After reading through
Otega Emerhor’s argument on why he should be made a minister, it was clear that
he began on the same old premise that does not yield desired result. Why is it that
whenever people are in political competition they resort to ethnocentrism?
When campaigning to be
Governor of Delta State, he and others based their campaign essentially on ethnocentrism.
Rather than appeal to broad section of Deltans, they kept seeking ethnic
support thereby unconsciously and unwittingly reducing their candidature to a
senatorial tussle. The spread of their vote attest to that.
After May 29, 2015,
rather than play himself up into national politics with APC victory at that
level, he myopically and without foresight dug himself into a local legal fight
to extract a re-run in an election he failed woefully. Now it has dawned on him
that he has lost national recognition from his party and again he resorts to ethnocentrism.
Appointment into
national cabinet cannot entirely be based on ethnocentrism, especially with the
current level of societal awareness. Such positions are based on pedigree, visibility,
aptitude, experience and connections. None of the positions Otega Emerhor mentioned
were appointed based on ethnic considerations. They were largely based on the
aforementioned considerations.
As a first class
accountant with experience in banking, insurance and investments and so on,
Otega Emerhor should sell himself based on his pedigree and competences. He
should tell President Buhari that he has the knowledge, experience and blueprint
t to move the country forward.
Since the victory of APC
at the national level, Pat Utomi has been positioning himself for a key role at
that level. He has been selling himself on social media, print media and
electronic media. The height of that is his appearance alongside President Buhari
on NTA prime time programme, Good
morning Nigeria. But in all this my brother was here in the hinterland
fighting an illusive battle to have a re-run in an election in which, he won in
only one ward out of about 276 wards in the State.
Deltans and indeed
Nigerians should be awakened to the fact that the average Nigerian is looking towards
people with track record of service, either from the private/ public sectors or
academia.
Let’s pose an
interesting question: at the end of the day, are those who lean on ethnic
support for appointments really relevant to the aspirations of those from their
ethnic stock? The answer is an emphatic NO. Jonathan was from Niger Delta; all
his Ministers in the Ministry of Niger Delta are also from Niger Delta. But in
six years, the only most important project for the entire Niger Delta people,
the East/West road remains uncompleted. Who dem help? Abi who dey wan fool? Abeg
forget matter!
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