Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senator representing Abia South Senatorial District at the 10th National Assembly, has said that he warned against former President Muhammadu Buhari’s breach of federal character by appointing persons from his ethnic divide and religion.
He said that the lopsided appointments as witnessed in the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, was a continuation of what was started by Buhari during his first tenure.
Abaribe made this known while featuring on a radio programme, captioned: “The South-East Political Roundtable” by Flo FM Radio, Umuahia.
According to him, the federal character law which stipulates balancing of appointments among the six geo-political zones, was observed in breach by Buhari’s administration.
He said: “When Buhari started this ethnic concentration of positions; I was one of the first people to shout at it.
“At that time in 2016, it was very clear that Buhari was going a route that nobody had seen in this country, appointing those from his ethnic divide and religion.
“But we said that this was setting a wrong precedence for the country and we continually preached against it.
“We said this would be an ill wind that would not blow Nigeria any good.
“Now this is several years later, we have seen where this has collapsed the economy.
“We have gotten to a situation where the present government of President Bola Tinubu which we thought was going to repair the damaged psyche of Nigerians, is actually doubling on what Buhari did.”
The federal lawmaker said that Tinubu, while following Buhari’s footsteps, has given over 22 critical positions to his native South-West zone and “all the positions in the financial sector and too many are from his side.”
Abaribe also queried the bloating of ministerial positions to about 50, as against the maximum constitutional requirement of 37 by the federal character.
He insisted: “There are six zones in Nigeria, out of the six zones, only South -East continues to have just the constitutionally provided number of ministers.
“The South-East has five because we have five states, but every other zone has more than what they are supposed to have.
“South West has up to 10 ministers; North West up to that number, South-South has about nine ministers. You know have a bloated cabinet.”
