Mike Wabalai
With the re-emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president in an election that the opposition party insists was massively rigged, and with the struggle for the who gets what in the National Assembly taking dimensions that do not reflect the true ethnic composition of the country, it has become obvious and potently glaring that the South-East and South-South are standing as orphans in the APC national government.
From appointments that are skewed to favour the North and North only and a fraction to the South-West, and powered by the resources from the South-South, the very notion that the APC stands for the unity of Nigeria is nothing but a farce.
The President is from the North while the Vice-President is from the South-West. The APC went ahead and endorsed a North-Eastern Senate President and a South-West Speaker of the House Of Reps.
Remember that CJN who is the fifth in the leadership hierarchy is from the North same as the Appeal Court president and the chief judge of the Federal High Court.
On Security, the Chief of Defence Staff is from the South-West while the Chief of Air Staff and Army Staff, DSS DG, NIA DG, Customs DG, NSA, Minister of Defence etc are also from the North.
The minister of petroleum is from the North while the NNPC MD is also from the North.
One expected the APC to either hand over the Senate leadership or speakership to either the South-East or South-South considering the fact that resources from these areas are what is powering Nigeria but no, it is a case of winners takes it all.
The APC has people in the South-East and South-South who are qualified to hold strategic positions but they do not care. When someone from South-East or South-South is next on the line, a Northerner is quickly bundled out of retirement to come to take over. This has been the modus operandi of the Buhari’s government. This is also why the two regions should unite to achieve the quest for resource control.
The killing in Zamfara revealed so much. One of which is that people have been mining gold in the North and pocketing the proceeds while the oil in the South-South and South-East is what is holding the nation. Is this not injustice taken too far?
The South-South should align with their brothers in the East and seek solutions to the injustice.
