2023 Presidency: Nigerians say NO to Lopsided Appointments

Re: Tinubu Pick Christians As CoS, SGF

Tinubu Pick Christians As CoS, SGF

It was published that information reaching Naija News House says that Tinubu Pick Christians As CoS, SGF.in a news report on March 12, 2023 —Bishop Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies commands such efforts if true.

The emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections presents another opportunity to address the challenges of uniting the country though Nigerian have been disappointed in their performance in the past eight years.

SINCE the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment has continued to generate controversy among Nigerians who accuse him of marginalisation and disregard for Federal Character policy and those who believe his administration is fair to all.
Though he swore to “belong to everybody” and “belong to nobody, many Nigerians think he has not lived up to his promise.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) even accused President Muhammadu Buhari of unduly favouring Muslims from Northern Nigeria in federal appointments.

Nigeria is a diverse country,  comprising multi-ethic groups in the North and the South. The framers of the constitution recognised this diversity and enacted Federal Character Commission Act.

Now, given the divisive campaigns sponsored by opposition parties, especially around the Muslim-Muslim ticket of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Sen. Kashim Shettima, now President-elect and Vice President-elect respectively, APC needs to demonstrate that the politics of uniting the country require unconventional approaches. The Christian community would therefore have to be compensated at all levels in other appointive and elective positions.

Nuhu Ibrahim Bunu, a member of Stakeholders Relation Directorate of the PCC writes from Maiduguri in retrospect, an expository in a commendable manner of presentation and I quote profusely:

“Beyond the challenge of electoral viability, the Muslim-Muslim Presidency also risks mobilising strong opposition largely because it may have to alter the political equation in favour of a particular religion to the disadvantage of other religions.

The challenge, which the APC has to respond to with the emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as the Presidential candidate and Sen. Shettima as Asiwaju Tinubu’s running mate of the party for the 2023 Presidential election, brings to fore, the role of religion as a major factor in political decisions.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) throughout the campaign used the choice of the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC as a big campaign issue. They used it to mobilize Nigerians against the APC and all its candidates, especially Asiwaju Tinubu being the Presidential candidate.

And they succeeded in making little political gains out of it with some shocking victories for the Labour Party in some states largely attributed to Christian voters who voted massively on religious grounds.

Now that the election is won by APC and Asiwaju Tinubu, it is important to demonstrate that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of Asiwaju Tinubu and Sen. Shettima is simply an electoral strategy and indeed represents a progressive template for inclusion in Nigerian politics. For this to be achieved, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must not allow parochial politics or selfish ambition of potential office holders to drive the process of constituting the next cabinet.

Individual aspirations by potential office holders may only result in unmanageable contests for positions in the next cabinet. APC must avoid past pitfalls and develop a proactive strategy of producing a religiously balanced government post May 29, 2023 under the leadership of Asiwaju Tinubu.

It is important that before the May 29, 2023 swearing in of Asiwaju as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, necessary steps should be taken to proactively make major appointments of Christians into top positions in other to give them a sense of belonging, importance, respect and recognition in a Tinubu government in other to give christians assurances and comfort.

Asiwaju Tinubu must not make the mistake of proceeding with the task of constituting a new government based on business-as-usual strategy, which will be inconsiderate. The opportunity of constituting a new all inclusive government must be used strategically to reconcile the APC with Nigerians. Sacrifices must be made by every leader of the party to create the condition for an Asiwaju Tinubu led Federal Government to emerge with strong legitimacy and wider support base by Nigerians.

There is a need to reflect religious considerations in the distribution of political offices. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must consciously avoid any mistake that could be used by political adversaries to suggest religious insensitivity to Nigerians. He must take steps to manage the aspirations of individual leaders to positions in the next Federal Government. Some positions, for instance, must be deliberately balanced with religious considerations.

Some specific recommendations may be necessary at this point. The offices of Chief of Staff to the President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) would have to be allocated and reserved for Christians. Given that the president and vice president are both Muslims, no Muslim should aspire for any of these offices. Opportunists may argue that in the past, little consideration was given to religion.This kind of lop-sided reality must be corrected as a strategic approach to dousing religious tension in the country.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu needs to recognise that the Muslim-Muslim ticket he introduced that won the 2023 Presidential election, if not managed to produce the desired outcome of religious inclusivity could further widen the division among Nigerians, which should be avoided. A successfully well-managed Muslim-Muslim ticket would make a Christian-Christian ticket viable and possible in the nearest future.

That is the only way to show Nigerians that the alleged Islamisation agenda that has become a singsong for the opposition is only the hallucinatory proclamation of some individuals and groups.

The Presidential Candidate of Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA) in 2019 election, Prof Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies further explains:

At a point in Buhari’s presidency, there was a total number of  Northern Fulani 29 frontline officials administration staffers, who were to handle economy, energy, defence and other important sectors of governance for the first 100-day-old Buhari administration.

Again, in all, the president was yet to appoint a single female, a marked difference from Mr. Buhari’s immediate predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, who had women in all major segments of government.

And I quote “That has angered not a few pro-democracy and gender activists across the country. But what has alarmed critics more is the apparent lack of regional balance in the appointments, a failing Mr. Buhari has been vigorously criticised for in the past.

“Details tabulated Thursday by PREMIUM TIMES show that Mr. Buhari has appointed by far more officials from Nigeria’s northern region where he comes from, in violation of federal character law.

“Under the Third Schedule of the Constitution, the government must ensure “the principles of proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government”.

“The posts referred to include those of the Permanent Secretaries, Directors-General in Extra-Ministerial Departments and parastatals, Directors in Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments, senior military officers, senior diplomatic posts and managerial cadres in the Federal and State parastatals, bodies, agencies and institutions.

PREMIUM TIMES chart shows that only 25 per cent of the president’s appointments are from the south while an overwhelming 75 per cent are the north.

“Also, Mr. Buhari’s North West geopolitical zone, has the largest share of 43 per cent, while the South East for instance, has no appointee.

The appointments have sparked anger across the land, with some critics now referring to Mr. Buhari as Nigeria’s most provincial leader ever.

“Buhari is the most provincial leader Nigeria has ever had,” said Ikechukwu Amaechi, a former editor of Daily Independent and Editor-in-Chief of The Niche, in a post on his Facebook wall. “He is not fit to be President of Nigeria. How can he continue appointing top officials of government from the north? Customs, Immigration bosses, SGF, Chief of Staff all from the North?”

“If I am President Muhammadu Buhari, I would have appointed a South Easterner as SGF,” said Sunday Akoji, a public affairs commentator. “If I am Baba, I will not appoint five people from the north into sensitive positions in one day and throw one worthless carrot called SSA on National Assembly Matters to the entire South.”

The president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Gary Igariwey, told PREMIUM TIMES he would comment on the appointments Friday. A former governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, slammed the president for not considering an Igbo for any political appointment so far.

“I don’t understand what is going on,” he told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview Thursday. “It appears Buhari has some messages for various people.

“I don’t know what to say. If it (appointment) is only for the North, it is okay.”

Late Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the spokesperson of Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, said Mr. Buhari’s action poses grave danger to Nigeria.

“It is not healthy for a plural society,” Mr. Odumakin, who was once Mr. Buhari’s spokesperson, told this newspaper. “There are competent people across the nation. When you do this there can’t be a balance. We need constructive surgery, not bulldozing.”

Even for many of the president’s ardent supporters, Thursday’s announcement was one too many in a string of appointments that have become increasingly skewed.

A PREMIUM TIMES columnist, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, who had all along backed the president, wrote on Facebook, “These all northern appointments don begin worry me. I’m getting disillusioned. It can only get worse from here.”

“These last set of appointments by Buhari are too brazenly and unacceptably lopsided in favour of the North that I can no longer defend his actions. Not this one,” Okechukwu Nwanguma, the National Coordinator at Network on Police Reform in Nigeria, posted on Facebook.

Mr. Buhari came under consistent criticisms for his actions as Nigeria’s leader so far. In his administration’s brief tenure, he has drawn fire for his delay in forming a cabinet, and for appearing not to be in haste to fix a nation faced with gargantuan, multifarious problems.

His previous appointments too were considered disproportionate for a nation that holds together six geopolitical zones, 36 states and a federal capital territory, 774 local governments and over 250 different ethnic nationalities.

Adesanya-Davies concludes,  “To the President elect, Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, of course things cannot definitely continue your excellency, in this manner in our country. It’s time to completely review and change Buhari’s lopsided appointment pattern at last in wisdom and fear of God!”

Read more

Outrage grows across Nigeria as Buhari’s lopsided appointments continue
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/189117-outrage-grows-across-nigeria-as-buharis-lopsided-appointments-continue.html?tztc=1