A storm appears to be brewing in the camp of the All Progressives Congress as some party members are infuriated at President Buhari’s refusal to dismiss the political appointees of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Some chieftains of the party have called for the immediate sacking of these appointees that are PDP members and also asked that they be replaced by members of the APC instead.
In the same vein of lamentation, some party chieftains have also accused the President of not helping the party with funds.
A chieftain of the APC in Lagos, who desired anonymity told Punch Newspaper that the party has not benefitted anything from President Buhari since he assumed power eight months ago.
He continued that it would appear the president was rewarding members of the Peoples Democratic Party while handling out punitive measures to members of his own party, the APC.
In his words, “President Buhari took over on May 29, 2015 and has not rewarded APC members. Most of the heads of departments and agencies are members of the PDP who worked for Jonathan. For example, Onyeka Onwenu is still the Director-General of the National Women Centre while Mike Omeri is still the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency.
“A former Special Adviser to Jonathan on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ima Niboro, is still the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria while Mr. Sola Omole is still the Director-General of the Nigeria Television Authority.
“There are almost 100 ambassadorial positions that are supposed to have been filled but these people are still occupying the offices. We are not asking for security or sensitive positions but all these appointments I mentioned are not statutory but merely political.
“Our people who worked so hard and spent money on Buhari’s campaign are languishing. There are many competent people in the APC.”
Similarly, another APC chieftain, who also wanted anonymity stated that if President Buhari continued toeing this path, it might not be possible for the ruling party, the APC to retain power come 2019.
He also said that a large crop of the people that got appointed by the President were either northerners or members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change.
The party leader added that about 15 of the 36 people appointed as ministers did not work for the party in the last elections and were not popular in their states.
Even the appointed minister, the chieftain revealed were rejected by their state governors and state party chapters as they had no roots or showed any allegiance to them.
He said, “In Bayelsa State, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, was a member of the PDP during the elections and he campaigned for Jonathan. He defected to the APC in August and was appointed a minister the following month. And yet, the core APC members were abandoned.
“The Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, from Gombe State, is not an APC member. The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, is not an APC member. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, was a PDP member during the election and there are many more examples” he finished.
