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The president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, contradicted himself while trying to refute allegations of nepotism and lopsided appointments levelled against him in some quarters.
President Buhari also shrugged off allegations of marginalization of a section of the country during a pre-recorded interview he granted to Arise TV at the State House in Abuja.
While responding to a question on the general perception that his administration had concentrated appointments in the North than Southern Nigeria, the president said he only considers people who have gone “through the mill” when making appointments.
Buhari was also asked why his administration had allegedly failed to adequately include people from the South East and the entire southern region in his government, especially into security services and Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
His response: “People who have been there for 18 years…they trained in Zaria or in Abeokuta, they climbed through the ranks and because they found [themselves] under all the circumstances, the crisis and everything, and they gradually rise to that status and you think [I will] just pick somebody just to balance up? These positions have to be earned. There are people who have been there for 10-15 years.”
Buhari stressed that geographical balance should not be the basis for appointing security chiefs.
“If you don’t join, you’re not forced to join, but when you join, you go through the rigmarole…and you learn by the system,” he said.
Buhari, however, contradicted himself while reacting to the alleged massive retirement of major generals from the army because he chose their subordinate as Chief of Army Staff.
“Do you know where he (Major General Farouk Yahaya) was serving before he became the Chief of Army Staff? You can’t just pick somebody because he is wearing seniority (sic). You will put somebody who has suffered with the soldiers, they know him, he fought with them and so on. I tell you the truth, on individual basis, I have forgotten some of these chaps, I don’t know them.”
Asked if years of operational experience did not matter in appointing the service chiefs, Buhari said “It is, [but] for the soldiers to be effectively led, it must be somebody they know…”
Buhari also responded to a question on if he didn’t think South East people were feeling marginalized because he did not give the Secretary to the Government of the Federation or other top positions to someone from the region.
He added, “You better get the list of our civil servants if you think there are no people from the South East. There are people from the South East, but they know they have to go through the mill.”
