President Muhammed Buhari has been queried over the lopsided appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which favours Northerners to the disadvantage of southern Nigerians.
The Presidency has been asked to urgently review the appointments by a cross section of Southern groups including Afenifere, Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF and Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The outcry followed the reported appointment of 15 top management staff in the NNPC, out of which 10 were Northerners, 3 Yoruba, 2 from the South-South and none from the Igbo region.
Reacting to the appointments, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, said, “This brazen disregard, marginalisation, and non-compliance with the Federal character provisions in our Constitution are the causes of lack of confidence which our youths have in our present governance structure.
“As long as President Buhari continues to live out his speech abroad that his government will favour those who voted 97% for him against those who voted 5% for him, so long will the dissatisfaction and unrest in our polity subsist,” Nwodo warned.
“There is no oil well anywhere in Northern Nigeria. Four of the five states in the South East have proven oil resources some of which provide our nation’s revenue, yet our people are not found fit to be adequately represented in a key corporate institution like the NNPC,” he said as he called for an immediate review of the appointments.
Reiterating the views of the Igbo socio-cultural group, the South East Senate caucus also condemned the recruitment exercise.
Chairman of the caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said, “ we support Ohanaeze’s stance on what Buhari should do.”
Another Igbo senator, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa said, “this one is a clear evidence of the marginalization that we have been saying about this government.
“What happened at the NNPC is evidence that what we have been saying is not imagined, but real.”
Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin said the action was pure impunity. His words, “The issue for us is not about whether it favours us or does not favour us; it is about justice to all and being that it is skewed and that is not the way to build an inclusive society.
“You must carry everybody along. Does that mean that there was nobody qualified from the South East?
“Why the sheer impunity? I think that those who are running Nigeria now should be mindful of the need to build an inclusive society.
“You must earn the confidence of all, and it is not too late for this administration to listen and do something that is more balanced in a multi-ethnic society.”
Senator Roland Owie (PDP, Edo) said, It is regrettable that we blame IPOB, Arewa youths or Niger Delta youths over threats capable of disintegrating the country but the series of appointments made by this administration even up till now have shown that the administration is worse than those issuing ultimatum to the Igbo.
“We have observed a systematic plan to strangulate the South, particularly the South East in appointments, and it seems that this administration is not bothered at all which is sad.
“I want to appeal to President Buhari to know that this country belongs to all the ethnic groups, he should not create problem for the North where he comes from because no matter how he sees it, he would not have become President without the support of other ethnic groups.
Former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Idada Ikpomnwen, retd, said: “It is not too different from what we have been observing for quite a while, that is since the coming of this administration. The truth is that the reason is not far-fetched.
“The administration has said that the majority of the votes that put the President there were Northern votes, so they need to take care of their interest, which to me is not a good position in the sense that after the election, the President becomes every body’s President.
“Therefore, they are entitled to positions, particularly when it is true that if it were not for some reasonable votes from other ethnic groups, he would not have met the constitutional requirements in terms of votes across the country. He got 1/3 in most of the states in the South.