With no end in sight in the leadership crisis that has engulfed the Senate, the youth wing of Ohaneze Ndigbo (OYC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to use the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu, as the sacrificial lamb.
The group said Buhari should avoid using Ekweremmadu to settle any perceived scores with the embattled Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
The group said its warning was in reaction to media reports that President Buhari had in his recent meeting with Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogora, allegedly insisted on Ekweremadu’s removal as condition for his reconciliation with Saraki.
In its statement, the OYC warned the President to thread with caution, saying that any attempt to remove Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President is an affront to democracy.
“Removal of Ekweremadu amounts to political genocide against Ndigbo and an affront on the democracy of the country, which we are not ready to take for the nascent democracy to survive.”
The statement, signed OYC National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, also asked Buhari to place the peace and unity of the country above his political views.
Isiguzoro wondered what the President wants to achieve by excluding an entire geopolitical zone from the power equation of the country, stressing that the entire race has been excluded from almost all the appointments.
The statement read in part: “Buhari should not over-display his penchant hatred for Ndigbo by insisting that the only position God gave us through the instrumentality of progressive minds at the senate is snatched away.
“Buhari wants to close the only window granted us by providence. He appointed all his service chiefs and other key public officers without considering anybody from the South East. When we cried foul, his apologists told us to wait for ministerial list.
Buhari has presented his long-awaited ministerial list with only two slots for a zone with five states, and it is already obvious to us that the Buhari-led administration is tribalistic and bent on punishing Ndigbo for our political decision in the last election. But he should beware of the grave consequences of his actions.”
The OYC went further to advise President Buhari to stop interfering with the internal affairs of the National Assembly, urging him to instead concentrate on issues that would engender unity and national cohesion.
“The recent succession threat by the Yoruba leaders is as a result of the failure of the Federal Government to address some fundamental questions in Nigeria, including obvious injustices as can be deduced by the deliberate exclusion of Ndigbo by Buhari.” (The Nation)
