Gov Otu’s APC Zonal Coordinator Appointment: Simply Not Enough

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday announced the appointment of six governors as zonal coordinators of the party in the six geopolitical zones. Cross River State Governor, Sen. Bassey Otu, who’s the only APC Governor in South-South, was appointed as his zone’s coordinator.

Yobe State Governor, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, Kaduna State Governor, Sen. Uba Sani and Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazak were appointed, on the other hand, as coordinators for North East, North West, and North Central, respectively. Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma
and Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, are to coordinate the South East and South West.

Their mandates, amongst others, include promoting harmony, consolidating, and strengthening the Party towards achieving the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

While I congratulate Governor Otu for the appointment or simply say, his tacit official affirmation as leader of the party in South-South, I strongly feel that APC must do more than this. The party should demonstrate in practical terms via more tangible patronage that it appreciates its “Mr fix It” and its only governor in the entire zone.

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Politics is not a game of charity. It’s a game which both hands must wash each other.

In all honesty, Governor Otu has done so much for the party in his ten months in government but has not gotten reciprocal treatment from both the party and the presidency.

A few months ago when APC was looking for a calm, mature and strategic stalwart to lead the party to victory in Imo State, Governor Otu, despite being a first-time Governor was the person the party trusted to do the job. When the party ran into crisis in Edo and wanted someone with the charisma to address the issue, it was Otu, the party entrusted again to restore normalcy. In these two very important but difficult assignments, he delivered one hundred per cent.

With the coordinatorship appointment, the first assignment the party expects of him is to perhaps, get himself a colleague in the zone by completing the work he had started in Edo by galvanising zonal support to deliver APC in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state. With his records in previous assignments, it is safe to say he’ll deliver.

But as he keeps delivering the party, APC and its government at the centre should and must deliver him too.

To address the perceived marginalisation of Cross River APC by the party and the presidency, the first step is to urgently compensate the state for the loss of the National Woman Leader position. It’s an aberration, and it’s totally unacceptable that a governor who has worked so hard to strengthen the party across the country has no representative from his state in the National Working Committee.

Since Edo has collected the National Woman Leader that was zoned to Cross River and Akwa Ibom, the position that was zoned to Edo/Delta should be reversed. Edo and Delta, who are opposition should not have representatives at the NWC while Cross River, the bride of the party in the region, stay with none. It’s an anomaly that should be addressed to give members of the party in the state “Renewed Hope” in the party and the government.

Similarly, since President Tinubu assumed office as the 16th President of Nigeria, he has made hundreds of appointments. Unfortunately, apart from Ministers, only about three statutory ones have come to Cross River. Two of the three had to be changed after protests from members of APC who felt they were meant to strengthen the opposition against the ruling party.

The President approves appointments almost on a daily basis. The very few that have come to the South-South have gone to other states, and as they are counting DGs, MDs, etc, Cross River is still searching for its first. The state has recorded the lowest number of federal appointments. Even when the state was in opposition in the past administration, this was never the case; it wasn’t this bad. The state shouldn’t be seen as a spectator in APC but active participant who should also share in the goodies of being in government.

Gov. Otu should be patronised with appointment slots and not just party assignments. The party should replace the lost Woman Leader position as well as liaise with the Presidency to give the Governor the tools to work with by appointing members from the state into sensitive positions. When APC is strengthened in the zonal coordinator’s state with solid lieutenants, the party will be stronger in the region.