Some youths from the northern part of Nigeria have urged
President Bola Tinubu not to engage in what they call skewed appointments,
similar to his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
The youths, under the aegis of the Northern Youth Leaders
Forum (NYLF), conceded that northerners have no right to complain about
Tinubu’s perceived ‘lopsided’ appointments but expressed their opinion that the
country should not continue in the same way.
Some northern leaders have criticised President Tinubu for
allegedly favouring the south in his choice of appointees. For instance, Ahmad
Gumi, an Islamic cleric, alleged that Tinubu had appointed more Southern
Christians into key positions while ignoring northerners who, he said, aided
him in gaining power.
Addressing the press in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on
Sunday, the National President of NYLF, Elliot Afiyo, said that Tinubu is
widening the gap of alleged lopsided appointments inherited from Buhari.
Afiyo disclosed that Buhari, from 2015 to 2023, created a
lopsided appointment gap of 80 percent for the north and 20 percent for the
south.
However, he urged Tinubu not to follow the steps of Buhari
in picking his appointees, “because the country must not continue in error.”
According to him, previous Nigerian leaders have since
independence, engaged in biased appointments, favouring their zones at the
expense of others.
The youth leader maintained that former President Olusegun
Obasanjo tried to narrow the gap when he returned to power in 1999.
“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,” he
stated.
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It's too early for the northern youth leaders to start issuing this kind of statement. I think the president was fare enough in his ministerial appointments. You should have come up with innovative ideas to encourage the northern youth to learn different trade/vocations to make ends meet, rather than over dependent on politics. Mind you, government alone cannot drive the economy. That was why the buhari's administration failed woefully.
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