Buhari promises to redress ‘federal character’ complaints

President Muhammadu Buhari says he will take a “second look” at allegations that he has not been following the federal character principle in his appointments.

He was speaking on Thursday while playing host to a delegation of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by Ignatius Kaigama, its president.

In its address, the CBCN had quoted the constitutional provision for federal character.

“The Federal Character Principle is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: ‘The government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies’ (Section 14, Sub-section 3-4),” the body said.

“Disregard for this Principle in some federal government appointments as well as perceptible imbalance in the distribution of federal amenities has created the loss of a sense of belonging in many parts of the country, hence the constant cries of marginalization, agitation for secession and calls for restructuring.”

However, Buhari told the bishops that no ethnic group or political zone has been deliberately marginalised in the appointments made so far by his administration.

He promised to take a second look at appointments “to redress issues being raised”.

A review will be done after a compendium of all appointments has been submitted to him, he said.

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo recently accused Buhari of being clannish, while Uche Secondus, PDP chairman, said the president was practising “nuclear nepotism”.