Politicians across political divide, were on Sunday, July 10, polarised along political party lines, on the alleged lopsided appointments into key political offices by President Muhammadu Buhari, which has been skewed in favour of the north.
Aside the accusation of pursuing a northern agenda, Post-Nigeria had few weeks ago in an exclusive report, observed that as it stands, the entire National Security apparatus, is now firmly in the hands of northerners, a practice which is unprecedented.
Related: Buhari Finally Carries out His Deadly Threat To Divide Nigeria
Nnana Igbokwe, a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, member from Imo State, accused Buhari of breaching Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution, which he said guaranteed, “fair and equal” participation in governance for all Nigerians.
By appointing mostly northerners into key offices, Igbokwe, argued that the President had sent the message that his administration would not “give the sense of belonging to all Nigerians”.
He added, “Look at the case of the Niger Delta. You say you want to negotiate with the people in order to address their plight. How do you convince them that you are serious when they are not considered for any serious appointments?”
Igbokwe, advised Buhari to seek out people he could trust in the South to give them key appointments, “assuming his reason is trust”.
An All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmaker from Lagos State, Olufemi Adebanjo, disagreed with Igbokwe, pointing out that the North had more local governments than the South.
He also observed that the North had other blocks like North-East, North-Central and North-West, adding that the appointments were made to cover the states in the zones.
“It is wrong for anybody to come up and shout that the appointments are lopsided.
“Even in the sharing of local governments, the North had more. If people did not complain then, why are they complaining now?” he stated.
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, and Chieftain of the APC, Femi Gbajabiamila, noted that while the appointments might appear on the surface to be lopsided, only a thorough analysis of how past administrations, made their own appointments could fault Buhari’s actions.
Gbajabiamila said, “While it may appear to be so on the surface, it is important before conclusions are drawn, to first do an analysis on the spread of same appointments in the last government. Second, the North is not homogeneous, but consists of North-Central, North-East and North-West with all the states being independent and claim outing for recognition under the principles of federal character as they are all federating units.
“He is also a man of strong convictions and will balance all justifiable yearnings with his conscience, which I know is pan-Nigerian”.
His PDP counterpart and Minority Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, criticised Buhari, observing that he appeared to be pursuing “sectional interests”.
According to Ogor, the President’s appointments are guided by the APC’s “policy”.
He advised Buhari to quickly review the appointments to make corrections by “reflecting all ethnic groups in the country”.
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