Editor’s note: The current uproar going on in the country as a result of the appointments President Muhammadu Buhari has made so far is something that many political analysts and especially the media have taken up to stand for or against. Obule Ocheyeno, Naij.com’s contributor, is not left out from the contestation. In his defence for the president, he stresses that it is this recourse to appointing people to political offices based on ethnic considerations that has arrested the nation’s progress for so long.
President Buhari
Since May 29 when President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in this year, nothing has been as hot a talking point as his recent appointment of the secretary to the government of the federation, the chief of staff, Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, and the Comptroller General of Nigerian Immigration Service.
Although Senator Ita Enang and Suleiman Kawu were appointed the senior special advisers to the president on National Assembly matters on senate and House of Representative respectively, the first four appointees who are northerners stirred a lot of debate among Nigerians who viewed their appointments as skewed in favour of the North.
Those who hold this parochial view are narrow-minded and have reduced every action of President Buhari to tribalism and nepotism as his guiding principle. They have failed to see the bigger picture, which is Buhari’s determination to pick the best team that can bring about the change Nigerians desire earnestly.
Why Buhari must not fail
Do we want Buhari to fail woefully like former President Goodluck Jonathan who surrounded himself with greedy cronies who looted the country’s treasury for almost six years? The same people who are complaining about the imaginary ethnic agenda allegedly being executed by Buhari will turn around to crucify him if things go wrong with his government.
Some Nigerians, like Israelites of old are very difficult to please. We all desired change and now that round pegs are being put in round holes, some people are already complaining. It is too early in the day to begin to accuse the president of nepotism when there are still a whole lot of appointments to be made. Those who are complaining and murmuring are the ones whose expectations were not met when the recent appointments were made. Some expected that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation would come from the South, specifically from the East. Buhari, in his infinite wisdom, decided to pick him from Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa state. The new Comptroller General of Immigration, Abeshi hails from Nasarawa state. Buhari also broke from the past when he appointed an ‘outsider’, Col Ali, a retired soldier and former military administrator of Kaduna state, as the new Comptroller General of Customs. The president saw the qualities these men possess before he picked them into those sensitive positions.
Truth be told, the majority of Nigerians do not care where any political appointee comes from provided we have a leadership that would deliver the goods. It is this recourse to appointing people to political offices based on ethnic considerations that has arrested the nation’s progress for so long. Let the brightest and the best drive the change Nigerians need now no matter where they come from.
By the time President Buhari constitutes his cabinet, the clamour for ethnic balancing in his appointments would have been adequately taken care of, but beyond the façade of ethnic balancing in federal appointments is the desire of few ethnic jingoists to have people in the corridors of power so that they too can take part in treasury looting euphemistically couched as ‘sharing of the national cake’.
Nigerian government as it were, as it is
This is at the root of the kleptomania that has characterized the system of government in our country since independence and taken to an unprecedented height in the administration of former President Jonathan. Nigerians have been short-changed for so long that the leeches that do not want the status quo to change are busy beating the ethnic agenda drum to incite gullible Nigerians to join their bandwagon. The majority of discerning Nigerians have however refused to key into that ploy designed to hoodwink them into believing that Buhari has a sinister agenda.
Now, those who want the president to falter are already downplaying his achievements less than 100 days in office. The failed and disgraced Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which ruled Nigeria for 16 years and plundered the resources of the nation is at the forefront of those blowing hot air about President Buhari’s performance. PDP, which is now playing the opposition role in an awkward and puerile manner, expects Buhari to clean up the 16-year corruption and economic mess the party left behind in just 100 days. How possible is that?
Some of those who are belly-aching over the actions so far taken by President Buhari perhaps have skeletons in their cupboards. The burgeoning war against corruption has already thrown up mind-boggling revelations that would make heads to roll in a matter of time. Those who have nothing to hide need not fear. Buhari means well for this country regardless of what the naysayers are up to. Let us give him a chance. He still has a lot of time to actualize the promises he and his party made to Nigerians while he was campaigning for our votes. His scorecard would be better assessed in four years’ time.
The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Naij.com.
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