Group rejects Onu, Ogbuoji for ministerial slot
Charles Onyekwere, Abakaliki
A group, Ebonyi Consultative Initiative has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to nominate the former Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu or the 2019 Ebonyi state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Sonni Ogbuoji as his ministerial choice from Ebonyi state.
In a statement issued in Abakaliki, National Coordinator of the group, Chief Michael Chukwu said the duo has not done anything to advance the development of the state and therefore, called on President Buhari not to consider the re-nomination of Onu or the appointment of Senator Ogbuoji as ministers if he wants Ebonyi state to be taken to the next level in line with his campaign mantra.
However, the group made a strong case for Ebonyi Central zone for the ministerial nomination, noting that the zone has been badly sidelined in ministerial appointments unlike Ebonyi North and South since the creation of the state.
Though the group did not make any submission on any particular nominee, it was gathered that they are pushing for candidates of the party who contested and lost the general elections from Ebonyi Central.
APC top shots being tipped are an APC senatorial candidate for Ebonyi Central, Senator Julius Ucha, the National Coordinator of the Buhari/Osibanjo Initiatives for Demonstrating Change, Comrade Chinedu Ogah and former Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Ben Odoh among others.
Ucha and Ogah were said to have delivered the highest votes for President Buhari in Ebonyi state during the 2019 presidential election.
“We deeply regret that for the last four years our son was appointed the minister of science and technology, his home state has been neglected as if it is not part of the country.
Ebonyi state has been schemed out in the calendar of the Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu that no federal presence has been recorded since he was appointed to head such a strategic ministry.
“If Mr. President so loves Onu, he should appoint and give him an ambassadorial position where he will be interfacing with the international community. As far as Ebonyi is concerned, we don’t need a dormant and non-vibrant representatives or nominee that will enjoy the quota of the state.
“In the same vein, it should not even be contemplated as we heard that the 2019 governorship candidate of APC, Sen. Sonni Ogbuoji has been lobbying to make the ministerial list from Ebonyi state.
It will be a tragedy for Ebonyi state if that happens, but we know that President Buhari hopes and thinks well of Ebonyi people. The option of Ogbuoji is no option and Ebonyi people will never accept that.
“Like Onu, Ogbuoji cannot offer good representation as a minister. So, for the interest of Ebonyi people, the President should be kind enough to nominate someone who has the passion for Ebonyi people and Nigeria at large.
“We have many capable hands and great mobilizers from Ebonyi state that advanced the fortunes of the APC during the 2019 general elections, if it must be on the basis of party affiliation.
If Ogbuoji can abandon his governorship ambition only to be eyeing a ministerial position, it therefore means that he has no political sagacity to be considered worthy for such revered position,” the group said.
