By Okocha Aghaeze Esq
Dear sir,
THE NEED TO GET THE CABINET RESHUFFLE RIGHT; A HUMBLE PLEA FROM THE SOUTHEAST GEO-POLITICAL ZONE.
With profound respect, sir, let me first incalculably appreciate you for yielding to the yearnings of those us, Nigerians, who want you and this nation to succeed, as we have continually called on you to rejig your cabinet.
It is my humble and well-informed opinion that the appointment of the ministers of the federal republic of Nigeria is a serious and fundamental issue that must be approached with every sense of diligence as you have done always and in other issues.
Your Excellency, sir, because I want you to succeed and because the ministers are accessories to your success as they assist you exercise the executive powers vested in the highly placed office which you occupy, pursuant to section 5(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999, that is why some of us keep showing interests on this matter as I have been uneconomical over time pleading that you take a second look at your cabinet.
The doctrine of appointment of ministers of the federal republic of Nigeria is premised on two fundamental columns, hence, every president should seek to perform this obligation and to perform it right.
(1) Flowing from the provisions of sections 5 and 147 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999, it is expressly clear that the appointment of minsters is a constitutional obligation that a president must perform, it is not discretionary rather a compulsory duty imposed by the constitution although the president may have the discretion to determine the design and designation.
(2) Also, for the fact that a president is not omniscience and omnipresent, he is only one human who cannot know everything or be everywhere at the same time, it makes rational sense that a president appoints ministers for the sake of effective administration towards good governance and sustainable developments especially in a large pluralistic nation like ours.
One very major and fundamental area of concern is the fact that, out of the plethora of ministers at a material time, only 5 are from the southeast geopolitical zone, section 147(3) provides that the president shall appoint at least one minister from each state of the federation who shall be an indigene, this denotes that more than one person could be appointed from one state, this you have performed well sir and it is well acknowledged however, it is only in the southeast that the minimum requirement of one person was applied in all the states, no singular state from the southeast got two ministers.
Our dear president, sir, there is yet another issue of a general convention or what has become a traditional practice though not as of right but as of privilege, which other presidents have maintained and that is allocating at least additional one slot to each geopolitical zone after fulfilling the constitutional obligation of section 147(3) of our constitution.
Our dear president and father, with utmost respect, please recall that this gesture was not extended to the southeast whereas other zones actually got as many as between 8 and 10 slots.
Your subjects and children from the southeast did not perceive this scenario with feelings of love and inclusivity rather that of discrimination and marginalization.
in line with the spirit of National Integration as a political objective under section 15(3) which is part of the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy provided under chapter II of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999. Also pursuant to section 14(3) which established the principle of Federal Character, I most respectfully plead with you sir, to please mitigate this defect during this cabinet reshuffle.
Many have been holding the opinion that the southeast deserves any kind of inequitable and unconscionable treatment for not returning good number of votes for the president, however sir, this argument is a non sequitur and goes to no issue, it is an extraneous argument that is at variance with the spirit of unity and nationalism and I humbly urge that you disregard such opinions in your wisdom, this is because there are people from the southeast who died for your campaigns and elections, there are those who lost their properties, those who were humiliated, bullied, harassed, abused, assaulted and battered, others were ostracized and till date, they don’t go home, there are also others who spent their time and resources amidst the fatal risk of supporting the APC and are being mocked today. Please for the sake of such persons who are still standing ardently and strongly for you, bring in more persons from the southeast into the cabinet, we need to have equal number of ministers like other zones.
Dear President, sir, in quid quo pro to the loyalty of your people from the southeast, they are desirous of love, that they may stand as living testimonies and have the joy of having supported you.
Noteworthy of mention is the need to appoint those who have been part of your vision over the years, for now, sir, the idea of appointing persons from the opposition party perhaps for the extension of support base as many have suggested will be causing perpetual wounds to the hearts of your followers.
The fact is that it was not easy to have supported you and the APC from the Southeast, yet some did it despite such challenges.
Sir, I am convinced that you will remember those progressives from the southeast who have been part of this journey for many years and other progressives from other zones know them too.
We shall continue to support you to the expected success.
Thank you, our dear president.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
(Okocha N.U. Agbaeze, Esq. was member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (2023)
comradeagbaeze@yahoo.com)
PHOTO CAPTION: Okocha
