Re: As Buhari Drowns in Nepotism....

Dear Editor, Your piece was Faultless... Well done, I do not miss your write up every Tuesday. Peter Folorunso Dear Mr. Folorunso, Thank you very much. I appreciate your readership. Editor Dear Editor,

I have just read your piece in today's THISDAY I do not agree with your attempt at creating a North/South divide with the appointments of Heads of Security Agencies in Nigeria. Specifically, let me quote you:

"...practically all the heads of the security/law enforcement agencies in Nigeria worth any salt, are from the Northern part of the country - The AGF, IG, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, NSA, DG DSS or is it SSS, Acting Chairman EFCC, Controller General of Prisons and Controller General of Customs, and now DG, NIA."

But you failed to also state that "...practically all the heads of the economic/financial agencies in Nigeria worth any salt, are from the Southern part of the country - The Finance Minister, The Trade and Commerce Minister, The Budget and Planning Minister, the CBN Governor, the DG of the Budget Office, The DG of Sovereign Fund, the DG of National Bureau of Statistics and now the DG of DMO".

I have seen this type of reporting on social media by Southern writers. Unfortunately, they also fail to report that the economic team is dominated by Southerners. This cannot be balanced reporting. It appears that it is reporting, calculated to stir hate and resentment for our Northern brothers.

Please, let’s be balanced in expressing our views. A lot of Nigerians rely on them. Let’s not mislead them. Thank you Kingsley Ulinfun Dear Mr. Ulinfun, I am sorry, but I do not particularly agree with your analogy, and I do not believe that anyone is being misled. We need to start telling the truth, instead of trying to be seen as being politically correct.

Firstly, the constitutional provision that Ministers must be appointed from all the States of the Federation, makes it impossible not to have Southern Ministers. However, Ministerial appointments are political, with no fixed tenure. Ministers can be reshuffled or sacked at will. Where President Buhari believed that he could by-pass due process, federal character etc, as in the case of the appointment of mostly Northerners to head the security/law enforcement agencies, he has done so with ‘gusto and aplomb’, I might add. Secondly, a lot of these Southerners whom you say are in positions of authority, I’m very sorry to say, are seen by many as nothing more than powerless glorified figure heads, who do not make the important decisions.

Take the case of Maina, for example. The Head of Service (HOS), Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, openly told Nigerians during a hearing, that she warned the President about taking Maina back into the Service (someone who had been declared wanted, in connection with financial crimes etc, theft of pensions which is even more deplorable and abominable), and she didn’t sign off on his being re-absorbed. By virtue of the position she occupies, it was her call, her decision to make. But did they listen to her? Absolutely Not! The HOS was by-passed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Minister of Interior, and the ‘real’ decision makers, and even though it was the HOS’s decision to make, she was simply ‘blown off’/side lined.

I thank you for your opinion all the same. Editor Dear Editor, I am very pleased with what I read today in THISDAY Lawyer. It was a nice and powerful piece.

It has dawned on me, that Nigeria is presently under a tyrant. We are presently in slavery, but I believe that with prayer and determination, we must not give up, as God almighty will prevail over this Administration. May God deliver us in Jesus’ Name. Best Regards, Faith Makun Dear Editor,

I have read THISDAY Newspaper, since its inception during the Abacha regime. My wife, children and friends will bear witness to my stubborn reluctance to read any other newspaper, and the reason was and still is simple...This Day has this way of telling you the truth, and they stick to it, even when others decide to run.

I have been reading your pieces in the LAWYER section for a while, and though sometimes I don’t agree 100% with you on some issues, overall, I see you as someone who is measured and speaks from the heart, not prone to worshipping, like some of the journalists we see around.

The piece As Buhari Drowns in Nepotism.... was an eye opener of sorts to me, because I must confess, I did not know the origin of the word Nepotism. But I have learnt it from you and I’m grateful.

Maya Angelou once said that ‘When someone tells you who they are...Believe them’. When Buhari was the Head of State in the 80’s, I was a teenager, but I knew what was going on, because I started reading my father’s newspapers when I was 10 years old, and so, I had a fairly good knowledge of what was going on at the time, even if I had to have a dictionary nearby. The man has not changed and will never. It gives me joy to see the way he is carrying on, and I wish to ask some of his ardent supporters like Prof Wole Soyinka, what they make of him now that he has shown himself. Presidency does not change a person. It only reveals who they truly are.

When you send the military to crush IPOB demonstrators who have no guns (I am Ibo, born and raised in Kano, but there are some views espoused by Nnamdi Kanu that I don’t support), when you send the military to the Niger Delta to crush them, I now ask what’s the difference, why hasn’t Government sent the military after the Herdsmen? If the drones work to discover and bomb Boko Haram targets in Sambisa Forest, then why are those same drones not working to get the Herdsmen?

With his appointments, I have given up and don’t worry anymore, because he has set the template for succeeding governments. When he leaves in 2019 or 2023, he and the North, will not have the temerity to shout about marginalisation in terms of appointments anymore.

The sad aspect, is how sound individuals who one was used to respecting, suddenly became apologists. This is where I keep scratching my head daily to unravel and or understand Femi Adesina. One-Must-Chop, as they say in Nigeria, but this kind of hero worshipping of his, and adding salt to my injuries by quoting from the Bible to support every move and action by PMB, is truly demeaning and tasteless, coming from somebody of his background and exposure.

Appointing only his people, is just vintage Buhari. Look at his stint at PTF. It has always been that way. When you appoint based on nepotism, you get saddled with all kinds of persons, and a lot of them may just be simply incompetent, as we have seen with this cabinet of his. So many of them, have no business being there.

It is good that PMB was declared the winner of the 2015 election, so that we could all see him properly, and then allow posterity to judge him. For me nko? I already have my opinion about him, that dates back to 1983.