APC Forum addresses claims of Lopsided appointments by SGF from North-Central stakeholders

The North-Central All Progressives Congress, or APC, Forum, has maintained that it based its accusations of unfair appointments against Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, on grievances from North-Central zone stakeholders.

Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the chairman of the North-Central APC Forum, provided the explanation on Tuesday in response to a statement by Terrence Kuanum, the SGF’s spokeswoman, characterizing the Forum’s accusations against Akume as untrue and deceptive.

In a statement signed by Zazzaga and issued following a meeting in Abuja on Sunday, the North-Central APC Forum accused Akume of giving preference to the Tiv people of Benue State in appointments made by the Office of the SGF.

Additionally, the Forum stated that the region is not seeing the effects of Akume’s tenure as SGF, which he claimed was allotted to the North-Central by the APC. The SGF was advised by the APC Forum to lead the zone and bring the whole North-Central region along in appointments.

Zazzaga threatened that if the SGF doesn’t alter his leadership style by bringing the whole North-Central along, the organization would organize demonstrations and agitation against him.

However, the North-Central APC Forum is being sponsored to target Akume and President Bola Tinubu, according to a statement issued Monday by Terrence Kuanum, Special Adviser, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Public Affairs.

Although the SGF is not in charge of the President’s selections, the statement acknowledged that he has drawn numerous projects to the entire North-Central.

The statement added that Zazzaga had voiced the North-Central APC Forum’s pleasure with the SGF’s “purposeful take off of duties” since taking office during the North-Central APC’s third quarter meeting in Jos in 2023.

In a statement issued by Zazzaga during a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the SGF of the North-Central APC Forum responded that the accusations of imbalanced appointments against Akume were based on grievances from APC stakeholders in the North-Central region.

The Zone A Peoples Assembly (ZAPA), a Benue organization, released a statement in August 2023 calling the Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, to call the SGF to order over imbalanced appointments in favor of his Jemgbagh kinsmen of the Tiv ethnic group. The North-Central APC Forum cited this declaration.

Furthermore, Zazzaga pointed out that the SGF had strayed from the leadership style that caused the North-Central APC Forum to praise him in 2023.

“The North-Central All Progressives Congress, APC, Forum has been alerted to a statement entitled ‘SGF AKUME FOCUSED ON THE ASSIGNMENT GIVEN TO HIM BY MR PRESIDENT, NOT DETERRED BY ACTS OF MISCHIEF MAKERS,'” which characterized claims of lopsided appointments against the SGF as misleading and untrue.

For the record, the North-Central APC Forum members aren’t troublemakers; we are legitimate APC members who genuinely care about the party and the nation. Our concerns regarding the SGF’s uneven and unbalanced appointment process were based on our observations, primarily on grievances from North-Central stakeholders.

It is documented that in August 2023, the Zone A Peoples Assembly (ZAPA), a group of Benue natives led by its president, Fannen Mondo, issued a statement requesting that His Royal Majesty, the Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, summon Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), to rectify what it described as unequal appointments that favored the people of the Jemgbagh extraction of the Tiv nation in Benue State.

Additionally, the group criticized the appointment of Dr. Tyover Dajo, a member of the Akume Dajo family and a relative of the SGF, as Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Wannune in the state’s Tarka Local Government Area (LGA). ZAPA claims that the SGF planned to replace Prof. Joseph Utsev, whom he had chosen as minister, with his cousin, Dr. Tyover Dajo, as Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Wannune. At the moment, Prof. Joseph Utsev serves as the Water Resources Minister.

“We want to make it clear that Akume is not demonstrating good leadership and statecraft in the moves he is making in the recent past,” ZAPA stated in the statement, urging the Tor Tiv to call the SGF to order. It is now evident that he is purposefully focusing his allegiance solely on Jemgbagh, the little town from which he hails, rather than the greater Tiv race or even Benue State, where he is, in a sense, the highest official in the government.

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The SGF claimed that after praising him in 2023, we are now criticizing him. Should we remain silent if he modified his leadership style after we gave him a passmark in 2023? Are we not allowed to voice our opinions?

“Yes, we praised the SGF for his good leadership in 2023, but he later changed and began appointing only his own people, ignoring other North-Central residents.” As North-Central stakeholders, we cannot remain mute in the face of this aberration.

“We question, ‘Who then is making the recommendations for those appointments?’ since the SGF claims that Mr. President is the one making appointments.

They ought to disclose to us who suggested the Water Resources Minister, a relative of his wife. Appointments have even been made by the Water Resources Minister from the village where the SGF wife lives. Who suggested that the Chairman of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri’s Governing Council, the Executive Director of the Federal Housing Authority, the MD Shippers’ Council, and other individuals from his village be appointed?

Nigerians are being challenged to verify who is being appointed to posts in the numerous agencies that fall under the Ministry of Water Resources.

We don’t want to be too specific because the goal of our previous call was to get the SGF to adopt a new leadership style that would involve the entire North-Central zone. We want him to demonstrate leadership and bring the North-Central together.

“We are not supported by any organization or person, nor are we blackmailing him as his representatives asserted. We are merely expressing our worries as valid North-Central APC stakeholders.

However, if the SGF declines to lead our call, we will be forced to provide additional evidence to support our concerns. We will also stage protests to demand that he either resign from his current position on behalf of the North-Central or change his flawed leadership style; if he does not, we will demand his removal.