Ndume Praises Tinubu’s Agency Appointments, Urges South-East Inclusion
Former Senate Leader Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, praised President Bola Tinubu for recent appointments to key federal agency boards, announced on July 18, 2025, calling them responsive to Northern concerns.
The appointees include Lydia Musa (Kano) as Chairperson of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority,Jamilu Aliyu (Kaduna) as Chairman of the National Educational Research and Development Council, Yahuza Inuwa (Kaduna) as Chairman of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Sanusi Musa (SAN, Kano) as Chairman of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, and Muhammad Babangida (Niger) as Chairman of the Bank of Agriculture. Other appointees are Prof. Al-Mustapha Aliyu (Sokoto) as Director-General of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa, Sanusi Rikiji (Zamfara) as Director-General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, and Abdulmumini Aminu-Zaria (Kaduna) as Executive Director of the Integrated Water Resources Management Commission. Tomi Somefun (Oyo) was appointed Managing General of the National Hydro-Electric Power Areas Development Commission.
Ndume stated: “These appointments and the one he did last May when he gave 12 key agencies to competent individuals from the North were assuring enough. It goes to show that he is a responsive leader who listens to criticisms and surrenders to genuine and legitimate agitation. These two appointments will reassure the North, particularly its elders, that President Tinubu isn’t a leader that will deliberately promote an agenda to alienate the region which stood with him during the last general elections.”
However, he urged Tinubu to include more South-East representatives in future appointments, citing the Federal Character principle in Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution. “The wrong narrative that the South East has been abandoned and would not count in patronage distribution should not be allowed to fester for long. It is even a breach of the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, to strip an entire region of adequate representation,” Ndume added, advocating for broader inclusivity.
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