South East APC Young Progressives Forum, a support group of the All Progressive Congress (APC), have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint at least two additional ministers from their region.

The group said their demand was to ensure fairness and justice in the representation of all geopolitical zones in the Tinubu-led government.

Comrade Paschal Candle made the position of the group known in a statement signed and made available to Journalists in Awka, on Monday.

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Candle, who is the National Convener of the group also complained that the South-east region has the lowest ministerial representation among those appointed by President Tinubu with five nominees only.

The statement reads in part, “We the South East APC Young Progressives Forum wishes to draw the attention of Mr President to what is going on with recent appointments in his Government.

“Following the nomination of two additional ministers by the President, the South East APC Young Progressives Forum wishes to thank Mr. President for truly walking his talk of incorporating the youths into his government. His appointments so far have shown his tilt to the youths.

“In fact this is the first time in a long while that the Minister of Youths Development will truly be a youth. We also thank Mr President for being a listening Leader who listened to the cry of youth Constituency when a not so young person was initially nominated as Minister for Youths Development.

“To that extent, the South East APC Young Progressives Forum conveys our esteemed appreciation to the President.

“However, we also at the same time feel a bittersweet taste in our mouth following this latest ministerial nominations by Mr. President, not because the individuals so nominated are not eminently qualified for such appointments but because of the missed opportunity by Mr. President to correct the glaring imbalance in the entire ministerial list.

“With the nomination of the substantive Minister of Youth Development from Kwara State, the North Central geopolitical zone with six states now boasts of nine (9) ministers while the South West with six states now has ten (10) ministers following the nomination of the Minister of State for Youths Development from Ondo State. The South East geopolitical zone with five states remain the only zone among the six geopolitical zones without an additional Minister. In fact, we have only five Ministers without any zonal representation.

“The recent turn of events shows otherwise. This is against the Principle of Federal Character and laws of our Nation. The ugly situation of this Ministerial nomination from the Southeast was formally brought to light in a motion tabled by Senator Dr Tony Nwoye, Anambra North Senatorial District and other Senators from South East on the floor of the Senate. They let Nigerians know that whereas all other zones in the country had extra nominations, yet no extra nominations for south east.

“This is clear violation of section 14(3) of 1999 constitution as amended and section 5 (a) & (b) under part 3 of Federal Character Commission Act Laws of Federation 2004 in ministerial appointment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“We also want to draw the attention of Mr President and National Assembly on Section 14 (3) of 1999 constitution as amended which provides that ‘the Composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the Federal Character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few state or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.

“Section 5 (a) & (b) under part 3 of Federal Character Commission Act laws of Federation 2004 which also provides that “As far as practicable, the appointment to the various categories of political offices shall be done on the basis of equitable representation of the states of the federation, FCT or Zones as appropriate using the relevant formula.

“The political offices concerned include Minister of cabinet rank and Ministers of State. The analysis of the Ministers appointed so far by President Tinubu, which is as follows: North West Geopolitical Zone-10 Ministers (3 extra Ministers), North East Geopolitical Zone -8 Ministers (2 extra Ministers), North Central Geopolitical Zone -8 Ministers (2 extra Ministers), South West Geopolitical Zone -9 Ministers (3 extra Ministers), South South Geopolitical Zone-7 Ministers (1 extra Minister) South East got 5 Ministers without any zonal ministers.

“We therefore wish to cry unto President Tinubu, once again to find a way to remedy this glaring anomaly. This is no longer an oversight but seemingly deliberate. We understand that cabinet positions are not the only appointments, however for equity to be seen to be upheld, at least two additional Minister needs to be appointed by Mr. President from the South East region of Nigeria for the sake of inclusion, fairness and justice.

“We humbly wants to use this opportunity to appeal to our listening President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider nominating someone from the youth Constituency in the South East geopolitical zone and one who has the capacity and capability, to fill the position of the Minister for Youths, even as a minister of State for Youth Development.

“We also plead with President to readjust this latest appointments and give the South East at least two additional ministerial slots. The South East APC Young Progressives Forum will be eternally grateful if Mr. President heeds to our humble plea. We have within the South East APC fold, highly capable and energetic young professionals and grassroots politicians who are capable of revolutionising the Ministry of Youths.

“We implore the President to choose this Minister from a pool of highly qualified young progressives who can easily be found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states. We have young inspirational figures in the South East progressives fold who have distinguished themselves in various fields of endeavours.

“What Nigeria needs currently is a formula that will unleash the latent entrepreneurial and creative potentials resident in our vast population of Youths. This is the best way to renew the hope of teeming youths. There is no better region to produce a Minister that can tap this youthful potential other than the South East, which is known as a zone of relentless entrepreneurs.

“We are equally calling on the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio to fulfill his promise when Senators from South East drew his attention to this anomaly in which he promised to meet with Mr President and speak with him over the matter. We are still waiting for the outcome of the meeting.

“This appeal has become necessary because of the need to give the South East an extra ministerial slot since it is the only zone that did not have extra ministerial nominees,” the group stated. (Nigerian Tribune)

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