Is President Buhari A Sectional Leader?

By Jide Ojo

The composition of 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 effect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also 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 (3) of 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended.

*President Buhari with new IGP Tukur

Love him or hate him, President Muhammadu Buhari is a man of destiny. The trajectory of his life’s odyssey clearly points to that. Mr. President has held different public offices from his youth to old age. He has been a military governor, petroleum minister, chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, Head of State and now an elected President of the most populous country in Africa.

Many will vouch for the President as an honest man hence the appellation of “Mai Gasikiya” which means one who always says the truth in Hausa language. He is seen as an austere man who lives a Spartan life despite having held many privileged positions. However, many others have also alleged that the President is a religious bigot and a provincial leader. In trying to puncture the accusation of bigotry, for the four times he ran for presidential office, he always chose a Christian running mate and twice even chose clerics – Pastor Tunde Bakare in 2011 and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo in 2015. However, The President has yet to fully dismiss the allegations that he is a provincial leader.

On his assumption of office, all the major appointments President Buhari made were from the north with the exception of, perhaps, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Ibe Kachikwu. At the time Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu was touted as being likely to be made the Secretary to the Federal Government, the President decided to pick Babachir David Lawal from Adamawa State. The President’s Chief of Staff is also from the North. Now, news making the rounds shows that a chunk of the national security and defence sector is dominated not only by people of northern extraction but also Muslims. Let’s take a count: The National Security Adviser; Chief of Army Staff; Chief of Air Staff; Comptroller General of Customs; Comptroller General of Immigration; Comptroller General of Prisons; the Director General of the Department of State Services; the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, and now the Acting Inspector General of Police appointed last week.