The Time Of Propagandist Has Gone

PDP faults Buhari on portfolio assigned to Ocholi

The Sun News / Our Reporter / 1 hours ago

Barely twenty four hours after the inauguration of the new federal executive council by President Muhammadu Buhari, the leadership of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Kogi State chapter, has faulted the portfolio allocated to the the state. Ministerial nominee for the state, Barr James Ocholi, SAN, was yesterday assigned the portfolio of junior minister in the newly reconfigured Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. The ministry until now, was known as Ministry of Labour and Productivity. He is to assist Dr Chris Ngige, a former Governor of Anambra State and until the end of the seventh session of the Senate, senator representing Anambra South in administering the ministry. Ocholi, one of the early followers of Buhari, was governorship candidate of the erstwhile Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in Kogi State during the 2011 election, even as Buhari used the same platform to launch his presidential bid same year. He also contested the August 2015 primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State, against the eventual winner, Prince Abubakar Audu, a two time Governor of the state. Against the backdrop of this longstanding and otherwise robust relationship with Buhari, it was presumed that Ocholi would be assigned one of the more challenging ministerial briefs. Addressing journalists in Lokoja yesterday, however, publicity secretary of the state PDP, Bode Ogunmola, described as ‘humiliating and condescending,’ the position of junior minister allocated to Kogi State in a ‘C- Grade, if not D-Grade’ ministry. According to Ogunmola, Kogi State never had it so bad under successive PDP administrations, saying the APC has demonstrated that the state and its people, cannot have a fair deal under an APC administration, particularly under an APC Governor. Going down memory lane, Ogunmola said: ‘Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Kogi State manned the Police Affairs, Industries, Health and Justice ministries in that order, following the appointments of Gen David Jemibewon, Chief Kola Jamodu, Prof Eyitayo Lambo and Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, respectively.’ Continuing, Ogunmola observed that much as the Presidents Yar’Adua/Goodluck Jonathan administrations between 2007 and 2011 could not guarantee senior cabinet ranks for Kogi ministers in Chief Gabriel Aduku and subsequently, Barr Humphrey Abah, they functioned in the ‘A-Grade’ Health, Interior and Police Affairs ministries at various times. He observed that the appointment of Barr Mohammed Adoke, SAN, who was justice minister from May 2010 to May 2015, under the Jonathan government, restored Kogi State its pride of place in the Federal Executive Council. Ogunmola observed that the initial proposition under the Obasanjo administration that all federal ministries were on the same pedestal, was swiftly debunked when the PDP leadership at the national level insisted on what they described as the ‘basketing’ of appointments to ensure that all geopolitical zones, had their fair share of the influential and not so influential ministries, departments and agencies alike. Said Ogunmola: ‘The APC cannot pretend to be ignorant of the ratings and rankings of ministerial portfolios. The recent combustions in the lower arm of the National Assembly over the allocation of committee chairmanships, derives in the main from the the fact of who got A or B or C grade committees. People talk of juicy and not-so-juicy committees in the national assembly. The same applies to federal ministries and Kogi has found itself at the short end of the stick in this instance.’ The Kogi State PDP spokesman admonished the electorate not to be deceived by the bogus promises of the APC, saying the ‘relegation of the state in the new federal executive council, is symptomatic of how the party will relegate the interest of our people and frustrate our collective hopes, if we make the mistake of voting them into office.’ He called on voters in Kogi State to vote wisely and choose PDP in the Saturday November 21, 2015 governorship election.