A youth group, Northern Youth Leaders Forum (NYLF), has urged President Bola Tinubu not to make “skewed appointments” like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, “because the country must not continue in error”.
Conceding that northerners have no right to complain about Tinubu’s perceived ‘lopsided’ appointments, the group said it would not benefit national interest if the trend amplified by Buhari continued.
National President of NYLF, Elliot Afiyo spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Sunday.
He said that between 2015 and 2023, Buhari created a lopsided appointment gap of 80 percent for the north and 20 percent for the south.
According to the NYLF president, Tinubu is widening the gap of alleged lopsided appointments inherited from Buhari.
Read Also: FCT residents blast AEDC over epileptic power supply
He stated that previous Nigerian leaders have since independence engaged in biased appointments, favouring their zones at the expense of others.
He said former President Olusegun Obasanjo managed to narrow the gap between 1999 and 2007 when he held sway.
“But Buhari came in and created the gap to be 20/80. And even the northerners that they were saying that Buhari appointed were not northerners per se. We are now seeing that the appointments by President Tinubu are tilting towards the South West.
“I would say northerners don’t have the right to complain that the appointments or placements are lopsided. We don’t have the right to complain.
“But as advanced citizens, I ask: can we continue like this? Where are we going as a nation? So, there is a need for us to balance it,” Afiyo said.