In a recent interview, popular Lagos human rights
lawyer, Festus Keyamo, has spoken about President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged
lopsided appointments.
- You are from the South-South. Why have you come out to defend President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments which are largely in favour of the North?
I am not a tribalist. If I was, I wouldn’t have campaigned
for Buhari. I just wanted the best for Nigeria. I agree that some of the best
brains are from the South while some of the best are from the North. We have
brains everywhere. However, why people are clamouring for these positions that
have just been filled is that people see them as juicy positions and this is my
problem. About 95 per cent of the positions are yet to be filled. Buhari has
filled just about five per cent of positions. For me, no government position is
different from the other and that is the ideal situation. We should not
classify some positions as more beneficial than others because that is a
euphemism for corruption. It is a euphemism to say that some positions are
better than others.
People were clamouring for the position of Secretary to the
Government of Federation and Chief of Staff because in the past, the Peoples
Democratic Party turned those positions into money-making machines. Nigerians
have seen the ostentatious lifestyles that others who have occupied these
positions have lived. And the nation allowed them to get away with those
crimes. And yet we say we want a change. We must begin to change our
orientation. So, we are saying that we cannot make a holistic assessment until
the President fills all these positions. For those positions he has filled,
they are supposed to be occupied by those who are personally loyal to the
President.
I do not expect him to leave those positions to be filled by
his political party. For example, you cannot say the chief of staff should be
someone that is loyal to a power bloc in his party. That kind of person would
close everyday from work, pick his telephone, and report all the activities of
the President to his political camp. That would not be fair because that kind
of person would not be loyal to the President but by the person who nominated
him for that office. There are many positions that the political party can fill
that will not have direct access to the itinerary and activities of the
President. That is why I said people should be calm. There are ministerial
positions to be filled, heads of agencies and many others.
We must change our orientation such that any appointment
given to anybody from any part of the country must be accepted with dignity and
pride and patriotism. The argument is that certain ethnic groups have seen some
positions as being exclusive to them. They argue that since the presidency has
gone to the North and some positions have gone to some other geopolitical
zones, the next one must come to them. The clamour is because they see these as
hierarchies of juicy positions and I say no.
- Is it coincidental that the South-East, where Buhari got low number of votes, has not received any political appointment?
Buhari got the lowest number of votes from the South-South.
But as I said, the appointments are not yet complete. You say he has not
appointed any Igbo but the biggest position so far has gone to an Igbo man:
Emmanuel Kachikwu who is the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation. It is just by modern political divide that the man falls
within Delta State but he is a Delta Igbo. They speak Igbo. It is only by
political delineation that he falls within Delta State but there are Igbo
speaking Deltans. He is an Igbo man but only on the other side of the Niger.
He is not an Urhobo man. What language does he speak? Is it
not Igbo? So what are we talking about? That is the biggest position and they
have it already. So, you can see that all this noise is being made by
frustrated and jobless politicians who just want to use ethnicity to get juicy
positions. It is orchestrated. We the elite should not be moved by this noise
and selfish agenda. Imagine a whole ethnic group campaigning for a position!
Initially, they said chief of staff, then SGF. Now, with all the noise they
have been making since May 29, imagine if one person from that region is
appointed to that position.
That person will then see himself as a champion of his
ethnic group and his kinsmen will descend on that office in the area of
contracts and gifts. He will destroy the sanctity of that office and turn it
into a political chessboard because that person will see himself as
representing a region in that position. It removes professionalism from that
position. So, we should not campaign for offices on the basis of representing
an ethnic bloc. Yes, every region will get appointments but once he is
appointed, he should not see himself as representing that ethnic group but the whole
country.
Source
Punch
No comments