Aviashima Toom, Makurdi
The Tiv youth Organisation has lambasted President Muhamadu Buhari for assigning Sen. George Akume with the portfolio of Special Duties and Inter-Govermental Affairs.
President-General of TYO, Comrade Timothy Hembaor, vented his anger in a chat with newsmen, in Makurdi, on Wednesday.
He noted it was an embrassment to the Tiv people, who are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, to have been given such an ‘obscured Ministerial portfolio’.
The TYO said ministerial positions were graded in classes, expressing dismay that the appointment was an insult on Sen. Akume, given his political exploits as well as that of the Tiv nation in general.
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Also speaking, a prominent son of Benue, who doubles as the Vice chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Benue State Council, Comrade Kajo Martins, commended President Buhari for considering a Tiv man for a ministerial position in his second term.
He, however, said he expected the President to retain the position of the Minister for Agriculture to Benue, but that instead, an ‘obscured portfolio of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs was allotted to Benue in the person of Akume’.
He called on the President to, as a matter of urgency, re-assigned Akume to a ministry that depicts his status and that ofBenue state in the political equation of the country.
“At the moment, we have received the naming of the portfolio as an insult giving Akume’ standing as a man with implacable credentials and status in the society, and wish that Mr. President reconsider returning the Agriculture portfolio to Benue given that we are the food basket of the nation.” Kajo conluded.
