It’s Been Shock, Surprises For Imo People

IT has been shock and surprises for Imo people since President
Muhammadu Buhari came on board in the past 100 days.

Most respondents, who reacted to the developments within the past 100
days of the Buhari administration, were of the view that "the
President has been implementing a carefully planned programme of
exclusion of the South East geo-political zone".

They were shocked that President Buhari did not appoint an Igbo man
as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

"Before the current announcement of Buhari's appointees, Dr. Ogbonnaya
Onu and Senator Chris Ngige were widely tipped for the post.

The speculation went haywire when the post was said to have been
zoned to the South East", Sir Murphy Emeto said.

Continuing, Sir Emeto said that seeing things now on the ground so
far, the Igbo have no place in this administration because he said
that he would compensate the political zone that gave him 97 per cent
instead of those that gave him a paltry five percent.

While agreeing that it is the prerogative of the President to appoint
members of his kitchen cabinet, Emeto said he should realize that
Nigeria is one country and should remain one.

For an Owerri based legal practitioner, Chief Uche Ohia, President
Buhari has confounded and proved political bookmakers, including his
apologists wrong, in his choice of individuals to work in various
critical positions.

According to Chief Ohia, "the appointments seem deliberately skewed to
exclude the South East zone and Ndigbo".

One other sore issue that has pained Imo people is the planned
downgrading of Alvan Ikoku University of Education, Owerri, to its
former status of a College of Education.

"We expected President Buhari to find ways of implementing the lofty
policy of the upgrade of the institution to the status of a
University. Downgrading the institution is another direct way of
mortgaging educational development of the South East", Lolo Nkechi
Aladu fumed.

Some civil servants, who, however, spoke on strict grounds of
anonymity, lamented that President Buhari has busied himself trying to
demonize his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his former aides,
while workers and pensioners continue to wallow in poverty, disease
and avoidable death.

"Virtually all the projects started by Dr. Jonathan have been stalled
since President Buhari came on board. The roads are getting worse
everyday. The earlier the President realizes that he is not a saint
the better for Nigeria and its citizens," a civil servant cautioned.

A loyalist of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who pleaded
anonymity, expressed regret that sycophants were gradually taking over
the Aso Rock, stressing that except the needful were done, and quickly
too, the country may sadly find her way to another round of
retrogression.

A former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Imo State, Dr.
Kelechi Okpalaeke, who recently decamped from the People's Democratic
Party, PDP, to APC, had this to say in reply to Vanguard's inquiry:
"Are Igbo winning in this dispensation? My brother the answer to this
your question lies in the yardstick that one employs in measuring
winning. If the yardstick is personal appointment then the answer is
no".

While saying that personal appointments have only led to loss of
internally generated revenue to the states of Igboland, Dr. Okpalaeke,
however, pleaded that "we have to wait until the President forms his
government before we can really evaluate and make an intelligent
conclusion as to the question you posed".

-Vanguard