Appointments: Shun Nepotism, Sani Tells Tinubu

Rights activist Shehu Sani has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to eschew nepotism for competence while making federal appointments.

The former senator representing Kaduna Central said the president should priotise competence rather than where the potential appointees come from before appointing such into positions.

Sani made the remark on Sunday, on Channels Television Politics Today, stressing that former President Muhammadu Buhari based most of s his appointments on nepotism.

Recall that the former president was trenchantly criticized by not a few Nigerians for appointing more Northerners into key federal government positions, such as the military and Presidency.

Recently too, President Tinubu has also been dragged by not a few Nigerians for priotising people from the south west, where he hails from, in crucial federal government appointments.

In fact, some Nigerians familiar with the issue accused Tinubu of appointing predominantly persons from state Lagos in his appointment to key government positions.

Tinubu was a former governor of Lagos state where he served a maximum of eight years in office between 1999 and 2007.

Speaking yesterday, Sani, who recently accused some key northern leaders of trying to stop President Tinubu’s re-election, in 2027 said competence must be key in appointing persons to office if the country was to move forward.

According to him, President Tinubu must not replicate Buhari’s administration who kept officials in office even when they were not competent, he said performance should guide Tinubu on whether to retain appointees of not.

The activist said, “I will advise President Tinubu to be careful not to make the mistakes of President Buhari, and I believe he is experienced to understand this.

“Under Presdient Buhari, you have ministers that were appointed into office for the whole of eight years; they were with him for the first tenure and the second tenure, and there was no cabinet reshuffle, no removal. Even if there was a removal, it takes three to four months to replace a minister. That was the way the country was governed.

“Under Buhari, we have seen nepotism at its peak where people were appointed into office and left there even if they did nothing.

“Service chiefs were retained in office despite their failures, and by retaining them, you destroyed the careers of those behind them. For many years, many officers were retired to appoint one person.

“If this country has to move forward, we must treat the issue of competency as the qualification for appointment.”

Meanwhile, the magazine reported that Zamfara state government, last week, rejected the appointment of Mrs Maryam Ismaila as a federal permanent secretary allegedly because her parents were Christians.