The dust over the recent appointments to the board and management of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) is yet to settle, as stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Igboetiti Local Government Area (LGA) of Enugu State have asked President Bola Tinubu to revert to the first list of nominees.
They stated that the new list of members of the Commission did not reflect fairness and balanced representation, stressing that it is skewed against the people of Enugu North senatorial zone.
The reaction of the party stakeholders followed comments credited to the former Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, on the reconstitution of the SEDC.
Odoh recently granted a television interview purporting to speak for APC stakeholders in Enugu North Senatorial District and allegedly accused the APC leadership in the state of shortchanging the zone in the appointment to the South East Development Commission (SEDC).
But, addressing a news conference in Enugu on Monday, the leaders of APC in Igbo-Etiti, where Odoh hails from, accused Odoh of playing to the gallery to score cheap political points.
According to them, Odoh, who was allegedly expelled from APC in 2023 after the general elections due to alleged anti-party activity, was not in any position to speak for the party at the state and local government levels.
The people who spoke through the LGA chairman of APC in Igbo Etiti LGA, Simon Attah, however, expressed concern over the removal of their kinsman’s name from the reconstituted board of the SEDC, calling for justice to be given to the people of the zone.
Attah said: “We are not happy with the recent nomination and renomination going on in the SEDC. The initial nomination was balanced, with one person each from the Enugu West Zone in the person of Barr. Ugochukwu H. Agballah, and another one from the Enugu North zone in the person of Dr. Daniel Ugwuja Danigold.
“Unfortunately, the list was tampered with, and the only nomination coming from Enugu North (Nsukka Zone) was changed to a known PDP man from Enugu West in the person of Hon. Toby Okechukwu.
“We state categorically that we are in support of the initial nomination done by the South East leadership of the APC, led by HE Senator Hope Uzodimma.
“How can one be an Nsukka man and also be against the nomination of his brother (Dr. Daniel Ugwuja) who is representing the entire Nsukka zone in the SEDC? This is a case of a political busybody and meddlesome interloper on the part of Hon.
Eugene Odoh, who has no basis to discuss the problems of APC as he is not a member of APC. His actions are self-seeking, with the intention to reap from where he did not sow. He is merely seeking attention in order to secure a federal appointment through the back door, not knowing that the era of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop is over.”
