Nwajiuba absolves Buhari of blame on South-East’s loss of N’Assembly leadership positions

A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has absolved President Muhammadu Buhari of blame over the inability of the South-East geo-political zone to produce any of the occupants of the presiding officers of the National Assembly.

Nwajiuba, who aspired for the Speakership seat on the platform of the Accord Party (AP), urged stakeholders in the South-East to look inwards and identify politicians in the zone whose actions undermined the collective interest of the zone instead of attacking Buhari after losing out in the National Assembly race, particularly the office of the Speaker.

The lawmaker maintained that the former Governor of the state, now Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha, should be held responsible over the way and manner the South-East geo-political zone lost out in the recently-held election of presiding officers of the National Assembly.

In a statement made available to The Guardian, he said: “I wish to urge restraint by some persons and groups in the South-East who are quick to attack unjustifiably the President over the current state of events. Nothing can be further from the truth. The President does not hate Ndigbo and has no reason to. As a matter of fact, it was the President’s sincere wish to have the Speaker emerge from the South-East and his attempts for that to happen were thwarted.”

“As a matter of fact, the Presidency pressed the then All Progressives Congress (APC) governor of Imo State (Owelle Rochas Okorocha) to allow a level-playing field for the House of Representatives primaries to facilitate the zoning of the Speakership office to the zone. The governor refused. His attempt at imposition and the resistance that ensued destroyed the cohesion of the party in the state, undermined the primaries, leading to its nullification by the court. I was thus compelled to seek agreement with other aggrieved members of APC to contest the Okigwe South federal seat on the platform of Accord Party.

“While attacking the President seems expedient and easy, the truth is that there are facts that may not be available to some of those who do this. We in the South-East must realise that if today we feel left out, it is simply because of the political actions by our leaders and we must not shy away from being introspective and taking responsibility.”