Senator representing Abia South senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said President Bola Tinubu has breached the federal character law with his recent appointments.
Abaribe said that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s kinsmen are finding it difficult to complain over President Bola Tinubu’s manner of appointments, which favours his native South West zone.
He stated that Buhari’s kinsmen could find it difficult to complain because they enjoyed the concentration of appointments in their zone during their time.
Abaribe stated this while featuring in a radio programme in Umuahia, the Abia state capital.
He noted the federal character law, which stipulates the balancing of appointments among the six geo-political zones, was observed to be breached by the Buhari administration.
He lamented that Tinubu had taken the same route as the former administration in concentrating over 22 critical positions on his kinsmen in breach of the federal character law.
His words “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 precedent for the country. 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 Igbo have a saying that if a bad practice stays long, it becomes a custom. It became a culture for Buhari to concentrate appointments in his zone, and now Tinubu has continued it.
“It is like Tinubu saying if Buhari could do it, why can’t I do, he is even doing more than Buhari did. Most people who come from Buhari’s place are now finding it more difficult to complain because this is what they enjoyed in their own time.
“Today, the president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu has done the same thing. You can count 22 critical positions, all the positions in the financial sector and too many are from his side.”
