President Goodluck Jonathan
To enable the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) triumph in the 2015 general elections in South-west, ex-Local Government chairmen in the zone, have advised President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to use the recent cabinet reshuffle to strengthen the party in the region.
The ex-council chairmen in a statement signed by Alhaji Omilabu Gandhi and Kehinde Olaosebikan, asked Jonathan to use the opportunity of his cabinet reshuffle to right the wrongs in the cabinet composition and give Oyo State its exact position in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in consonance with the best democratic principles.
The statement stressed that the President should, as a matter of right, give the additional ministerial slot for the South-west to Oyo State, to recompense for its best performance in the 2011 general elections and improve the fortunes of the party in the state and the region in general.
In the cabinet being reshuffled, the statement disclosed that Ogun State has two ministers; Ondo , a minister; Ekiti , a minister; Osun, virtually a full minister while Oyo with her size and brightest contributions to the success of the party has just a Minister of State.
“At the Presidential polls that brought in the present Federal Government, Oyo State had 484, 758 votes; Ogun, 309,177 votes; Ondo, 387, 376 votes; Ekiti, 135, 009 votes and Osun 188, 409 votes.
“In both the State and National Assemblies, it is only Oyo State that has a good number of representatives. Oyo State is the only state in the region that has a Senator. The state also has five members in the House of Representatives against zero scored by all the other states. It equally has 13 members in the State House of Assembly. Ondo, Ekiti and Osun States have none,” the statement added.
Without any sentiment whatsoever, the statement said: “Oyo State deserves the additional ministerial slot. In terms of size, it is the largest. Both historical and geographical considerations favour it. And most importantly, performance, which is the main consideration in democracy, puts Oyo far ahead of others.”
The stakeholders also said that they were satisfied with the prodigious achievements recorded so far by the President, adding that all he requires to consolidate on his achievements and take the country to the next level was to retool with appropriate acknowledgment of the ingredients and people needed for optimum service delivery for the nation and his party, PDP.
The statement noted that the President had done so well in stabilising the operations of government by allowing all the ministers that took off with him to have stayed for over two years in government, an accomplishment which they said was unprecedented.
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