The
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said the steps taken by President
Muhammadu Buhari since he took over on May 29 are tainted with ethnic
colouration.
The
governor, who said the retired general was operating as a “president of
northern Nigeria only” said, “appointments made by Buhari so far negated the
principle of federal character.”
Fayose,
according to a statement issued on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said it was wrong for the
President to have made 31 major appointments with only seven coming from the
South.
“Under
Buhari, are people from southern Nigeria only meant to be hounded and harassed
by anti-corruption agencies and the Department of State Services while those
from the North are meant to enjoy Federal Government’s juicy appointments?” he
asked.
Apart
from lopsided appointments made by the President, the governor said he was
worried that the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway had slowed down
while work had stopped on Lokoja-Abuja road.
These
roads, he said, “are the major roads linking the southern part of Nigeria with
the North.”
“Also,
we have been told by the Federal Government that the Second Niger Bridge
project has been suspended and one is now beginning to remember how Buhari
cancelled the Lagos Metroline Project in 1985 at a loss of over $78m (then) to
the Lagos tax payers.”
Fayose
maintained that Nigeria could only move forward if there was equity and
fairness, saying those who made the country’s constitution and enshrined the
principle of federal character in it were mindful of the ethnic diversity of
the country.
But
the Presidency appealed to Nigerians to ignore Fayose.
The
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu,
said appeal to ethnic and regional arithmetic would not give back to the
Peoples Democratic Party what it lost at the poll.
He
said, “Let me say at this stage that mere appeal to ethnic and regional
arithmetic will not give back to the PDP what they lost. They seem to be making
a dangerous calculation with their recent outbursts.
“The
mere appeal to sectional and religious will not give the party its lost
relevance or electability. Nigerians are smarter than Fayose thinks.
“The
governor’s outbursts are intended to be a trigger for a clash between
communities in areas where deliberate attempts had in the past also been made
by the PDP to stoke ethnic and religious fault-lines.
“Our
appeal to Nigerians is that they should ignore these tantrums. President Buhari
is a healer not a divider.”
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