Afenifere, MBF, Ohanaeze tackle Buhari over claim of inclusiveness, fair appointments, say he’s Nigeria’s most nepotistic leader ever
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural/political organization, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and other well-meaning Nigerians have excoriated President Muhammadu Buhari for unabashedly stating that his government has been fair and inclusive in its appointments and policies.
National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Jare Ajayi, described such a claim as worrisome as it was an indication that President Buhari either did not know his administration had been most unfair in terms of appointments and policies in Nigeria or that he simply didn’t care.
“There has never been an administration in this country that has been as unfair and alienated certain parts of the country as that of President Buhari. For President Buhari to claim that he is fair shows that he is unaware of the feelings of the Nigerian public. It seems that certain English words connote a different meaning to president Buhari,” Ajayi agonised.
For his part, National Publicity Secretary of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Alex Chidozie Ogbonna said it was unfortunate that the president made such a claim, saying the lopsidedness in his appointments was not only well noted as being disproportionately in favour of the north, but also and even more worrisome, in favour of the Fulani extraction in the North, a situation, according to Ogbonnia, that gives great concern to other northerners.
The Ohanaeze acribe nooted that after his election 2015, Buhari didn’t hide his disdain for the South East when he said those who gave him 95 per cent would not be treated the same way as those who gave him five percent.
“And true to his pronouncement, his administration has been skewed against the South East that didn’t give him much electoral support in 2015. But even when the zone supported him in 2019, the trend did not change. So, he can’t say that his appointments and policies have been fair and inclusive; I disagree with him on that,” Ogbonnoia concluded.
President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) Dr. Pogu Bitrus, also disagreed totally with the president, saying if the president was right in his claims, people would not complain about his administration.
Bitrus noted that, indeed, “President has been so nepotistic in all his political appointments that every important organisation in Nigeria is headed by a northern Muslim.
“The president is not just nepotistic in his appointments and policies, he also has an agenda which favours what he wants to protect,” Bitrus added.
“I don’t want to say he lied but the data is there for everybody to see. Nearly all appointments even in some states where the Fulani population is very insignificant like in Nasawara and Taraba States are taken by the Fulani. There is nepotism in Buhari’s government, which has never been experienced in Nigeria before now. So, let him change. Nigerians don’t hate him; it is his policies that Nigerians don’t like. It is his policies that are creating all the problems we are having today. It is his policies that are making people say they are no longer interested in this country.”
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chijioke Okoli, equally disagreed with the president, saying, “If the President said that his appointments and policies are fair and inclusive, then he is not just habituating in an alternate universe, but has also taken his audience to the theatre of the absurd, and in such theater, you are torn between laughing and crying.”
“The dis-ingenuousness is beyond belief. He had earlier acknowledged the lopsided nature of his appointments but justified them on the basis of merit. It is a village idiot that would believe him in his embarrassing appointment of some of the least qualified from a section of the country, which are, in the first place, disadvantaged educationally, in the presence of qualified manpower,” Okoli declared.
For the former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, President Buhari’s appointments are motivated by blood relationship while his policies are driven by love and hatred.
He said: “He hates the South East and to a lesser extent the South-South. He loves Niger Republic even though it is not part of Nigeria. He loves Muslims and he hates Christians. It is not possible for him to say his appointments and policies are fair and equitable. I can’t believe he can say such a thing, but if indeed he said so, then something is wrong, too wrong for correction.”
AbeyaNews
