For the duration of his tenure, one critical
challenge which President Muhammadu Buhari
would have to contend with is to prove to the
contrary the general feeling among the Igbo
population that he hates them passionately!
Among the litany of allegations raised against
his candidacy during the last electioneering
campaign by the irrepressible Femi Fani
Kayode is that President Buhari is incapable of
diluting his tribalistic and fundamentalist
religious colours. For those of us who
campaigned for the APC in the South East
during the last general elections, the pervading
feeling was in sync with this conclusion such
that we were largely regarded as uninformed
youths who it was obviously beyond our ken
to fully understand the handwriting on the
wall. I must confess that in one instance, I was
so moved by the passion with which one old
folk narrated instances of President Buhari’s
hatred and disdain for the Igbos that I almost
backed out. He said that President Buhari still
remains one of the few Huasa/Fulani ex-
soldiers who have refused to let go their anger
against the Igbos on the memories of the civil
war.
He told us of how in 1977 for instance, during
the military regime of ex-president Olusegun
Obasanjo, the Supreme Military Council which
had no Igbo as a member, (but which had
Buhari and Shehu Yaradua as members) had
resolved among other things to site a steel
rolling mill in Enugu in order to maximally
exploit the huge iron ore deposit of the region
and even more so, to stimulate and harness the
proven industrial ingenuity of the Igbo. The
decision had been reached and sealed only to
be later cancelled at the behest of Buhari. That
the steel mill was later to be relocated to
Katsina, vis-à-vis the now moribund Katsina
Rolling Mill, was all too evident of his hand in
it. Even our much vaunted fact that Buhari’s
domestic assistant was an Igbo, which we
employed to underscore his confidence in Igbo
was regarded with derisive cynicism.
But all these are gone since Buhari, in spite of
all these still emerged the President of the
federal republic of Nigeria, howbeit, largely
without Igbo vote. But therein lays the
challenge and the opportunity. Challenge for
him to prove the cynics wrong and the
opportunity for him to bind the nagging
wounds of the civil war and rebuild the nation.
This is even more so given the precarious and
uncertain position of the Igbo in the prevailing
political shenanigan of the APC. In a political
arrangement where an Igbo is neither the
President, Vice President, President of the
Senate or Speaker, Chief Justice of the
Federation nor the President of the Court of
Appeal, Chief of Defence Staff or Inspector
General of Police, Head of the Civil Service of
the Federation, or even head of either the
Customs or Immigration departments, etc; the
President has a compelling burden now, more
than at any other time, to prove to Igbos that
they are still members of the Nigerian family
and that he, as the father of the nation, does
not just regard them as being only good to be
in his kitchen!
The recent precipitate appointment of
Mohammed Dikwa as the acting Accountant
General of the Federation does not give hope
that Mr. President is sensitive to the
sensibilities of all parts of Nigeria. In the first
place, Mr. Dikwa is not the most senior
ranking member of staff that is next in rank to
the retiring Accountant General; neither is he
the most qualified, other than the fact that he
is a northerner from the ethnic stock of the
President. His appointment is therefore
designed to present the nation with a fait
accompli. Some analysts have even suggested
that again, some hawks which allegedly
usually surround President Buhari in his
previous appointments might have taken over.
It is perhaps plausible to claim that nothing has
gone wrong given that Mr. Dikwa is just on an
acting capacity, yet no one is deceived.
Howbeit, it has to be emphasized that at no
other time has it been as compelling to correct
the age-old injustice against the Igbo in the
federal civil service as now; and President
Buhari who has assured us he belongs to all of
us must look into it. As President Obama of
the USA once noted, an oath sworn by a
president should be an oath to God and to his
country, and not to his party of his faction;
spelt tribe! And he must faithfully execute that
pledge during the duration of his stewardship.
Without mincing words, let it be stated that it’s
the turn of the Igbo to produce the next
Accountant General of the federation. Of the
10 previous Accountants General of the
federation since our independence, no Igbo
have occupied the position! Out of the number,
the Yorubas of the South West have produced
6; the North, of the Hausa/Fulani stock, have
3, while Edo state of the South-South produced
one!
For the avoidance of doubt, it might be
necessary to highlight the statistics if only to
underscore this glaring imbalance. Mr. F.R
Cardoso, from Lagos State who was the first
Accountant General of the federation, served
from the 9th of July 1963 and remained so until
the end of July, 1973, a whopping 10 solid
years! He was succeeded by C.E.T Nylander,
also from Lagos State, who served for barely
one year as his tenure ended on 31st of August,
1974. Alhaji W.T Dambo, from Kaduna State
took over the mantle from the 31st of August,
1974 until the end of August 1982, a
wholesome eight years! Mr. I.I Iyeyemi, from
Edo State stepped in and served from August
1982 until January, 1987. He is yet the only
person of the South/South extraction to have
held the position. He was succeeded by Chief
S.O Olusemo, from Ondo State, who served
from January 1987 up till October 1995, a solid
eight years! Thereafter, Alhaji M.A Argungu
from Kebbi State (1995 – 1999); J.K Naiyeju,
from Ondo State (1999 – 2005), Ibrahim
Dankwambo, from Gombe, (2005 – 2010), A.D.
Ogunsanya, from Osun State (2011 – 2011),
and the retiring Chief Jonas Otunla, from Oyo
State (2011 – 2015) took their turns in that
succession.
In all these, there are no Igbo in the line-up!
This cannot be a suggestion that there have not
been some qualified Igbo civil servants or
competent professionals of Igbo extraction that
can live up to the demands of that very high
office. It could only have been a case of
deliberate exclusion which clearly goes against
the spirit and letters of the Constitution of the
federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, vis-à-vis the
federal character principle. Injustice arises
when equals are treated unequally. If indeed
President Buhari belongs to all of us as he
proclaimed, he should employ the opportunity
of the current vacancy to redress this
embarrassing national indictment. It would no
doubt be a portent way of reaching out to the
Igbo in the spirit of his new role as the father
of the nation. We would want to believe that
nothing has gone wrong notwithstanding the
precipitate appointment of Mr. Dikwa as the
acting Accountant General of the federation,
else it would be seen that President Buhari, like
the proverbial Leopard, cannot change his
spots. But he can hardly afford to adorn such
posture for he is no longer Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari of the Katsina State but President
Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria!


http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/articles-opinions/ndigbo-and-the-politics-of-the-federal-civil-service/

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Typing

So na Accountant General dey hungry Biafra now?

All the top positions in the present power structure did not come as a result of Buhari's input, save for his own position as president in the structure. Neither is Buhari responsible for the structure of the present military leadership or the Judiciary

Look towards the direction of Otuoke to get answers to your premature concerns.

As for the appointment of Accountant General, you presume that the Northerner is not qualified, but an Igbo appointed to that position would have been better qualified?

Why exactly would Buhari want to go out of his way to please Biafra?

.

No be only bizness igbo man dey like 2 do pass! Its a cultural thing 2 them na? Anyway op I'm sure you are 1 of those our resident "biafra keyboard warriors" who does their research from their bedroom! Grow up!

Go check the profile of the SW that had occupied the Accountant general position in the past, you will see meritocracy in them and not mediocrity. It will take decades before other region can catch up with SW in the Accounting profession

This coming from pointblanknews, the oga patapata anti-Buhari online tabloid Ok naw. Don't worry, an igboman will most likely get the SGF spot (that is if Una never declare Biafra by then ). But I wonder why GEJ didn't correct this alleged imbalance, considering how overwhelming igbo dominance of his administration was. That is a sad, sad shame that the SE couldn't influence the correction of such an imbalance when they had the chance.

ERockson:
Go check the profile of the SW that had occupied the Accountant general position in the past, you will see meritocracy in them and not mediocrity. It will take decades before other region can catch up with SW in the Accounting profession

Bro, are you suggesting that more igbos would rather be traders than accountants?

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Igbos are at the forefront of abolishing federal character in federal appointments and enthronement of merit at all time. Seriously, you guys should take a position and stick to it. You can't be clamouring for merit when it is convenient and singing federal character and national balance on the other hand. Anyway, the president has already appointed a substantive Accountant General based on merit so, this piece in no longer relevant.

There is no single day that passes by with an Igbo related trade. You people should shut up for once.

Buhari and the north are grabbing all the juicy positions for themselves in a multi ethnic state like ours while utilising resources from other regions to foot the bills... He's sure sitting on a keg of gun powder
Like FFK would say, President Buhari is incapable of diluting his tribalistic and fundamentalist religious colours.

seunmsg:
Igbos are at the forefront of abolishing federal character in federal appointments and enthronement of merit at all time. Seriously, you guys should take a position and stick to it. You can't be clamouring for merit when it is convenient and singing federal character and national balance on the other hand. Anyway, the president has already appointed a substantive Accountant General based on merit so, this piece in no longer relevant.

haha, welcome 2 Nigeria if an igbo man had been agf for the past 200years there'll be no complaints


PS: I don't know when last a Yoruba man has been CBN governor yet I've not read any complaints in the news

Under Jonathan, The South East occupied almost all the finance/economy related posts .
They ran the country aground.

Under Jonathan, The South East occupied almost all the finance/economy related posts .
They ran the country aground like amateurs.

StOla:
So na Accountant General dey hungry Biafra now?

All the top positions in the present power structure did not come as a result of Buhari's input, save for his own position as president in the structure. Neither is Buhari responsible for the structure of the present military leadership or the Judiciary

Look towards the direction of Otuoke to get answers to your premature concerns.

As for the appointment of Accountant General, you presume that the Northerner is not qualified, but an Igbo appointed to that position would have been better qualified?

Why exactly would Buhari want to go out of his way to please Biafra?

kul

[b][/b]

funlord:


No be only bizness igbo man dey like 2 do pass! Its a cultural thing 2 them na? Anyway op I'm sure you are 1 of those our resident "biafra keyboard warriors" who does their research from their bedroom! Grow up!

funlord:


No be only bizness igbo man dey like 2 do pass! Its a cultural thing 2 them na? Anyway op I'm sure you are 1 of those our resident "biafra keyboard warriors" who does their research from their bedroom! Grow up!

funlord:


No be only bizness igbo man dey like 2 do pass! Its a cultural thing 2 them na? Anyway op I'm sure you are 1 of those our resident "biafra keyboard warriors" who does their research from their bedroom! Grow up!

dancing shoki at ur show of stupidity.

T8ksy:



That's a $64,000 question, o! Why, indeed?

Especially when one consider how "biafrans" went to town in their genetically-wired fashion to exhibit the level of disdain they still harbour for the ex-general. They stuck their neck out in the "Buhari, show us your certificate" saga. The man is a private man but that didn't stop these people from ridiculing him at every turn. They even unearth his marriage certificate to his current wife and tagged him a peadophile. They swore not to vote for him and they kept their word.

Buhari got to Aso rock without biafrans' vote so why would he want to please them,now? Methinks, the contrary will be the case.

Biafrans ain't seen nothing yet as am certain that buhari will neither forgive nor forget (the personal slurs on his person) and will surely obtain his "pound of flesh" from his enemies.

No one ridiculed Buhari more than these Yoruba loud mouths in the persons of Fayose,Abati,Ffk and Okupe.I strongly believe buhari will never forgive yorubas for the sins of these men.Nonsense.
He is already dealing with thief.nubu.