The Arewa New Agenda (ANA) has faulted the call by former minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, for the sack of secretary to government of the federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, over the inclusion of a Tiv man as ministerial nominee.
Ogbeh, together with other Benue stakeholders, had while expressing misgivings over the inclusion of Prof Joseph Utsev as the ministerial nominee from Benue State, called for Akume’s sack over the development.
But in a statement yesterday, the Arewa New Agenda urged President Bola Tinubu to ignore the call and focus on leading Nigeria out of the woods through people-oriented policies that his Renewed Hope agenda promised.
In a statement signed by its convener/chairman, Sen. Ahmad Abubakar MoAllahyidi, the Northern group said Akume’s appointment is an appointment from the North Central geopolitical zone and properly located among the northern Christian block for socio-political expediency.
ANA stated that Akume’s appointment as SGF holds so much for the stability of the Nigerian nation and must not be reduced to a Benue State political fight.
The statement said: “We have observed with keen interest the development unfolding in the Nigerian political space relating to the arguments and agitation by different interest groups as the Tinubu administration positions to set governance machinery in motion in fulfilment of the mandate given to it by the Nigerian people in the 2023 general election.
“The respected Chief Ogbeh recently led some stakeholders of Idoma extraction to address a press conference where they expressed misgivings over the inclusion of a Tiv man, as the ministerial nominee from Benue State claiming that the action further marginalized the Idoma race in the scheme of things in Benue State.
“It would have been okay and taken as their democratic right to voice opinion and canvas for positions if Chief Ogbe and his co-agitators had stopped at that.
“But they went ahead to allege that the development is the handiwork of the SGF to spite the Idoma race and called for his sack. This is where ANA finds it strange, and wish to intervene by setting the record straight to avoid sending the wrong message to the Nigerian people”.
The group further maintained that Akume represents northern Nigeria in President Tinubu’s cabinet, adding that he is an essential political stabilising rod maintaining balance in the Nigerian political equation.
“Arewa New Agenda is unhappy that Chief Ogbe’s stance on Akume’s appointment has exposed him to uncomplimentary comments by those who would otherwise not have had such opportunity.
“Those not qualified to join issues with him now take turns in berating him. ANA finds it regrettable for one of its own highly regarded in the north and indeed the whole nation to be exposed to such low comments,” it said
ANA called on Ogbe and others to retract their tirade against the SGF, reign-in the young people now disparaging the SGF in the interest of peace and unity in the North and, by extension, national cohesion.
It further stated: “In view of the recent socio-political developments in Benue State that pitched different political blocks against one another which threatened to set the State backward, ANA charge the elders of Benue State to rise to the occasion and ensure that peace reign and the State continue to shine as the food basket of the nation.
“All northerners are therefore, called upon to rally round the SGF and support him in the discharge of his functions as the engine room of the Nigerian Government.”
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