Buhari is president of the north, says Fayose

President Muhammadu Buhari is president of northern Nigeria, Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has alleged.

Fayose, who has been very critical of Buhari, said steps taken by the president since his inauguration are “tainted in ethnic and tribal colouration, which is inimical to the unity of Nigeria”.

He described the appointments made so far by the president as “Nothernisation of Nigeria”, maintaining that they “negate the principle of federal character and it appears the unity in diversity of Nigeria is being taken for granted”.

Fayose said it was wrong for Buhari to have made 31 major appointments, with only seven from the South and 24 from the north.

He said: “Under Buhari, are people from southern Nigeria only meant to be hounded and harassed by anti-corruption agencies and the Department of State Security (DSS) while those from the North are meant to enjoy federal government juicy appointments?

“Apart from lopsided appointments being made by the president, I am worried that  construction of Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been slowed down while work has stopped on Lokoja-Abuja roads, which are the major roads linking the southern part of Nigeria with the north.

“Also, we have been told by the Federal Government that the Second Niger Bridge project has been suspended and one is now beginning to remember how Buhari cancelled the Lagos Metroline Project in 1985 at a loss of over $78 million (then) to the Lagos tax payers.

“They said the President made the appointments on merit and I wish to ask whether there are no competent people in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southern part of Nigeria, especially South-East where no one has been appointed.

“Are they saying Igbo leader like Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who graduated with a first class honours degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Lagos, is not competent to be appointed as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)?

“To my mind, these lopsided appointments skewed in favour of the North is a reminder of President Buhari’s tenure as Military Head of State and I hope the President is not seeing Nigeria of today as that of 1984 because doing so will mean that he has turned himself to a northern president, thereby justifying his notion that those who gave him 97 percent votes must get more benefits than those who gave him five percent votes.”