Ex-Minister Kicks As Buhari Fills FCC With Northerners

By Fola James

President Muhammadu Buhari has not managed to shed the garb of northernising major government appointments since he came to office in 2015, his critics have often said.

He has done it again, according to Osita Chidoka, a PDP chieftain who took a swipe at the president for appointing two northerners as chairman and Secretary of the Federal Character Commission, FCC.

The president had on Wednesday forwarded the names of nominees from 36 states in the country and FCT to the Senate for approval as members of the Commission.

But looking at the nominees, Chidoka, a former minister Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, said the president has failed to convince Nigerians that he’s a detribalized Nigerian.

He said the nomination of candidates from northern states of Kwara and Taraba as chairman, and secretary, respectively, of Federal Character Commission, FCC, negates the spirit of the constitution.

The nomination, he explained also violated Section 4 of the subsidiary legislation which states that the distribution of position shall be across the zones.

He said President Buhari should have taken a cue from his predecessors who strictly followed the constitution in making such appointments.

Chidoka said, “Where the number of positions available cannot go round the states of the federation or the Federal Capital, the distribution shall be on zonal basis, but in the case where two positions are available, the positions shall be shared between the northern and southern zones.

The former Aviation Minister sated that the appointment of  Mohammed Bello Tukur, the Legal Adviser of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, as Secretary of the FCC, should have paved the way for the first southern Chairman of the commission.

Rather “in a rather brazen act” he said, ”the penultimate acting Chairman Mallam Shettima rather than handover to a southern commissioner handed over to the Secretary of the Commission. “

He said “The President in violation of Chapter 2 of the constitution aptly named Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy that provides in Section 13 that; ‘It shall be the duty and responsibility of all organs of government, and of all authorities and persons, exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers, to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of this Chapter of this Constitution’ has appointed a Chairman in violation of the spirit and letters of our laws.

The ex-minister further explains that “Chapter 2 Sec14(3) expressly mandates that ‘The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few state or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies’.

He said the Buhari administration “has consistently violated one of the most ingenious and ambitious affirmative actions entrenched in our constitution to promote national unity uniquely named Federal Character.”

Chidoka said the nomination should be allowed to stand, urging well meaning Nigerians to speak against the perceived injustice by making sure that President is checkmated for continuously sowing the seed of discord among Nigerains.

Therefore, “The Senate should emphasise the supremacy of our constitution and the need to build an inclusive state,” Chidoka.