Former Senate Leader and lawmaker representing Borno South, Senator Ali Ndume, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that future federal appointments reflect national diversity, particularly with increased inclusion of the South-East region.
Ndume’s appeal comes in response to the latest round of appointments into the governing boards of key federal agencies, announced over the weekend.
While welcoming the appointments, many of which favoured northern states, Ndume described them as a positive step toward addressing regional grievances and applauded President Tinubu’s willingness to respond to constructive feedback.
“These appointments, alongside those of May, clearly show the President listens to concerns and acts on legitimate agitations,” Ndume said in a personally signed statement issued in Abuja.
Among the newly appointed figures are Muhammad Babangida, son of former military president Ibrahim Babangida, now chairman of the Bank of Agriculture; Lydia Kalat Musa for the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority; Jamilu Wada Aliyu for the National Educational Research and Development Council; and Sanusi Musa (SAN) for the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, among others.
The list also includes Tomi Somefun from Oyo State, appointed Managing Director of the National Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission.
Preliminary breakdowns indicate that northern states such as Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara received significant representation in the appointments.
While Ndume acknowledged this as a reassuring gesture to the North, which he said “supported the President massively in the 2023 elections,” he warned that continued exclusion of the South-East could fuel discontent and undermine national unity.
His words: “The narrative that the South-East has been sidelined must not be allowed to persist. It is already gaining ground and could worsen if left unaddressed.
“Federal appointments are not about politics alone; they are also a constitutional obligation guided by the principle of Federal Character.”
The senator urged President Tinubu to use upcoming nomination windows to correct regional imbalances and reinforce national cohesion.
“While I commend Mr President’s deliberate choices in these appointments, it is my hope that upcoming nominations will reflect national diversity, particularly by ensuring more representation for the South-East,” Ndume added.
Personally I know how much I had suffered for the apc from the counselor election to the president as a pulling unit canvases that I was, considered all the time and money, energy wasted but yet no one seems to remember me in any appointments not even street sweeping but when election time comes they’ll come look 4 us to work again for them, imagine such life very bad, why monkey go work bamboo the chop?.