Abaribe Makes Comparison Between Buhari And Tinubu’s Appointments With Strong Revelation On Buhari’s People

Abaribe Makes Comparison Between Buhari And Tinubu’s Appointments With Strong Revelation On Buhari’s People

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South senatorial district in the National Assembly, highlighted that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s associates are finding it challenging to voice concerns about President Bola Tinubu’s preferential appointments in favor of his native South West region.

Abaribe noted that Buhari’s associates might be hesitant to raise complaints due to their own experience of significant appointments favoring their region during Buhari’s tenure.

During a radio program in Umuahia, Abaribe emphasized that the federal character law, which mandates a fair distribution of appointments among the six geo-political zones, has been disregarded by the Buhari administration.

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He expressed regret that Tinubu has followed a similar path as the previous administration by concentrating more than 22 crucial positions within his own ethnic group, in violation of the federal character law.

He said; “When Buhari started this ethnic concentration of positions; I was one of the first people to shout at it. At that time in 2016, it was very clear that Buhari was going a route that nobody had seen in this country, appointing those from his ethnic divide and religion.

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“But we said that this was setting a wrong precedent for the country. We continually preached against it. We said this would be an ill wind that would not blow Nigeria any good. Now this is several years later, we have seen where this has collapsed the economy. We have gotten to a situation where the present government of President Bola Tinubu which we thought was going to repair the damaged psyche of Nigerians, is actually doubling on what Buhari did.

The Igbo have a saying that a bad practice, if allowed to persist, eventually becomes a tradition. It has now become customary for Buhari to heavily favor his own zone in appointments, and this trend has been continued by Tinubu. It’s as if Tinubu is reasoning, “If Buhari could do it, why can’t I?” In fact, he’s taken it a step further, surpassing what Buhari did. Many individuals from Buhari’s region now find it harder to voice their concerns, as this was the norm during their time.

I recall a friend of mine who argued for letting Buhari appoint whomever he wished, even if they all hailed from one village, as long as it leads us to a better future.

We explained to him that this wouldn’t be feasible. Today, President Bola Tinubu has followed the same path. If you tally the critical positions, you’ll find a significant concentration from his side, including all positions in the financial sector and many more.

“Let’s look at the federal character says that you are not supposed to govern in such a way to make every other person not have confidence and bring out a sense of loyalty to the people. There are 6 zones in Nigeria, out of the 6 zones, only South East continues to have just the constitutionally provided number of ministers. The South East has 5 because we have 5 states, but every other zone has more than what they are supposed to have. South West has up to 10 ministers; North West up to that number, South-South has about 9 ministers. You know have a bloated cabinet.

“In all these excess, it is not also spread equally; the South West has preponderance, the North West too, then the North East before the South-South. The South East is left out and what everybody thinks is that you can do all these and get away with it. I’m telling you that from history when Buhari did it, it didn’t augur well for him and make the country better. Rather, it made the country worse, Tinubu’s government is following suit and definitely, it won’t make the country better. This is because you have to bring everybody together; it will also give a sense of belonging to all. Federal character makes citizens have confidence in the administration of the country.

“The federal character has been observed more in the breach. The federal character principle is a law promulgated by the National Assembly which gave birth to the Federal Character Commission. The job of the federal character commission is to essentially look at all aspects of the ministries, agencies and departments that are running the government and ensure that there is balance within them, balancing of political positions. But that’s not what we are seeing.”

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