Enyinnaya Abaribe, senate minority leader, says the only
person from the south-east region in the Aso Villa is a photographer.
Abaribe said this on Friday when he featured on Sunrise
Daily, a programme on Channels TV.
Amid the intense agitation from south-east leaders for Igbo
presidency in 2023, Abaribe had said it was non-negotiable for an Igbo person
to replace President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recently, David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, defected
from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC)
as a result of “injustice.”
In reaction, Abaribe who is a member of PDP, said Umahi’s
defection is merely an occurrence and will be evaluated properly during the
next presidential election.
He emphasised the importance of back channels in government,
adding that it was the reason for the relevance of Mamman Daura, Buhari’s
nephew, in the present administration.
“Before, every part of this country was represented in the
Aso Villa, so when you want to do government business because sometimes
government business is done from back channels, so if you have a problem or
they want to do some consultations, you make a call into the Villa, you call to
your countryman and say please, can you tell oga this or that so that we can
have this talk, there is none today inside the villa. There’s one guy, his name
is Sunny, I think he’s a photographer, ” he said.
“So, Umahi is going to talk to who? Ok, because he is
governor, he can talk to chief of staff, he can go to see the president but
what about others?”
However, checks revealed that nine presidential
aides are from the south-east zone.
They are Francis Anatogu, senior special assistant (SSA) to
the president (public sector matters); Nneka Ikejiani, senior technical
assistant to the president (delivery unit); Somkele Awa- Kalu, special
assistant to the president (research); Tochi Nwachukwu, special assistant to
the president (power privitisation) and Nkechi Chukwueke, special assistant to
the president (community engagement).
Others are Nkoli Anyaoku, special assistant to the president
(DCOS); Nonye Ojekwe, special assistant to the president (political matters);
Louisa Chinedu-Okeke, special assistant to the president (finance) and Juliet
Chikaodili-Nwagu, special assistant to the president (justice sector reforms
and international relations).
Sunday Aghaeze, better known as Sunny, personal assistant to the president (state
photographer), is from Delta state which falls under the south-south zone.
Despite being informed of the existence of these
presidential aides, Abaribe insisted that there is no “proper person” from the
south-east in the presidential villa, saying, “we had access, we do not have
that anymore. Of course, you can have low-level people being appointed, but
what do they do that you can say these people make a difference in our lives in
the south-east?”
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