S/West tops Buhari’s appointments with 33.7 per cent

The South West geopolitical zone has the highest number of people appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as ministers and aides, an official document obtained by Daily Trust shows. Colonel Dangiwa Umar (Rtd), a former governor of Kaduna State, yesterday alleged that appointments were skewed in favour of the North.

But a credible source faulted the allegation, saying that, “The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) recently released the list of ministers and aides.”

The document seen by our reporter revealed that people from the South West constitute 33.7 per cent of those engaged by the president as ministers and aides. This is followed by people from the North West, 19.5 per cent; North East, 15.3 per cent; South South, 12.6 per cent; North Central, 11.1 per cent and South East, 7.9 per cent.

The document further showed that the President appointed 64 people from South West, 37 from the North West, 29 from the North East, 24 from the South South, 21 from the North Central and 15 from the South East.

In summary, 54.2 per cent of the appointees (103) were from the Southern part of the country while the Northern part produced 45.8 per cent (87).

The distribution among the 36 states of the federation and the FCT showed that Ogun is the highest with 17 people excluding Vice President Yemi Osinbajo while Adamawa is second with 14. Kano has 12, while Edo, Ondo, Osun and Katsina states have 8 each.

Those with one include Ebonyi, Imo, Bayelsa, Cross River, Plateau and Zamfara.