President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday told members of Urhobo Progressive Union, UPU, that all ethnic groups in Nigeria cannot have their son or daughter appointed as minister at a particular time. He told traditional rulers and opinion leaders drawn from the union that, “It is not possible to make each tribal group (a minister) because I suspect they are around 250.” DAILY POST reports that the tribal group are a part of Delta state which is already represented at the Federal Executive Council by the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Speaking during a meeting with the Urhobo leaders at the Aso Villa, the President said: “Two hundred and fifty ministers will be too cumbersome to handle, so it is limited by the constitution. So the only thing we can do is to pick one person per state.
Spokesman of the group, Moses Tiger, had demanded the restructuring of the country, appointment of an Urhobo as a minister, boundary adjustment and investigation of the sale of the land given by an Urhobo community to the military, location of a university in their territory as well as federal government investment in agriculture. Buhari went on to call on leaders in the Niger Delta to continue to cooperate and support the federal government in its efforts to transform the nation to greater height. Buhari said, “I appeal to you to keep restraining your subjects to please think more of being Nigerians than any particular part of Nigeria. “This is necessary so that the resources that God blessed us with can be fully exploited, utilized for the benefits of the whole country.
“Unfortunately for me, I have gone through all the happenings in the country including the civil war, like you have mentioned, I was petroleum minister for three or four years, so I have some experience and have a stake in the country.” The President urged the UPU leaders to talk to militants to please give peace a chance and stop sabotaging installations because, “like I said, if we pollute the waters, it will affect more of your people including those who depend on fishing”.
“You don’t need money from Central Bank, what you need is secured coastlines that will enable the people earn decent living through fishing.” He pledged to look into reported cases of illegal sale of land donated to the Nigeria army by communities across the country. Buhari said the alleged sale of the land meant for the military authorities across the country would not be tolerated, saying that anyone caught or implicated in the deal would be prosecuted accordingly.
He said: “I have taken note of the representation that the land the community gave to the military is being sold. You are not the first set of people to make this kind of representation, other parts of the country made similar representation. “So, by this representation, I’m constrained to call on the relevant ministries to check the Ministries of Defence and Internal Affairs to find out those responsible for abusing the generosity you extended to the military will be brought to book. I assure you of that.”
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