APC pressure group vows to oppose any plans by Tinubu to appoint members of the opposition

MEMBERS of an All Progressives Congress (APC) pressure group who call themselves the Progressives Advisory Forum for Good Governance (Pafogg) have said they will bitterly oppose any plans by President-elect Bola Tinubu to appoint members of the opposition.

On Saturday February 25, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new president and the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) subsequently declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner. Among the other main gladiators in the contest were Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

Inec chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as the returning officer for the presidential election, declared Asiwaju Tinubu the victor of the contest with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Alhaji Abubakar of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes and Governor Obi who came third with 6,101,533 votes. On May 29, President-elect Tinubu is going to be sworn-in in line with the dictates of Nigeria's constitution but the PDP and the Labour Party are challenging the elections in court.

With May 29 fast approaching, Asiwaju Tinubu has to put his cabinet together soon and amid talk that he may reach out to the opposition to placate them, Pafogg has said it will fiercely oppose any such moves. Pafogg warned that appointing members of the opposition would not only be a grave error but may ruin the performance of the Tinubu-led administration.

Emmanuel Nwosu, the Pafogg convener, said the group will oppose the appointment of enemies of APC and the Tinubu/Shettima ticket into the administration because such a gross error will no doubt ruin the performance of the administration. He added that their voices must be loud enough to call out those who should not be brought into the team no matter how close they may be to the president-elect.

Mr Nwosu advised Asiwaju Tinubu to immediately begin the selection of a compact team of experts that would commence the groundwork of ensuring that the much-needed change is adequately delivered soon after inauguration. While clamouring for equitable distribution of political offices and zoning the tightly contested senate presidency to the southeast, he urged Asiwaju Tinubu to approve Senator Osita Izunaso for the position.

"Our vision is to see the president-elect become the first president since independence to positively disrupt our hitherto non-functional system and turn it to a comprehensively transformed progressive system which will place our country among developed nations of the world.  In order to lay a good foundation for our mandate therefore, Pafogg decided to first identify men and women who believe in the Tinubu/Shettima presidency.

"These are unrepentant supporters of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima, who have the passion for the transformation of Nigeria, men and women of integrity desirous of doing things differently in government and who are committed to the success of the incoming Tinubu administration. We know that the president-elect has the knack for putting together teams that get the job done, so our duty is just to say to him, Your Excellency Sir, you already know these ones, we need not tell you about them, please move on with them and let Nigerians rejoice and thank God for giving you to us as president.”

Among the proposed ministers the group intends to put forward include Osita Izunaso (senate president), Yusuf Adamu Gagdi (speaker), Nasiru El Rufai (defence), Jack Rich (petroleum), Joe Igbokwe (transport), Olawale Edun (finance), Abubakar Bagudu (agriculture), Nkem Okeke (education), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (FCT). Others are Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (interior); Babatunde Fashola (works and housing), Victor Ndoma-Egba (accountant-general of the federation) and Henry Dele Alake (information).