Demola Olarewaju, the Special Assistant on Digital Media Strategy to former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing Bianca Ojukwu as Minister of Stat NJe for Foreign Affairs.
According to reports, in a significant cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, President Tinubu nominated Ambassador Bianca along with six other new ministers, pending Senate confirmation.
The ministerial nominees include Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda (Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction), Muhammadu Dingyadi (Labour and Employment), Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu (State Foreign Affairs), and Dr. Jumoke Oduwole (Industry, Trade, and Investment).
The other nominees are Idi Mukhtar Maiha (Livestock Development), Yusuf Ata (State, Housing and Urban Development), and Dr. Suwaiba Ahmad (State Education).
Many have interpreted the appointment of the late Biafra leader’s widow as a strategy by Tinubu to increase his support in the South-East.
Reacting in a statement on his X handle, Olarenwaju warned that Bianca won’t help Tinubu get votes from the Southeast in 2027 because she has zero electoral value.
He stated that not one voter in the South-East region will switch to back Tinubu because of Bianca’s appointment.
According to him, the appointment of Bianca is only a ploy for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the 2027 election.
The statement reads partly: “Understand first of all that Tinubu is nothing, if not political. Everything he does is about power. If he opposes subsidy in 2012 – it is power. If he upholds it in 2024, it is for power.
“He can say “Yoruba Ronu” to woo Yoruba ethnocentrists, but can also say “One Nigeria” when necessary. I’m not sure that man has had even one genuine friendship in the past three decades, unless there is some political leverage or advantage to be gained.
“Bianca is a ‘nobody’ in the political configuration of the SE. But remember, APC currently has governors in two states of the SE all three senators from Ebonyi, two from Imo and one from Abia, where Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu is from and where a Bola Tinubu University of Nigerian Languages may soon be sited.
“Recall also that Bola Tinubu/APC scored more votes in the SE than Atiku Abubakar/PDP – based on “it is the turn of the South/let Tinubu have it if not Obi, but not a Fulani.
“So Bianca is not at all likely to move any voter but she won’t need to – she is only one piece of a larger plan to provide an excuse for APCNEC (APC/INEC) rigging.”
