My Take: President Buhari’s Appointments

Jeff Okoroafor

Before leaving the house this morning I received a call from a very good friend, a political analyst, and his message to me was simple and straight -Jeff he said, I will be coming over to your place this weekend, on Sunday to be precise, to discuss with you the appointments so far made by YOUR President, Muhammadu Buhari. If you notice, he personalized President Muhammadu Buhari to me, because of how highly I spoke of him, how vigorously I campaigned for him during the election period, and how big I still endorse most of his actions since he became President. I hope my friend reads through my thoughts before coming over this weekend.

As an Opinion Leader and a nationalist, I call a spade a spade irrespective of who is wielding the handle. President Buhari is insensitive in his appointments and those attempting to defend him, will be doing Nigeria and the rest of other category of Nigerians a disservice.

When Martin Luther King Jr challenged Whites supremacy in America, it wasn’t because the government of the day weren’t doing very well in areas of national development, but because there was no INCLUSIVENESS, there was no BALANCE. Black voice didn’t matter, Blacks were not part of anything, they were legally marginalized and practically excluded in everything.

When Nelson Mandela of South Africa rose up against Whites leadership, it wasn’t because the people in power then weren’t competent or that national development was an unattainable hallmark, but because there was no BALANCE as regards representation.

When Mahatma Ghandi of India went against the law of the land, fought long and hard for inclusiveness or proper balance in governance, it also wasn’t because those in government didn’t have an amazing and positively interesting pedigree, they did and they were piloting the affairs of the nation well.

These mentioned individuals took up their voice, even arms against their government because to them, there was an imbalance even when on their part, they had many competent men and women who also merited certain positions. So when someone, from a certain regional extraction, especially one where the largest number of appointments have so far come from, tell me that all he or she cares about is MERIT/COMPETENCE, either that person don’t know what he or she is saying, or that sentiments have clogged up their reasoning.

Competence is key to national development yes, but this competence doesn’t reside just in one location or with one person or people. In a diverse nation such as Nigeria, striking a balance matters. Some countries of the world apply balancing (Federal Character) but we misplace it with mediocrity & personal favours, not for the nation’s development, this has always been the problem. Where things are well divided, problems hardly arise. Total inclusiveness means that Gender, Ethnicity and Youth involvement must reflect in government and since that’s not what we have, failing to say so will mean being sentimental.

The six geo-political zones approach is not constitutional but it was applied by the FG to try to ensure equitable distribution of power in a fragile nation state. Its lifespan was gazetted with the notion that all parts of Nigeria would be represented and by that time we would be a nation state.

Pedigree, Character, Capacity and know-how is my emblem of inclusiveness towards national development as against myopic and parochial ideals such as ethnicity and religion. Mr President can’t wish the enemies away. We can however decimate and shame them by finding honest people who can do the things that they have presented to us as impossible.

God bless Nigeria.