Federal appointments: Benue group petitions Tinubu, accuses Akume of undermining Alia

A group, Benue Diaspora Vanguard, has petitioned President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, lamenting that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume, was undermining Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia.

Coordinator of the group, Dr Peter Aper, in a statement issued Sunday, decried the overbearing influence of Akume in nominating people from Benue State for federal appointments.

Against this background, the group said there was a need for the President to direct a clear template on nominating appointees from states for federal appointments.

The group maintained that it was important to refer to the precedent for making appointments into federal offices in the past administrations where slots due to each state were left to the sole discretion of sitting governors, including the opposition governors.

It noted that it was the highest form of injustice and injury to Benue State if Alia is denied such privilege because of the overbearing influence of the SGF.

The group said the governor had no single nominee or input in federal appointments for Benue indigenes, unlike what is obtainable in other states.