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APPOINTMENT OF FOUR SERVICE CHIEFS TODAY WITHOUT A SOUTH-EASTERNER AMONG THEM: WHY AND HOW TO ASSUAGE SOUTH-EAST FEELINGS ON THE MATTER

Published

6 years ago

January 27, 2021

Like in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari on the 26th January 2021, appointed four service chiefs – Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Naval Staff – without a South-Easterner among them.

In a statement issued by the National Coordinator, South-East APC Presidency Project 2023 Dr. Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu on Wednesday; “We would have thought that having tried military officers from other regions of Nigeria since 2015 and found them replaceable today, that our listening President would trust one of many brilliant officers of South-East extraction with headship of one of services.

When it is remembered that none of the other security and intelligence agencies is presently headed by a South-Easterner, the feelings in the South-East of deliberate exclusion of the region from security matters is understandable.

However, being APC members, we suspect that it is not entirely President Buhari’s fault that the South-East has been shut out of defence and security leadership since 2015.

As the leader of APC who should be desirous of growing APC in the South-East as in the other geopolitical zones, especially now that our party is in the process of carrying out nationwide membership registration and revalidation exercise, President Buhari should not listen to those who might tell him that APC doesn’t need the South-East.

When he leaves office on 29th May 2023, millions of his personal traditional voters may be lost to APC. From where would APC replace them? From saturated Northern and South-West APC votes that might dwindle in 2023 or from South-South that has virtually sacked APC from that zone?

Anyone who does correct political arithmetic knows that the zone with tens of millions of untapped voting potential is the South-East.

Especially with promise of Nigeria’s president of South-East extraction in 2023, millions of South-Easterners who never voted before would not only register to vote, collect their Personal Voter’s Card (PVC) and vote, but would also join APC. And they have started, with the zone now parading two APC governors and many other big politicians and their followers expected to join our party.

South-East is without doubt the APC growth area ahead of 2023 and should be courted with appointments, projects and contracts. We expect that if a South-Easterner wins APC’s presidential ticket, APC would win the 2023 presidential election with over 50 million votes.

For those of us in the frontline of marketing APC in the South-East, Mr President would help us by appointing the Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp from the South-East.

We are aware that a South-Easterner is currently Deputy Commandant General and Acting Commandant General, while another South-Easterner is Assistant Commandant General at the same security agency.

If Mr President appoints one of them as Commandant General, the shock and disbelief that most South-Easterners feel today over appointment of four military service chiefs without a South-Easterner among them would be somewhat assuaged.

We would respond to our PDP detractors today mocking South-East APC members that a security chief is a security chief and that the South-East has been accommodated at the NSCDC by our listening President.

That should disarm the PDP against us. We also expect that the South-Easterner heading the NSCDC would prove his mettle and demonstrate why majority of discerning Nigerians are today backing emergence of President of Nigeria of South-East extraction on APC platform in 2023.

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Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold

Published

4 days ago

October 28, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja, dismissing reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the US.

The inauguration followed the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head PRESS and Public Relations Department Mrs. Kania Maliki Andeyaba stated that, Alake in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the US is a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American investors and Nigerian local operators, not a sale of assets.

Harping on the importance of the solid minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, he noted that the administration was committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources.

According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to attract investment, promote technology transfer, strengthen local mineral processing and create employment opportunities.

“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands,” Alake declared.

“We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers.”

The Minister said reports claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and security architecture were untrue at best and products of riotous imagination at worst.

Explaining the policy thrust, Alake said Africa has historically held the short end of the stick in global economic transactions, and Nigeria is determined to change that model.

“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So we are creating a new paradigm — you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation . The investor gains, Nigeria gains.’’he said.

Nigeria, he stressed, had operated a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil, while solid minerals were exploited informally — with ores taken “from pit to port” without value addition.

Alake said government has now made local processing mandatory, refusing to grant mineral titles to investors without a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.

He said the policy led to the springing up of processing factories, including the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned recently in Nasarawa by the Vice President, and informed the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.

Alake noted that investor confidence has returned due to macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that guarantee security of tenure and repatriation of profits.

He charged the committee to discharge its assignment responsibly, saying its work is strategic to achieving the President’s $1 trillion economy target.

To this end, he told the Committee to ensure effective coordination, identify investment opportunities and translate the framework into measurable outcomes capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the global solid minerals industry.

In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the inauguration translates growing bilateral engagements into a structured framework for practical cooperation and investment mobilization

Economic Officer at the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas, said President Donald Trump has prioritized three areas for US embassies — energy, artificial intelligence/super intelligence, and critical minerals.

Baas said Washington’s direction is to work with partners to secure critical supply chains while ensuring partners capture value.

“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he said.

In his vote of thanks, CEO/Managing Director of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, NSMC said that the committee

is expected to coordinate implementation, facilitate investment and monitor progress towards achieving the objectives of the Nigeria–US cooperation framework.

The inauguration reinforces the Federal Government’s commitment to repositioning the solid minerals sector as a key driver of economic diversification, industrial development and national prosperity under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

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