Cabinet Reshuffle: S/East Shortchanged, Tinubu Worse Than Buhari – Abaribe

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The Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has expressed dissatisfaction with the recent cabinet reshuffle by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying the South East has been shortchanged.

Abaribe said Tinubu has treated the South East worse than his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

The lawmaker stated this on Thursday during an interview on Arise TV, monitored by THE WHISTLER.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) chieftain stated that the South East deserves at least six ministers in Tinubu’s cabinet.

On Wednesday, Tinubu reshuffled his cabinet and sacked five ministers, including the Minister of Women Affairs, Barr. Uju-Ken Ohanenye who is from the South East.

Tinubu, however, appointed Bianca Odinaka Odumegu-Ojukwu as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

The Abia lawmaker said, “Let’s just put it this way, my constituents as far as they are concerned nothing has changed. Secondly, if you go out on the street, this time I will say my constituents are all the oppressed. They don’t call it ‘Renewed Hope’, they call it ‘Renewed Shege (Suffering)’.

“The South East, we are looking at the changes. So, what are the changes for the South East? You remove one minister for the South East and replace them with another minister. So, what do we have? A president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria breaching the constitution and going on as if it doesn’t matter that he is breaching the constitution.”

The Abia senator said the cabinet reshuffle does not represent federal character.

According to him, Tinubu has breached Section 14 (3) (4) of the constitution since he assumed office.

Abaribe decried, “The president has breached it for the last 18 months. We thought that with these changes, maybe there will be some adjustments that will also put some balm on what is going on in the minds of people from the South East.

“I want to tell everyone that the Igbos want fairness and equity which is in the constitution. Treat us as you are treating everybody else.”

He continued, “For the South East, as far as they are concerned, the South East from the beginning has been shortchanged. What does the constitution say? It says you have to have one minister per state.

“Even President (Muhammadu) Buhari who did not have any empathy for the South East still gave one more minister to the South East. But what do we have today? Just that five for the five South East states. We are even worse off than before now.

He said some zones have more ministers than the number of the states in them. According to him, some of the geopolitical zones have seven, nine and ten among others.

“You want to ask yourself, is it fair, is it just and is it equitable?” Abaribe lamented.

He said President Tinubu has the responsibility to make things right but the lawmaker said he has continued in the steps of his predecessor.

Reacting to how the appointment of Bianca who is the wife of the Late Biafra warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegu-Ojukwu will change the perception of the South East towards the president, Abaribe said it will not win Tinubu an approval in the region.

“She deserves to be a minister in her own right but making hare a minister is not meant for the South East. The point really is that those who are advising Mr. President are not giving him the proper advice.

“What the South East wants is ‘do to me the way you are doing to others’. You can give it to her, she deserves it. But that will not bring the South East to say ‘because you have given to her, therefore it has covered all the anomalies.

“What would have satisfied us is you have 50 ministries, you share it by six, what does that give everybody? At least each zone will get eight. That would have told everybody that you are even-handed.”

The APGA senator said the whole of the economy is in the hands of the South West where the president comes from.

Abaribe, “Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance etc. Just check it. And so you ask yourself, is this what is contained in the constitution? Section 14 (4) says you ought to do things so that you don’t make others feel that they are not taken care of.

“As far as we are concerned, we don’t think they are not getting it right.”

Abiribe opined that Tinubu’s cabinet was reshuffled based on “personal interest” not sacrifice for national interests.

He said the fundamentals of Tinubu’s government were not right adding that the hardship in the country was as a result of the failure to deal with the fundamentals.

The lawmaker said, “What are the fundamentals, first, we are a poor country with a massive debt overhang. What do you do when you are poor? The first thing you do is to cut your coat according to your size. But we came in, the first in was to bloat the cabinet which means the cost of governance is not going down.

“Everybody expected that he should be able to shrink his cabinet. Everything is being given to everybody free of charge, we are buying new planes and all that. What do you expect? Those things must be paid for.

” What does the man on the street see? He sees you living in extravagance, enjoying and you are telling him things are getting rougher. He is seeing inflation rise and, the cost of fuel and electricity rise. So, what you will get on the street is mass anger.”