Reverse new appointments, Fani-Kayode urges Buhari

A former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse his recent appointments, saying that the President’s justification was unacceptable.

Fani-Kayode said that the appointments made by the President were a revival of northern quest to dominate the country.

He   said that failure to be fair in his appointments would attract grave consequences and show that he was pursuing a northern agenda.

The former minister said this in an article entitled, “Nigerian President or King of the North,” published on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.

Criticisms trailed the President’s latest appointments, which were believed to favour the northern part of the country.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had assured Nigerians that Buhari’s political appointments would balance out very soon.

Fani-Kayode, who was the Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation in the last general election, said he predicted that Buhari would advance a northern agenda and that the President’s approach to governance had justified his prediction.

He said, “There is no gainsaying that this is unacceptable. Some of us warned that this would happen but we were insulted and lampooned for doing so. These appointments are not only lopsided but they are also a manifestation of the fact that in just three months, southern Nigeria has finally been relegated to being little more than an occupied region and a vassal state.”

Fani-Kayode said southern Nigeria would resist marginalisation in the present government.

He said fairness and equity in the sharing of national resources and key government appointments were a fundamental prerequisite for peace, security and national unity.

The article partly read, “Whether he is President of Nigeria or King of the North, Buhari would do well to retrace his steps. The consequences of not doing so for both his government and the unity of our country will be grave and costly. The South cannot be subjugated and treated with contempt and the people of the South will never be slaves.

“Power may have returned to the North but the people of the South must be treated with respect, sensitivity, dignity, fairness and decency. Those that refuse to accept this counsel and insist on charting a different course do so at their own peril.”