Josef Onoh, Bola Tinubu’s South-East campaign spokesperson during the presidential election in February, urged the President-elect to put Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom ahead of giving the South-East region the Senate’s presidency.
Onoh contended that the Southeast had held the office of Senate President and had rotated it around states in the area, but that this had only resulted in resentment and poor politics.
Instead, he urged that the job be assigned to the South-South area, which hasn’t held it since 1999, with a focus on the Edo-North Senator-elect, Adams Oshomohle, who he said is more equipped to handle the position of Senate Presidency.
In order to allow first-time Senators who have held important jobs that have prepared them for tasks like managing the National Assembly, Onoh begged the Senate clerk to disregard its standing regulation.
The Constitution, he claimed, ensures equality of constituencies and senators by default, thus the Clerk should disregard the Standing Order and hold an election instead.
He objected to claims made by some people that it was their turn to become Senate President, noting that such a position should only go to someone with a spotless reputation and a record of accomplishment, such as Adams Oshiomole, or to any other qualified senator from the South South that the All Progressives Congress (APC) hierarchy may deem appropriate.
Onoh said: “Even though I don’t support and never will support Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s mode of operation and the suffering IPOB’s actions have inflicted on Nigerians, which called for the federal government to take proactive measures against him and his group, I’m urging the President-elect that Nnamdi Kanu’s release is more crucial to us than Senate Presidency.
“The Southeast needs economic development, security, and progress, but since Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest and confinement, a sit-at-home protest has been called, which has severely hampered the region’s capacity to expand economically. Criminal elements are presently concealing themselves under the pretext of IPOB in order to sow security instability in the southeast, which has overwhelmed governors and civilians alike.
Hence, it is not appropriate for those from the Southeast to be clamouring for the job of Senate President or to declare that “it’s my turn.” While his region is under severe economic and security threats.
“We held the post for eight years, but we received no profit from it. As the President-elect promised, we need economic development and prosperity. That will assist put a stop to the sit-at-home movement and security uncertainty in our zone if Nnamdi Kanu is released while he attends his trial from home.
In the beginning of the sit-at-home demonstrations in the southeast, Onoh was the sole official who bravely and openly advised locals to disregard the action because it would harm the region’s economy, especially because it had been commanded by an unrecognised authority.
He criticised the imitator from the Southeast for his alleged self-interest in using Emilokan’s campaign slogan for the Senate presidency.
When using the slogan Emilokan, one should consider how many political connections they have built outside of their personal family.
“I’m requesting that the Senate’s standing rules, which state that only ranking members are eligible to serve as president of the Senate, be modified or repealed since they are unconstitutional. Proactive leadership is what we need, especially now that the Senate has more fresh faces and that there is renewed optimism for Nigeria and the National Assembly.
“The Senate Presidency should also be shifted to the South-south and I feel that Adams Oshomohle is better qualified to be the Senate President because he demonstrated more tenacity and support in the quest of this newfound optimism, more so, since he is a guy that stands by his words and courageous enough.
“The southeast at this moment is not calling for a Senate President, but for a peaceful release on bail of Nnamdi Kanu while he attends the trial. If feasible we can transfer Kanu to the British High Commissioner on bail from where he can attend the trial. The government should shun all the selfish persons from the southeast utilising the clamour for the release of Kanu to their political advantage.”
He said that previous to today, the southeast PDP stakeholders had already accepted the offer of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) the Atiku-Okowa presidential campaign gave them as a prospective inroad into the Southeast.
“The leaders of the Southeast failed to hide my advice, they were fixated on the small picture, engrossed in ethnic and religious politics which blinded their vision of seeing the bigger picture, they collectively settled for a slice of soaked bread with the hope of playing the usual entitlement card and demand high positions to be given to them.
“They didn’t work for the APC, they didn’t believe in A Tinubu presidency, we that believed were intimidated, humiliated, named traitors and outcasts, regrettably some were killed and today they seek to reap were they didn’t show. I wonder what would have occurred if Gov. Hope Uzodinma and Gov. Dave Umahi didn’t execute on their mission.
“Enugu State was the worst of all as their leadership all opted to back Labour Party and PDP while professing to be with us in secret. They ignored the president-warnings elect’s about the consequences of accepting a piece of soggy bread. The same error was made by the zone when they chose to exclude themselves from the country’s new power structure, which took effect on May 29, 2015, and did so by failing to produce any federal legislators running on the All Progressives Congress, or APC, platform during the National Assembly elections.
The seats of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, two positions that the South East would typically hold, were lost since there was no APC representative from the region. If we are sincere about wanting change, we cannot keep rewarding incompetence. So, in my opinion, the Senate President should be assigned to a zone that benefits us more. If any office needs to be assigned to the southeast, let’s assign the SGF to that area and also nominate a supporter of ours, as their political leaders in the PDP had already agreed with Atiku during the campaign.
(VANGUARD)
