The governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has once again taken a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of operating as a president of the Northern Nigeria only. According to Fayose, the steps Buhari has taken since May 29, 2015, when he was sworn in, are tainted in ethnic and tribal colouration which is detrimental to the unity of the country, Vanguard reports.
This was contained in a statement issued on Monday, August 31, by his special assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka.
The governor criticized the president’s appointments so far, saying it was wrong of him to have made 31 major appointments and only seven were from the South while 24 were from the North.
“Appointments made by the President so far negate the principle of federal character. It appears the unity in diversity of Nigeria is being taken for granted by the President.
“Under Buhari, are people from Southern Nigeria only meant to be hounded and harassed by anti-corruption agencies and the Department of State Security (DSS) while those from the North are meant to enjoy federal government juicy appointments?” he questioned.
Fayose wondered if there are no competent people from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southern part of Nigeria, especially South-East where no one has been appointed by Buhari.
He asked: “Are they saying Igbo leader like Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who graduated with a first class honours degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Lagos, is not competent to be appointed as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)?”
Governor Fayose also expressed worry over the construction of Lokoja-Abuja roads which has stopped and that of Lagos-Ibadan expressway which has been slowed down, adding that they are the major roads linking the Southern part of Nigeria with the North.
The governor said the appointments so far, reminds him of President Buhari’s tenure as Military Head of State.
“I hope the President is not seeing Nigeria of today as that of 1984 because doing so will mean that he has turned himself to a northern president, thereby justifying his notion that those who gave him 97 percent votes must get more benefits than those who gave him five percent votes,” he added.
Fayose noted that the country can only move forward if there was equity and fairness, as the principle of federal character was enshrined into the constitution, taking into consideration the ethnic diversity of the country.
He added that it was not in the best interest of Nigeria if the president was running the country like he was a Northern Nigeria’s President.
Recall that in June, Governor Fayose had written to President Buhari to grant him the honour of naming the minister that would come from Ekiti state. He said he would be happy to nominate a worthy candidate for appointment in the president’s cabinet.
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