Ohanaeze Ndigbo laments the fact that southeast geo-political will only get five ministers

PAN-Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo has expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that President Bola Tinubu only allocated five ministerial slots to the southeast geo-political zone as he is currently seeking to form his cabinet.

Nigeria's senate is currently in the process of ratifying ministerial nominees and so far, about 45 of those put forward by President Tinubu have been approved. Nigeria's constitution states that each of her 36 states must get at least one minister but most states end up with more than one because there are more positions to be filed than there are states.

By far the smallest of Nigeria's six geo-political zones, the southeast only has five states, compared with seven in the northwest and six in the four others zones. Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said the decision to restrict the number of nominees from the southeast to just five was unfair and unjust.

He said the southeast geo-political zone was short-changed with five states while other zones have a minimum of six states. According to Chief Iwuanyanwu, the situation had placed the southeast in a very difficult position, politically, economically and socially.

Chief Iwuanyanwu said: “Recall that the states and geo-political zones were created by the military administrations. All honest Nigerians know that the Igbo did not play much part during that exercise.

“As a result, the southeast was short-changed with five states while other zones have a minimum of six states. This situation has placed the southeast in a very difficult position, politically, economically and socially.

“Our political power has been reduced as we have a few senators and also in the House of Representatives, governors, house of assemblies and local governments. In federal revenue allocation, the southeast is denied the revenue that comes on the basis of states and in federal board appointments and other resource distributions, we are strategically short-changed.

“We wish to observe that this situation was not caused by the current administration but we however appeal to His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to help us remedy the situation and restore justice, equity and fairness in Nigeria.”