LOPSIDED APPOINTMENTS ACROSS NIGERIA….. HURIWA Slams Buhari

…. Says “It Will Take Years To Correct Nepotism, Cronyism in Appointments”.

"The exercise of retirements and new appointment of Directors of FIRS as reported by Sahara Reporters, was done in such a way as to favour the core Muslim North among others".

…. Buhari Has Destroyed The Nation’s Unity.

The appointments of only Northern Muslims by President Muhammadu Buhari in all strategic federal positions particularly the skewed appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), would take the next administration years to correct the imbalances.

This was the assertion of the Human Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA in a statement issued on Thursday which it says, is capable of creating  deep seated disunity in the country.

According to HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, the next government may need to convoke a year-long National Constitutional Conference in order to mend the deeply broken fences created by the Buhari-led administration.

The group, in  its statement, stressed that there is the need for social justice and fairness and the application of federal character principle in appointments otherwise the mass uprising in the North may be expanded to other parts of Nigeria.

“In the last five years, the current administration has only succeeded in planting animosity between the different ethnic nationalities than even the civil war did”.

“It will take the grace of God and the will to overpower our differences for Nigeria to rebuild the bridge of unity that the selective style of the Buhari-led administration succeeded in destroying in the last five years”, the Rights Group noted.

The statement which was signed by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf stressed that it is regrettable that, within the core Moslem North which enjoys the topmost juicy federal appointments made so far since the last five years of the Buhari-led administration, there is a widening chasm between the few elite who have cornered all the juicy positions and controlling over 90 percent of the national wealth.

It further said that yet, the same North has the mass of poor street children and discontented and restive youths, who out of frustration of being left behind in the apparent bazaar and sharing of national wealth, have launched large scale social upheavals/violent skirmishes in the forms of armed banditry and outright unleashing of blood cuddling violence on soft targets in the North leading to destruction of many towns and communities and the massive migration from Nigeria to Niger Republic in search of security by millions of ordinary Northerners. 

 “The current Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has skewed all strategic appointments to favour his cronies and political affiliates in the Core Moslem North and a sprinkling of some Christian Northerners but millions of Northerners are left marginalized just like the heavily marginalized Southerners under the current administration.

“However the impact is felt more in the far North whereby due to a large-scale state of wars by armed hoodlums many poor individuals in places like Sokoto and Katsina States have since the last two years migrated into Niger Republic for succor and security whilst only a few Northern elites with assets offshore are the ones controlling the national assets under the watch of the selective administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Last year the Daily Trust reported that many Nigerians residing in Katsina State have fled to neighbouring Niger Republic to escape persistent attacks by kidnappers and bandits. In addition to evacuating their family members, the Nigerians are also acquiring plots and building houses in Niger Republic’s towns of Maradi and Dan Issa. This is even as some of them have obtained residence permit, allowing them to stay in the West African country,” the Rights group noted.

HURIWA blamed the unequal redistribution of national wealth for the total state of anarchy in the North even as the criminal activities of kidnappers heightened recently in Katsina State, with many residents falling victims or being forced to pay large sums of money to secure the release of loved ones.

It noted that in December 2018, the state Governor, Aminu Masari, raised alarm that the state was under the siege of kidnappers, adding that Katsina’s neighbour, Zamfara State, has similarly seen a spike in kidnapping and banditry over the years, with hundreds of lives lost in 2018 alone.

HURIWA said that most of the residents fleeing Katsina State are from Jibia Local Government Area, a community sitting on the border between Nigeria and Niger Republic.

It further said; “A Senator representing Sokoto East, Senator Gobir had only few hours ago told Nigerians that due to insecurity, his constituents have mostly left for Niger Republic where they are assured of protection. This should tell President Buhari that his selective appointments of only Muslim Northerners into high profile appointments is worsening the state of insecurity in his region because these few elites only carry their family members along and since the masses are aware that their own people are running the show but the resources are not trickling down to the downtrodden, they have nothing more to fear than to fight to finish to see if they can grab anything for themselves.

HURIWA particularly condemned what it described as the exclusive appointments of Northerners into key management positions in the NNPC as follows;

Mele Kolo Kyari – Group Managing Director (GMD) Umar Isa Ajiya – Chief Finance Officer, Finance & Account;Yusuf Usman – Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power;Farouk Garba Sa’id – Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services;Mustapha Y. Yakubu – Chief Operating Officer, Refining and Petrochemicals;Hadiza Y. Coomassie – Corporate Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Corporation;Omar Farouk Ibrahim – GGM, International Energy Relations (IER).Kallamu Abdullahi – GGM, Renewable Energy; 9. Ibrahim Birma – GGM, Governance Risk and Compliance;Bala Wunti – GGM, NAPIMS;Inuwa Waya – MD, NNPC Shipping;Musa Lawan – MD, Pipelines & Product Marketing, (PPMC).Mansur Sambo – MD, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).Lawal Sade – MD, Duke Oil/NNPC Trading Compan.Malami Shehu – MD, Port Harcourt Refining Company.Muhammed Abah – MD, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.Abdulkadir Ahmed – MD, Nigeria Gas Marketing Company.Salihu Jamari – MD, Nigeria Gas and Power Investment Company Limited.Mohammed Zango – MD, NNPC Medical Services; 20. Sarki Auwalu – Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

HURIWA noted that the Oil Producing zones of South-South, South East and South West are left with only one Chief Operating Officer position each, and a few senior and middle level positions which it stressed that is not just the cause of the widespread discontent across board in Nigeria but is a violation of chapter 2, Section 14 (3) of the Constitution, which President Buhari swore on oath to uphold and defend.

It said that the section provides 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.”

HURIWA similarly protested the lopsided dismissal and appointments at the Federal Inland Revenue Services even as the Rights group said  the exercise of retirements and new appointment of Directors of FIRS as reported by Sahara Reporters was done in such a way as to favour the core Muslim North among others.