Abia State and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Dr.
Ogbonnaya Onu as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
The appointment of Onu may have sealed the hopes of Babagana Kingibe and
former Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Dr. Chris Ngige who are both eyeing the
position.
Sources told Pointblanknews.com that President Buhari settled for Onu
despite mounting pressure from different interested parties to have either
Amaechi or Kingibe as SGF.
Kingibe, a new entrant into the lobby for the SGF position, sources said,
have argued that he is most qualified and have better understanding of the
Buhari’s agenda for Nigeria.
However, some APC stalwarts argued that Kingibe has little or no impact in
the election that brought the APC into power.
“We rarely saw him. He was never with us while we suffered and fought as
an opposition party. How can he come today to take the SGF’s position”? An
APC chieftain told Pointblanknews.com on condition of anonymity.
Another source said the decision to appoint Onu who is considered as
Buhari’s most trusted amongst other Igbos lobbying for the job, is to
bring the South-East geopolitical zone into the Government of Buhari led
Governmen since the zone neither would produce the Senate President or the
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Born on December 1, 1951, in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi
state, Dr. Onu became the first civilian governor of the old Abia state
(1991), then made up of what is today Abia and Ebonyi states and was
chosen by his colleague governors as Chairman, Conference of Nigerian
elected Governors.
A team player, he was selected at his party’s primaries in 1999 as the
first presidential candidate of the now defunct All Peoples Party, APP.
He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the APC and one
of the key figures that engineered the mega merger of political parties
that brought about the APC and led to the crushing defeat of the ruling
party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the April 11 general
elections.
Soft-spoken and rarely controversial, Dr. Onu had Grade One with
Distinction in the West African School Certificate examination at Izzi
High School, Abakiliki, Ebonyi state; recorded Distinctions in Physics and
Chemistry at the Higher School Certificate examination at College of
Immaculate Conception, CIC, Enugu, graduating as best overall student.
He went on to the University of Lagos, UNILAG, where in 1976 he graduated
with first class honours in Chemical Engineering. He also has Doctor of
Philosophy, Ph.D, degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of
California, UC Berkely California, USA, 1980.
While in the US he was, among others, President of the African Students
Union and President of the Nigerian Association of Northern California,
Inc.