Is the president aware of all the uproars his recent appointments have generated? Well, there is no reason to suggest he is not aware. A close analysis of the president’s psyche would reveal why he seems to have ignored these “wailing wailers’’.
Last Friday, while the media was still analyzing whether Dr Ibe Kachikwu has been made a ceremonial head, the president made another appointment. This time, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Saliu Usman was appointed the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI).
There is no need arguing about the distribution of top appointments in the security services. It is skewed towards the north. But the president has made comments to suggest how his mind works.
In the early days of his presidency, when he was criticized of appointing mainly northerners, the president responded by saying: ‘’ This is the nature of Nigerian politics. If they will do justice to me, as an elected Nigerian president, let them look at the Constitution a Nigerian president works with, there are people who will closely work with me that don’t need to be taken to the Senate’’.
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Apparently, in trying to tell his critics to allow him do his work, the president went on to say: ‘’If I select people whom I know quite well in my political party, whom we came all the way right from the APP, CPC and APC, and have remained together in good or bad situation, the people I have confidence in and I can trust them with any post, will that amount to anything wrong?’’
So far, one thing is clear. The president doesn’t believe he has violated the provisions of the constitution on federal character. In the coming months, more appointments are likely to be given to the south. But the security architecture has already been skewed.
Now one argument in favour of the president: One of his key campaign promises was to restore security in Nigeria, which was in dire straits in the north when he took office, thus, Nigerians should allow him do his work. I believe this is the way his mind is working at the moment.
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The chief of army staff and the national security adviser come from Borno State. The president has the right to argue that these people know the nooks and crannies of Borno, a state that needed to be liberated when he took office.
The question whether there are no qualified people in the south might not mean much to the president when it comes to security. He could argue that he has the right to work with people he trusts.
From my analysis [call it academic if you like], the recent allegations by some militants that some members of the military approached them to plan a coup might have changed everything. As ridiculous as these allegations might sound, it seems to have rang an alarm bell in the corridors of power.
If these allegations are anything to go by, then the president doesn’t need to explain to anyone the rationale behind his top security appointments. The president was removed through a coup in his ‘first missionary journey’. Now, could it be a case of once bitten, twice shy?
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But these appointments breed their own troubles. There are even indications that some the president’s close allies in the south are still trying to understand events, as they unfold.
These troubles are many. For example, some argue that this kind of security arrangement could breed genocide. The president shouldn’t have allowed this kind of thinking to prop up in the south. Again, the probability that other presidents, after Buhari, who might come from the south, might follow this kind of arrangement, favoring their own people, is not healthy for our nascent democracy.
And most importantly, the notion that the president is trying to Islamize the country is a needless distraction, but a legitimate concern. Likewise the notion that he is all out to propagate only northern interests. But the president needs to take urgent actions to prove his critics wrong.
One of such actions should be on the allegation that lands are not allocated to churches in some federal institutions in the north. In the same vain, the allegation that governors in the far north are reluctant to sign out certificates of occupancies for Christians who want to build churches should be addressed. These and other well-meaning actions could reduce the uproar that has been generated in the last few months.
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4 comments
The problem with that mindset is that it not being strategic especially if his experience of 1985 is a factor. Thos that overthrew him then were from his part of the country and people he thought he could trust. I dare say the current configuration of his security architecture makes a conspiracy easier. He needs to rethink his strategy obviously.
What has the president got to do with churchesb being denied c of os. The writer should be specific with full details of the states that deny Christianst the right to their choice of religion. Am sure this writer has not been to any part of the north otherwise he won’t be writing this garbage called article. There is no any state even in the core north without churches built on choice locations. I challenge him to mention at least one state and with facts. We like to sensationalize everything, I am a Muslim, if I travel to any part of SS or SE, I don’t expectt to see mosques everywhere in fact I won’t be surprised if I don’t see any and I won’t complain because the dominant religion there is Christianity but I challenge him to tell me one state in the Northt that you can’t find a church in the capital.
Your comment..And also some governors from South who denying Muslims permission to own lands in their states and also build Mosques in those areas should be told to change their ways for peace to continue reigning. I am a supporter of the President but I am worried with this very mindset, it’s wrong, and all Nigerians should be carried along must especially the in security of the country. The inputs of every nationality and region will be helpful in no small measure. I hope he changes his ways. Appointing mostly northerners and most especially muslims is not sending a good massage to the other faiths and regions. considering that many of his political traducers are looking for ways to polarise his government through religious and regional line. He should be careful.
I want the writer and his likes to please change their mindset about the country. Its not PMB that originally initiated this problem. GEJ was a southerner and was having more than 70% of his cabinet as southerners and nobody from the north have ever complained. Mr. Nwonko, don’t forget that it was those southerners that were in power and in charge of our security when the whole security of the country collapsed. Don’t you and your like think that there is need to have a change? The change has been made and the security has grossly improved. We are now more safe under the new leadership of the northerners (which the so called southerners failed). Any way, we should always put the interest of the country first not ours. What matters is whether the goal have been achieved not WHO achieved it