Politicians will not stop amazing one. How they reason and what they take Nigerians for is what one still finds hard to understand. For the whole of the eight years that Muhammadu Buhari sat as President, he never pretended that he was for the North and the North alone. We cried; sorry, wailed, and were appropriately dubbed as the wailers by some misfiring media aides.
After sending something to their banks, or was it prayers to their mails for them to enjoy their holidays, some senators from the North rather than reciprocate the kind gesture, used their break to plot the sack of Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
There are claims and counter-claims over alleged moves by the aggrieved lawmakers who lost out in the lobby for juicy Senate Committees as masterminds of the plot. It was alleged that two former governors from the North West who are serving Senators are arrowheads of the plan to oust the Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West from his exalted seat as Senate President once the lawmakers return from their annual vacation.
This plot is beyond the appointments of Akpabio as Senate President and the lobby for juicy committees; it is a barefaced plot against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s lopsided appointments in favour of the South West.
Those behind the plot are accusing Akpabio of playing the role of a lapdog for President Tinubu rather than serving the overall interest of senators and Nigerians.
Sen. Ishaku Abbo, who spoke on behalf of his aggrieved colleagues, dismissed the report as the handiwork of the Senate President’s camp. He accused the camp of the Senate President of treating the Senate as a conquered territory where the winner goes home with the spoils of war – a classical example of a winner-takes-all.
He said inter alia: “How do you explain a situation where out of Category A Committees, only two went to his perceived rivals? How will you explain a Senate where 83.1 percent of those made Chairmen of Category A Committees are also Vice Chairmen of Category A? How do you explain a third-time senator being denied the chairmanship of a committee? How do you explain that the leadership of the Senate are all vice chairmen of Category A Committees?’’
They are accusing the Senate President of pandering to the whims and caprices of the presidency. A development they are saying will not augur well for the independence of the legislature.
Meanwhile, some of these senators were there when Ahmad Lawan as Senate President told Nigerians that he would ensure that whatever President Muhammadu Buhari requested would be given express approval. And that creed Lawan and his lame Senate observed to the letter.
Those attuned to the political developments in the country will not be shocked by the groundswell of opposition coming from especially the elite in the North.
For instance, the National Publicity Secretary of the Northern socio-cultural and political organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, knocked Tinubu for giving sensitive and lucrative appointments to persons from the South-West part.
Although, Muhammad-Baba, a professor of Sociology, who maintained that he spoke in his personal capacity because the Northern group was yet to deliberate on the issue, described the appointments so far as not encouraging in a “deeply fractious federation” like Nigeria.
The ACF spokesman also berated the immediate past administration of Buhari for also indulging in sectional appointments but added that it is not an excuse as someone has to break the circle of such appointments.
Muhammad-Baba said from all indications, most, if not all sensitive or “lucrative” assignments are being given to persons of South West extraction.
“It’s not ideal in a deeply fractious federation like ours. However, the Constitution gives absolute power to the President to make such appointments. A part of the Constitution directs that such appointments must reflect the social diversity of the country in terms of “balancing” of place of origin, indigeneship, ethnicity, religion, etc.”
Muhammad-Baba is only smart by half. He should show us where he protested against Buhari’s lopsided appointments before now. He should also tell us what his position was when Christians complained to no avail that the Muslim-Muslim tickets of APC were not encouraging in a “deeply fractious federation” like Nigeria. He will also do well to tell us what the position of ACF was when Buhari appointed all his service chiefs from the North.
In a similar vein, Arewa Economic Forum (AEF), a northern Nigeria group, also condemned what it termed “Yorubanisation” and “Lagoslisation” of Tinubu’s appointments.
According to the socio-cultural pressure group, most of the persons President Tinubu has appointed into key sectors of the country are from the South-West region and Lagos State particularly.
The Chairman of the Forum, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Dandakata, expressed displeasure over the fact that the North, which significantly contributed to the enthronement of the Tinubu government, is being left out in the Finance and ICT sectors which are crucial to economic development.
He added that both the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Folashodun Shonubi, are from the South West.
He said, “The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, and the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Folashodun Shonubi, are both from the South West…the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr. Bosun Tijani, is from the South West and even the Chairman of Senate Committee on ICT, Senator Afolabi Salisu, and that of House of Representatives, Hon. Adedeji Olajide Odidiomo, are also from the South West.
“We have now found that even some agencies whose chief executive officers were removed like Customs and NIMC have been replaced by people from the South West.
“There is palpable fear that more Northerners may be recommended for removal and their replacements may take a similar pattern.
“We are afraid to state that a situation whereby the appointees in crucial economic sectors are not only from the South West but also connected to the Lagos axis, suggests a deliberate ‘Yorubanisation’ and ‘Lagoslisation’ of the polity,” he added.
Before now I had thought that marginalisation was patented to the South East and other minority regions in the country.
This is not to hold brief for President Tinubu, nor am I his spokesperson. Whereas it behoves him as president to make sure there is even distribution of appointments, the complaint must not come from the part of the country that has benefited the most from this anomaly.
It is instructive to now see that the North also cries. We cried and nobody listened. We complained when Buhari said he would not ignore those who gave him 97 percent votes to satisfy those who only gave him five percent. We wailed when Buhari appointed his fellow Fulani/Muslim North everywhere, we were derisively dubbed as the wailers.
The northern political elite are only crying for their personal benefits and interests. Their hypocrisy stinks to high heavens. In this cry the least of their worry is the squalor and poverty that pervade their region.
When Fulani killer-herders were rampaging the Nigerian landscape unrestrained, we cried but we were accused of ethnic profiling. When a southern CJN was sacked for a northerner who could not even explain what legal technicalities are, we cried injustice and screamed blue murder; the northern elite was mute. Whatever goes around comes around.
