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You are saboteurs-Igbo Group tells south east political
leaders
By Chuks Ehirim
Newsdiaryonline Tue May 17,2011
As agitation for the South-East to produce the next Speaker of
the Federal House of Representatives continued to gain
momentum,a new organization,South-East Revival Group[SERG], has
taken political leaders, including state governors in the five
states of the zone to cleaners, describing them as ''saboteurs.
Leaders of the new
Socio Political Organization declared yesterday, at a press
conference in Abuja, that governors and other political
leaders from the zone are operating like prodigal sons, for
consenting to the retention of the present zoning arrangement of
the principal officers of the National Assembly, within the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party[PDP]. The governors were said to
have been present at the meeting of the Party, (PDP) where the
retention of the zoning formula
was agreed to be retained.
It was at the enlarged national caucus meeting the PDP,on the
need to retain the current zoning formula where the North
Central and South West will still produce the Senate President
and House of Representatives Speaker, respectively.
However, South-East
Revival Group berated the Igbo governors, for their
perceived indifference to the demand for the
Speakership for the zone by their people.They described the
governors as betrayers and saboteurs who were only interested in
their pockets to the detriment of collective Igbo interest.
Speaking at the press briefing yesterday, the
Coordinator-General of the Group who is also Secretary General
of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Chief Willy
Ezeugwu lambasted the governors and the Representatives from the
South-East for accepting for the zone to be relegated again in
the allocation of offices in the next dispensation.
He pointed out that ''representatives from South-East are
saboteurs, the governors are betrayers, see the way they have
all lined up in Ota to negotiate for themselves and not for the
zone. We are not surprised, they are not popular and were not
really elected by the people''.
Continuing, Ezeugwu asid“it is regrettable that the governors,
Ohaneze, Aka Ikenga, Ndigbo Lagos, Igbo Professionals and other
interest groups prevailed on Ndigbo to vote massively for
President Goodluck Jonathan only for them to be planning to
relegate the same zone to the status of a super minority''.
He added that“The South-East Revival Group appeals to these
groups and bother bodies in the zone to oppose the position of
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) being
foisted on us. As we speak, the South-East people have not even
be consulted to make inputs in the choice of who will fill the
touted position of SGF, further increasing our suspicion that
the ploy is to shortchange the zone''.
Ezugwu lamented that the way and manner President Jonathan was
trampling upon the Igbos as shown by the allocation of principal
offices of the National Assembly amounted to suggest that he did
not value the votes given him by the South-East voters.
According to him, ''the
Igbo did not extract undertaking from President Jonathan as a
condition for giving him their votes because of the trust they
have in him and the believe in the unity of Nigeria, and that it
would be tantamount to re-paying good with evil''.
“The South-East have been loyal to the PDP, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo foisted Yar’Adua on us in 2007, we never complained,
later it was doctrine of necessity to bring in Jonathan, we
agreed. Again, they said it was Jonathan for 2011, we followed
them. Now it’s the turn for us to be given our due, they have
started singing a new tune. It will be the greatest injustice to
send the Speakership position back to the South-West''.
“It is a historical fact that the South-East played and still
plays pivotal role in the fortunes of the PDP. For the avoidance
of doubt, in the most recent instance, President Goodluck
Jonathan had his best outing in the just concluded elections in
the South-East. The zone pulled the highest number of votes
comparable only to Lagos, Kano and Kaduna. If the present zoning
arrangement stays, the South-East will be reduced to nothingness
as it will only leave the South-East with Deputy Senate
President and SGF, two offices that do not have enough clout in
government.”
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