The Southern Kaduna Renewed Hope Movement of Nigeria has requested that President Bola Tinubu appoint a minister from the region in an effort to address what it claims is the region’s longstanding marginalization.
The organization bemoaned that Southern Kaduna had been severely marginalized throughout the course of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration’s eight years in office, which had resulted in an uneven representation of the area at both the state and federal levels.
The group’s national coordinator, Yusuf Kanhu, made the request at a news conference on Friday. He insisted that since the governor and speaker of Kaduna State are both from the northern and central senatorial regions of the state, the representatives of Kaduna State in the Federal Executive Council should be from the southern part of the state.
While calling for the equitable distribution of ministerial appointments to the South, the group asked President Tinubu to consider a National Commissioner in the National Population Commission (NPC) and an indigene of Southern Kaduna, Abdulmalik Durunguwa as a minister representing Kaduna State.
The ministerial slot for Kaduna State is yet to be filled after the immediate past governor Nasir El-Rufai, who was earlier nominated, was not cleared by the Senate.
El-Rufai was among the 48 ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by President Tinubu, but he is yet to be cleared by the Senate on the basis of a security report against him.
El-Rufai allegedly visited with President Tinubu after his candidacy was withdrawn to inform him that he was no longer interested in serving as a minister and to suggest that his former commissioner, Jafaru Sani, take his place. President Tinubu had just sworn in 45 new ministers.
