Bwala Queries Exclusion of Igbo from Tinubu’s Inauguration Committee
Meanwhile a spokesman of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, raised apprehensions about alleged exclusion of the Igbo from the 13-man presidential inauguration committee list recently submitted by the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.
A member of the PDP presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala, who raised the concern on his Twitter handle, wrote, “May I kindly ask, is there a single Igbo man in Tinubu’s 13-man Inauguration committee? Hmmm okay.”
Bwala said Tinubu had relegated the Igbo and shown lack of unifying vision in his first appointments.
Tinubu had recently forwarded a 13-member list to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Transition Council, Mr Boss Mustapha. Although, the list was sent on the request of the council, to be integrated into the sub-committee of the inauguration committee of the council.
However, speaking to THISDAY to further shed light on his concerns, Bwala said the action of the president-elect raised serious concerns about the fate of the Igbo in the coming government.
Bwala alleged, “There is no name of a single Igbo man or woman in the 13-man committee. Ordinarily, the Igbo is expected to have at least two members, bearing in mind that we have six geopolitical zones. But here is a 13-man committee, without a single Igbo name.”
Bwala said he hoped that the neglect was not a carryover of the bitter election struggle between the Igbo and the Yoruba during the presidential and Lagos State elections that witnessed great social media attacks.
According to the PDP campaign spokesman, “Tinubu should have shown a sense of a unifier in his first appointments, as such issues matter a lot. This is his first problem and must show that he is a true Nigerian.”
He also referred to the appointment of members of Tinubu’s legal team, stating that the president-elect’s legal team was from one section of the country. The same, he said, was the case with the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Bwala said it was only Atiku that appointed his legal team from the six geopolitical zones.
Insisting that the president-elect ought to have shown leadership with his first appointments, Bwala said Tinubu was constitutionally bound to appoint ministers from all the 36 states, but since the taste of the pudding is in the eating, “There is the likelihood that the next senate president might come from the South-south.”
