Oyegun, Okorocha defend Buhari over his lopsided appointments.

Imo State Governor and Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Governors’ Forum, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has defended the President Muhammadu Buhari over the barrage of criticisms mostly from the South-East and South-South over his lopsided appointments. This is even as his Edo State counterpart, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, commended Buhari.

Okorocha said the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has the right to make appointments that would make him succeed and nobody should dictate for him on who he should appoint or not appoint.
The governor spoke yesterday at the end of his meeting with selected stakeholders in the state, urging them to continue supporting the APC governments at all levels, insisting that it is the prerogative of the President to decide who he wants to work with.
“What  I can only do is to continue to appeal to the President to consider the South-East in his appointments.  And as far as I am concerned, the President had executed what the office empowers him to do, and it is believed that he did that in the best interest of the nation.
Again, most of the appointments the President has so far  made are like his personal staff.  I don’t think South-East will ever be forgotten in this administration, we will get our dues.  In fact, if you ask me, I would say we should be more interested in the projects coming down to the South-East, and as much as we can get.  The projects would bring about development of the South-East.”
He maintained that there was no cause for alarm as it was too early to judge the President as it concerns the South-East.
Oshiomhole, on his part, in a statement issued by Mr Peter Okhiria, his Chief Press Secretary, the governor said the appointments were based on merit and not political sentiments or ethnic consideration as some tribal jingoists would have us believe. “The Nigerian nation has come to a point where we have to use the best hands to confront the peculiarity of our problems. It is not all the time we descend to the level of geo-political balancing; we need to employ unusual methods to solve an unusual problem.The level of decay in the country at present requires very seasoned hands and incorruptible Nigerians that would help to translate the APC Agenda of Change for the benefit of all Nigerians. We must not reduce governance to political patronage of bread and butter.”
The governor congratulates the Chief of Staff, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Comptroller-General of Customs, all of whom he had had very close relationship with and whose credentials stand tall among their peers. He wished them well in their new jobs of helping to sanitise a system that has become so rotten and corrupt as a result of incompetence and mismanagement.
“Rather than condemn the President for taking this bold step, we should commend him for  having the uncommon courage to take plausible decisions in the appointments he has made so far, as he settles down for the real task of governance. If we must make a huge difference in the lives of Nigerians, things must be done differently. We cannot continue to apply same templates in the recruitment of persons and expect different results.The new appointees are Nigerians who have served the  country in different capacities before now and deserved every bit of our cooperation and support to make them excel in their new jobs,” Gov. Oshiomhole said.
Meanwhile, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday also called for calm over the recent appointments, assuring that the President will balance them.
He clarified that the appointments were those of Buhari’s personal staff.
Speaking in Abuja when he hosted a delegation from MBO Dynamic Support Group, led by its national coordinator, Hon. Usman Ibrahim, the APC boss pleaded with Nigerians to be patient with the President.
Although he agreed that Nigerians had a right to express their views on any issue, he contended that there were people  who would want to draw back the nation under the Buhari administration.
He said: “There have been a lot of unfortunate misinformation and uproar against appointments at this stage. We have two sets of appointments that have been taking place.”