Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State have kicked against alleged desperate attempts by former President Goodluck Jonathan to nominate the person for the state’s ministerial slot in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
The stakeholders under the auspices of the Bayelsa APC Elders Council condemned Jonathan’s move, saying it was wrong for him to reap where he did not show.
Speaking in Yenagoa on Tuesday, the chairman of the group, Michael Adomokeme, wondered why the former president was angling to produce a minister after actively and openly supporting the candidate of his Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar at the 2023 presidential election.
He said Jonathan was threading the path of unfairness and injustice, stressing that his desperation could be likened to someone seeking to receive salaries from a company he did not for.
Adomokeme, however, expressed confidence that Tinubu, as a known rewarder of hard work, would not allow a situation of ‘monkey work, baboon chop’.
The APC elder said,
“People shouldn’t try to reap where they have never sowed. Some of us have been here since the early days of this party when it was considered to be taboo just by being a member.
“You all remember, APC in Bayelsa was called either Islamic party or Hausa party by these same people, I mean, Jonathan and his people. Fast forward to the 2023 elections, President Jonathan did everything to make sure we failed, but we didn’t as God would have it. What right has he to suddenly want to now nominate the minister from Bayelsa State?
“He was president for six years, he personally nominated dozens of Ministers. Why is he now so interested in just the single (minister) we as a party in Bayelsa want to get? Is it to truncate the APC’s visible path to victory come November?
“It is even an aberration and very demeaning for a former President to go cap-in-hand begging for a single ministerial slot. It ridicules and relegates the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“He has been dubbed a statesman and hero of democracy. Fine and good, let him continue being that and not being a statesman by day and a political lobbyist by night.”
A media aide to Jonathan, Mr Wealth Ominabo, dismissed the accusation as baseless when contacted by our correspondent.
He said,
“The accusation is baseless. There is no substance in the allegation.”