CARRIED to power on a groundswell of goodwill and disgust at the
\nthoroughly corrupt Goodluck Jonathan administration, Muhammadu Buhari
\nappears bent on political self-immolation. While he received massive
\nsupport from across the country to become President, he is by his
\nappointments, presenting himself as a parochial, sectional leader. For the
\nsake of the country\u2019s corporate survival, he should rise above primordial
\ninstincts and become a father to all Nigerians.<\/p>\n
In his inaugural speech just over a year ago, Buhari promised Nigerians
\nthat \u201chaving just a few minutes ago sworn on the Holy Book, I intend to
\nkeep my oath and serve as President to all Nigerians. I belong to
\neverybody and I belong to nobody.\u201d\u00a0 But too often, the pledge has been
\nhonoured in the breach. Buhari\u2019s sectionalism is not only unprecedented,
\nit could not have come at a worse time. The reality today is that
\nNigerians are deeply divided. Seventeen years of dashed hopes of progress
\nunder a democratic dispensation have reopened the deep fissures in the
\npolity and polarised the populace into mutually suspicious camps.
\nSectarianism and ethnicity have been rearing their poisonous heads. The
\npresidential election of 2015 was particularly divisive, with some major
\nactors openly deploying base religious and regional sentiments. Add to
\nthis the terrible state of the economy that Buhari inherited, headlined by
\na collapse in global crude oil prices, our main export earner, and the
\nrapacious emptying of the national treasury by previous governments, and
\nyou have a seething, discontented people.<\/p>\n
It is a sad reality of the Nigerian experience that when crisis \u2212
\npolitical or economic \u2212 hits, segments of the populace retreat into ethnic
\nand sectarian cocoons. It is in this combustible mix that Buhari
\nstubbornly presses ahead with appointments that weigh heavily in favour of
\nhis northern regional base.
\nHe struck again last month when he removed Ibe Kachikwu as head of the
\nNigerian National Petroleum Corporation to put a Northerner; named
\nanother, Hadiza Bala-Usman, as managing director of the Nigerian Ports
\nAuthority along with three executive directors, two of whom are also
\nNortherners. Before then, he had ring-fenced himself with appointees from
\nhis northern constituency at the Presidency, thereby deepening the
\nlong-held fears of many Southerners that he has not overcome his
\nwell-known insularity.<\/p>\n
But the 1999 Constitution explicitly stipulates in Chapter 14 subsection 3
\nthat the \u201ccomposition of the Government of the Federation or any of its
\nagencies and the conduct of its affairs shall\u2026reflect the federal
\ncharacter of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to
\ncommand national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no
\npredominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other
\nsectional groups\u2026\u201d Buhari is breaching this with impunity in his
\nappointments. Apart from this, Nigeria\u2019s plural setting demands that no
\ngroup or ethnic nationality is seen as too domineering in critical areas
\nof governance.<\/p>\n
Among his first appointments, even while he dithered on assembling a
\ncabinet: he recalled a retired officer to man the Department of State
\nServices; a former army officer to head the Nigeria Customs Service; a
\npersonal acquaintance as Chief of Staff, and loaded the other security and
\nlaw enforcement agencies heavily in favour of Northerners. While the DSS
\nhead is from his hometown, Daura, the others are also almost all
\nNortherners and overwhelmingly Muslims. In spite of public opinion, he
\nreplaced the immediate past Inspector-General of Police, a Southerner,
\nwith a Northerner, an assistant inspector-general whose ascension induced
\nthe retirement in one fell swoop of 21 DIGs and AIGs who were senior to
\nhim. This is beyond absurdity.<\/p>\n
We declare emphatically that this is corruption. It is wrong to view
\nstealing of government funds as the only form of corruption. A former
\nmember of the House of Representatives, Junaid Muhammed, alleges that not
\nonly is Buhari sectional in his appointments, several appointees are
\nactually his relatives. Nigerians did not vote against the Jonathan
\nadministration\u2019s impunity for corruption, only to be assaulted with
\nanother pernicious impunity for cronyism.<\/p>\n
Buhari should be told that sectionalism and nepotism are also acts of
\ncorruption. You do not wage war against financial corruption while
\nindulging in sectional and sectarian favouritism. It is self-defeating; a
\nveritable weak link that the formidable ranks of those fighting back
\nfuriously to preserve the existing corrupt order are already capitalising
\non. The President simply does not need this. Many are willing to concede
\nthat he is only demonstrating political naivet\u00e9; now, however, is the time
\nto radically change tactics.<\/p>\n
The country is in a bad shape, compelling that all efforts be made to
\nrally all segments of the polity behind measures to reverse economic
\nrecession, defeat terrorism in the North-East, renewed militancy and
\nsabotage in the South-South zone, Fulani herdsmen\u2019s terrorism in the
\nNorth-Central and general insecurity across the country. The government
\nadmitted that the country is technically in recession last week, while
\nBloomberg reported that foreign reserves fell to just over $26 billion in
\nJune; oil production also fell to about 1.6 million barrels per day, while
\nover 4,440 megawatts of power were lost last week, both due to sabotage of
\ncrude and gas facilities by criminals in the Niger Delta region.
\nMeanwhile, though seriously degraded, Boko Haram terrorists are recovering
\ntheir ability to ambush and inflict casualties on Nigerian troops.<\/p>\n
More importantly, the South-East and South-South zones voted massively
\nagainst Buhari, who is deepening their alienation from his government by
\nhis lopsided appointments. But in truly democratic societies, elected
\nleaders go all out to unite their people after elections.\u00a0 Apart from
\nmeeting the constitutional requirement that a minister be appointed from
\neach of the 36 states, the two zones are sparsely represented in the
\nFederal Government. If some past presidents indulged in primitive
\nsectionalism, Buhari should not. Olusegun Obasanjo, alone among our last
\nfour presidents, significantly sought to rise above such primordial
\ninstincts. Buhari, also a former military head of state, and senior
\ncitizen, ought to do better, having tried and failed thrice before to win
\nthe Presidency exclusively with Northern votes. His party, the All
\nProgressives Congress, the National Assembly and civil society groups
\nshould be more vigorous in resisting this trend.<\/p>\n
It is time to put an end to this provincial inclination. Nigeria has over
\n250 ethnic nationalities and wide disparities in culture. If, as Buhari
\nwrongly repeats that Nigeria\u2019s unity is inviolable, why then does he
\nalienate many Nigerians with appointments? Until we take the right,
\ninevitable step of restructuring the country, the minimum expected of a
\nNigerian president is to ensure equity in federal appointments.
\n-The Punch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CARRIED to power on a groundswell of goodwill and disgust at the thoroughly corrupt Goodluck Jonathan administration, Muhammadu Buhari appears bent on political self-immolation. While he received massive support from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n