Lai: Buhari not guilty of lopsided appointments

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments are not lopsided.

Mohammed said this on Thursday when he paid a visit to the headquarters of Channels Television in Lagos on Friday.

The minister said President Buhari cannot be judged by appointing Yusuf Bichi as director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS).

“Those talking about balancing and federal character should stop focusing on one aspect,” NAN quoted the minister as saying.

“Let us see how many permanent secretaries, director-generals and executive directors and heads of parastatals we have in Nigeria today and where they come from.

“This will give us a more insight to the fact that this administration is not lopsided in appointments.

“We should stop looking at only one side to make our judgment and anywhere we notice any lopsidedness government will correct it.”

The minister also debunked allegations that the N16.6 billion Paris Club refund to Osun was facilitated because of the upcoming governorship election.

“This is not the first time the Paris Club refund is being made available to states, I think it should be about the fourth time the government had released the money,” Mohammed said.

“This particular tranche would have been drawn a while ago but for the disagreement between the governors and the Federal Government.

“It is released to all the states, so, it has nothing to do with the election, the timing may be a coincidence.”