President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday stated that all the appointments he has made since coming into power were based on merit, denying the viral claims, suggesting that his appointments had only favoured the Northern part of the country.
Many Nigerians have questioned the appointments of Buhari, with many alleging the President of being nepotistic. The President has been largely criticised over his lop-sided appointments which seems to favours the Nothern part of the country where he hails from. Some Nigerians have also addressed the President as the ‘President of the North.’
Meanwhile, President Buhari who spoke during an interview session with Arise TV and monitored by The New Diplomat stated that all his appointments since 2015 have been on merit.
While reacting also to the viral reports that the recent appointment of the Farouk Yahaya as the acting Chief of Army Staff (COAS), was based on his ethnicity, the President stated that the appointment was merited.
According to him, the government cannot just appoint an individual that has no credentials.
“People who have been there for 18 years or even for 10 years, they trained in Zaria or in Abeokuta, they come through the ranks. And because they served under all the circumstances, the crises and everything and they gradually rise to that status and you think you just pick somebody just to balance up? These positions have to be earned,”he said.
Speaking further, the President also disclosed that he has given the military and police a marching order to be ruthless on bandits and other terrorist groups terrorising the country.
The country has been witnessing surging cases of kidnappings, killings, herdsmen and farmers crisis, rape, among others.
Reacting to the security situation in the country, Buhari disclosed that the government is aware of the crisis, assuring that he has given the security agencies necessary directives and that Nigerians will begin to see changes soon.
“People of the same culture killing each other, stealing each other’s cattle, as I said, we are going to treat them in a language they understand.
“We are going to give the police and the military power to be ruthless and you watch it, in a few weeks time, they will be different,” the president added.
While also commenting on the Local Government system of Nigeria, Buhari stated that the third tier of the government has been killed and not properly functioning.
According to the President, the corruption in the country has killed the local government system in the country.
Speaking further, Buhari stated that many of the Local government chairmen have been compromised.
In his words, ”Devolution of powers, you have to define it. Well actually the local government system has been killed. The federal, state and local government if they agree to flow properly we won’t have all these problems. But the problem is the local government has been virtually killed and this is not good for this country, because those who became the local government chairman have been compromised. If your local government is entitled to receive 300 million and later you are only given 100 million.”
