President Muhammadu Buhari is facing criticisms over his 11 appointments since he assumed power on May 29, 10 of which have come from the north. Many accused the president of pushing a northern agenda. However, Buhari has refuted the claims.
Speaking to Vanguard in Abuja, yesterday, the Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity Mr. Femi Adesina, the only Southerner in the appointments, refuted the claims that Buhari was acting a northern script.
“The president received a national mandate and was going to pursue it as such. The president does not have a northern agenda. He has a national agenda. He got a national mandate and that is the way he is going to exercise that mandate. I have already said it and I still maintain that”, he said.
Reacting to the criticisms trailing the appointments, national secretary of the Labour Party, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, who had in recent times criticized the president, called for caution in the claims of a perceived northernisation policy by Buhari.
“I want to give President Buhari the benefit of doubt, he still has thousands of appointments to make. We need not hang him on just nine of such appointments,” Ajulo said.
“However, he needs to be sensitive and responsive to our laws, values and attitude as a multi-ethnic people. Everything counts in Nigeria and President Buhari as a politician should know that woe betides any Nigerian politician that treats with levity such issues like tribe, ethnicity, religion etc.”
“President Buhari had, in his inaugural address and subsequent speeches, stressed that the job of rebuilding Nigeria is not his alone. I call him to walk the talk.”
Buhari’s appointees so far are: Acting Chairman, the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari; Director, the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecai Danteni Baba Ladan; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris; House Chief of Protocol, Mallam Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure; Aide De Camp, Lt.-Col. Muhammed Lawal Abubakar; Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu; Mr Ahmed Joda, Head Transition Committee; Mr Adamu Adamu, Secretary Transition Committee; Mr Lawal Daura, Director-General, DSS; Mallam Abdulrahman Mani, Chief Security Officer, and Femi Adesina, SA Media and Publicity.
