Aggrieved governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have protested against the mode of nominating non-career ambassadors by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The governors who held an emergency meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday expressed anger at an alleged decision by the president not to consult them in the selection of the nominees whose names have already been forwarded to the Senate for confirmation.
Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha also recently confirmed the frustration of APC members while fielding questions from State House correspondents over federal appointments made so far by the President Buhari.
Addressing State House
correspondents after the meeting with the president, Governor Simon Lalong of
Plateau State said the APC governors raised issues on the ambassadorial
appointments during the meeting which lasted about four hours. He disclosed
that the governors had agreed to write formally to the president on the need to
take a second look at the list of the nominees from the states.
Lalong who specifically spoke about
the situation in his state said: “All the states that have complaints are going
to put them in writing and the president promised he is going to look into
them.”
He noted that a former deputy
governor in Plateau, Pauline Tallen rejected her nomination as ambassador based
on principles in line with the political disposition of the state and not
necessarily about her husband as reported in a section of the media.
Governor Lalong said he had already
complained to the president that appointment into federal positions from the
state should not be concentrated in one particular zone.
“Pauline is an astute politician
from my state, and part of the issue we also raised was on some of the
appointments that were made.
“It is not only about her husband, I
think it is the dimension of Plateau politics.
“All these appointments came again
from one zone, in that particular zone. So the complaint that is coming from
our state is not about her own personal interest, it is about the fact that two
ambassadorial appointments are coming from the same zone,” the governor said.
Governor Lalong also said that “that
is my zone. We had complained that the next appointment should go to the other
zone, the central and the northern zone. And so when that appointment came the
kind of uproar that followed that appointment also necessitated an
intervention.”
Also fielding questions, Governor Okorocha
said the emergency meeting with the president also discussed the successes made
in fighting the Boko Haram sect and the recent release of 21 Chibok girls
kidnapped over two years ago.
Source:The Guardian
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Politics