CACOL defends Buhari on lopsidedness, selective appointments, nepotism

• Says President must justify his actions

The Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran, has said that people should not be quick to criticize the President Muhammadu Buhari over perceived nepotism in appointments and projects allocations, stating that there are adequate reasons for Nigerians to be agitated if the government cannot justify its actions.

Adeniran, protesting criticisms that trailed appointments, projects allocations and resource sharing by the Buhari administration said: “Let us agree that an incipient nepotism is developing or had been growing prior to now. We should not mince words; nepotism is a form of corruption and it contradicts the supposed anti-corruption image of the Buhari administration and the so-called change mantra of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

Adeniran, in a statement on Monday, declared:  “We believe that the common wealth of the country should be evenly distributed. But be that as it may be, we must not trivialize equity. By this we mean, no component part of the country should be discriminated against in project allocations and federal appointments but meritocracy and fairness should be the underlining precautions that must always be factored in when it is about administration and governance in a democracy.

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 “For instance, the present agitations over some projects allocated to the North eastern part of the country should not generated so much foray in public discourse were it not for the constant distrust that leaders have instilled in the minds of the people.

 “We believe it’s not out of place to allocate more projects to the North-East because of the challenges of that area. It may not sound fair, but we want the President to defend his action. He has a responsibility to justify it convincingly to Nigerians that the allocations are not nepotistic.

 “There should be no equivocation in taking decisions that would largely be acceptable to Nigerians as long as equity in sharing resources is prioritized to a very large extent. The truth is that the present government cannot wish away or invalidate the genuine agitations of the people and that is simply because they are valid!

 “We should now realize why people clamour for a rotational presidency; give a madman a hoe, he’ll make ridges for himself. If a president comes from the North or South, it’s expected he’ll take care of his own first. Admittedly, this is antithetical to democracy.

“Whether a dichotomy exists between the Northern and Southern part of Nigeria in terms of making appointments, project allocations, resource sharing etc. can only be disproved by the actions or inactions of the holders of the levers of political power at the moment as led by President Muhammadu Buhari.”