expectation of Nigerians were completely dashed when the list was unveiled, given that they had expected more quality, character, dynamic, and resulted-oriented Nigerians on the list.

According to Labour Party, “Our attention has been drawn to the ministerial list as forwarded by the All Progressives Congress-led government to the Senate and which was unveiled on Thursday. It is therefore pertinent for us to put on record that the expectations of Nigerians were completely shattered.

“Nigerians expected more quality, character, dynamic, and resulted-oriented Nigerians to be on that list, but what we saw is a recycling of some failed and clueless politicians who have contributed to bringing Nigeria to its parlous condition.

“Some of these nominees played prominent anti-democratic roles in the previous administration, particularly since 2015, which saw the APC government fail in all its promises to Nigerians.

“We also saw “Prependal” politics in full swing where mainly the cronies and lackeys of the APC national leader were selected for a reward for servitude and blind discipleship. This list does not in any way reflect the enormous reservoir of talents, potentials, and resources Nigeria is known for.

“It still baffles us as to why this government ignored the youthful and technocratic potentials that abound but rather chose to appoint spent forces that have failed Nigeria in the past.”

The party said a glance at the list exposes the absence of technocrats who usually form the nucleus or core policy implementers in any given government, adding that it is unfortunate that in their place are fawning politicians who may not be of any help in the needed efforts in salvaging and repositioning the country for effective delivery.

The Labour Party cited the present socio-economic condition of the people, given the challenges of the economy, as well as of all other facets of life, including security, health, education, and poverty reduction amongst others.

“Assembling transactional and traditional politicians to man the government at this critical point would not give the expected result. The political class has failed Nigerians in the past and as the saying goes, we desire square pegs in square holes but that is far from what we are being served. We earnestly hoped that there would have been more young people who would be part of the government.

“At this point in our history, we need people with a track record, young people with energy who can transverse the country, think out of the box, and think all through the night without sleeping, to be able to provide solutions to numerous challenges confronting the nation.”