The umbrella body of Ndigbo, the Ohanaeze has frowned at the continued refusal of President Muhammedu Buhari to appoint a Nigerian of South East extraction the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) even after the ruling party zoned it to the region.

In a statement signed by its President General Chief John Nnia Nwodo, the body said that the President had failed again to play father figure, which his office demands, in presiding over a plural and divergent society as ours. It said the President's action hds further denied the people of the region a strong place in the executive arm of the administration.

The Ohanaeze leaders expressed regret that the President, by his action, has failed to seize the opportunity of running an inclusive government and assuaging the feelings of Ndigbo by side tracking them again in the appointment of the SGF.

“It also shows the President’s insensitivity to the overflogged issue of marginalisation of Ndigbo by his administration.”

“We had thought that the recent meeting of South East leaders with the President at the Aso Rock Villa opened an avenue for a new relationship with the zone, which appointing an SGF from the area would have helped to cement especially as the ruling party originally zoned the position to the region.”

According to Nwodo, the President’s remarks on the Ministers of South East origin in his cabinet during the meeting could not have been a good reason to continue sidetracking them of position zoned to them, especially when such appointment would have helped to heal the wounds and reconcile a disgruntled people.

Nwodo said it was saddening that the President, who has had the enviable opportunity of working across the country in his military career and has been a huge player in the polity for almost two decades, could not find somebody from the South East he could trust for the SGF position.

The Ohanaeze finally urged the President to open his mind and have a positive attitude about Ndigbo whose contributions to the socio-economic and political development of the country was not in doubt.

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