Editor’s note: President Muhammadu Buhari
has been criticised for his ‘lopsided
appointment’ that has seen persons from the
northern part of the country.
In this opinion by Azuka Onwuka, he points out
that a one-sided appointment is likely to create
a crack in the country and make on region
stronger than the other.
Northern dominance
With last week’s appointment of Mr Ibrahim
Idris as the Acting Inspector-General of Police,
President Muhammadu Buhari further made
the headship of virtually all the military-cum-
defence agencies and related agencies which
wear uniform a Northern affair.
It show the following: Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Tukur Buratai, North; Chief of Air Staff, Air
Marshal Sadique Abubakar, North; Acting
Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris,
North; Minister of Defence, Brig Gen (retd)
Mansur Dan Ali, North; National Security
Adviser, Major Gen (retd.) Babagana Munguno,
North; Chairman, Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, North;
Director-General, Department of State Services,
Mr Lawal Daura, North; Comptroller-General of
Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali (retd.),
North; Comptroller-General, Nigerian
Immigration Service, Mr Kure Abeshi, North;
Controller-General, Nigerian Prisons Service,
Alhaji Ja’afaru Ahmed, North; Commandant-
General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps, Mr Abdullahi Muhammadu, North;
Director-General of the National Youth Service
Corps, Brig Gen Sule Kazaure, North;
Comptroller-General of the Federal Fire Service ,
Mr Garba Anebi, North. If it is recalled that the Minister of Interior, Lt.
Gen. Abdulrahman Damazzau (retd.), under
whose ministry are Prisons Service,
Immigration Service, Fire Service and the
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, is also
from the North, then the Ministry of the Interior
with its agencies is virtually controlled by the
North in clear breach of the Federal Character
policy enshrined in the constitution.
Buhari
Furthermore, even though it was not Buhari that
did it, yet for the first time in the history of
Nigeria, all the three arms of government are
headed by Northerners: Executive, President
Muhammadu Buhari; Legisture, Dr Bukola
Saraki; and Judiciary, Justice Mahmud
Mohammed.
In addition, the two arms of the legislature are
headed by Northerners: Dr Bukola Saraki,
Senate President, and Mr Yakubu Dogara,
Speaker, House of Representatives.
Currently, the three levels of the law courts are
headed by Northerners: The Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court is Justice Mahmud Mohammed
(North); the President of the Court of Appeal is
Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa (North);
while the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court
is Justice Ibrahim Auta (North). It should be
recalled that in 2015, Buhari appointed Alhaji
Abubakar Malami as the Attorney-General of
the Federation and Minister of Justice, also from
the North.
Furthermore, the Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, which
supervises the conduct of national and state
elections, is also a Northerner: Prof. Mahmood
Yakubu. The unwritten code used to be that the
President of the country would appoint
someone from a different zone (different
language, different religion) as the INEC
Chairman to give a sense of balance and
increase the believability in the “independence”
of INEC. That was why many people raised their
voices when Buhari appointed Yakubu, who is
from Bauchi State, just one state away from
Buhari’s Katsina State, as the INEC boss; for
even though Bauchi is grouped under the North-
East, it is not seen as being culturally and
religiously different from Katsina. It is like a
President from the South-East appointing an
Igbo from Delta State or Rivers State as INEC
Chairman because Delta and Rivers are
technically in the South-South, or a President
from the South-West appointing a Yoruba from
Kwara and Kogi as INEC Chairman on the
grounds that Kwara and Kogi are in the North.
The dangerous trend
The argument of those who support this
dangerous precedent is that what matters is
getting those who are qualified and who will get
the required results. But that argument is
baseless. Statistics show that the North does
not come close to the South in education and
manpower. Year after year, statistics from the
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board show
that any pair of Imo State and Delta or Imo
State and Ogun or Imo State and Anambra
produces more candidates than the 19 states of
the North. State-by-state performance statistics
in senior secondary school examination from
NECO and WASSCE also show that no Northern
state usually appears among the top 10 states.
Admission into Unity Schools follows the same
trend. That is why the least cut-off marks are
given to Northern states. However, competent
hands can be found in abundance from all
zones and states of Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari
In addition, if it does not matter where office
holders come from, why didn’t Buhari choose
popular politicians like Kwankwaso, Atiku
Abubakar, Nasiru el-Rufai or Aminu Tambuwal,
all fellow Northerners, as his running mate? He
knew that if he had done that, he would have
lost the election, no matter how “qualified, clean
and popular” he and his running mate were.
These two points testify to the fact that Buhari
benefited from zoning and balancing of offices.
Furthermore, our constitution states that
federal appointments must reflect federal
character. Buhari has only reflected that in the
appointment of ministers. In other
appointments, he has disregarded that aspect
of our constitution that he swore to uphold. What does the future hold?
The danger in this is that in future, a Southern
President may decide to do something worse
than what Buhari is currently doing. If any part
complains, they will be given ample evidence of
how it was done in the past by Buhari and many
people rationalised it. In addition, a diverse
country like Nigeria needs the President to take
actions and make statements that show that he
treats all parts of the country equally. Much of
the tension and crisis in the country today can
be attributed to the obvious unfairness that
Buhari has displayed in his one year in office. A
President with an all-inclusive orientation would
have won over the majority of those who did
not even vote for him within his six months in
office. But Buhari’s actions show that he does
not care. He seems to say: “You can say
whatever you like or do whatever you like, it will
not stop me from carrying on the way I like.”
One of the points those who opposed Buhari’s
presidential ambition raised against him was
that given his antecedents, he would not be fair
to all Nigerians based on ethnicity and religion.
By his actions and utterances, he has not
proved that view wrong. This does not augur
well for the unity, peace and progress of the
nation.
Even some Northern groups and personalities
like Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a former Kaduna
State governor; Alhaji Tanko Yakassai,
Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum; and Dr
Junaid Mohammed, Convener of the Coalition
of Northern Politicians, academics,
professionals and businessmen, who see the
bigger picture and the inherent danger in this
trend, have raised their voices against this trend
by Buhari.
As the President of Nigeria, Buhari is like the
father of the nation. A father who loves his
home and wants the peace and progress of that
home avoids actions and utterances that will
show he favours some children and create a
gulf among his children.
This opinion first appeared in The Punch.