Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments into key offices in the country since coming into power on May 29, 2015, describing them as favouring people of the Northern extraction.
In a press release issued on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said it was wrong for President Buhari to have made 31 major appointments with only seven coming from the South while 24 are from the North.
“Appointments made by the President so far negate the principle of federal character and it appears the unity in diversity of Nigeria is being taken for granted by the President,” he stated.
“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 asked.
Refuting claims by the All Progressives Congress that the appointments were made on merit, Fayose declared, “Are they saying an 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)?”
He further explained that appointments made by President Buhari has shown an agenda for a deliberate “Nothernisation of Nigeria,” a view that is being echoed among many Nigerians, especially those from Southern Nigeria.