Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has dismissed insinuations that appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari favour more Muslims and northerners.
Some Nigerians have accused the president of nepotism, claiming that most of the country’s security chiefs are from the North and are Muslims.
But in an interview with a group of newsmen and social media practitioners in Lagos on Friday, Osinbajo debunked the claims.
He said Buhari’s cabinet comprised 20 Christians and 18 Muslims.
The vice president further said four of the five southeastern states had senior ministers while seven northern states had ministers of state.
“Look at the cabinet, for example, from the point of view of the religion, it has an equal number: 18 Christians, 18 Muslims; but, we have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as well as the Head of Service who are Christians. So, we have 20 Christians to 18 Muslims; that’s the structure of the cabinet. So, if you take that narrative you may argue that perhaps the Christian have the upper hand; that’s a possible narrative,” he said.
“Let us look a little deeper into that, so there are those who may argue, for example, that the north has an upper hand or perhaps one section has an upper hand in the cabinet as one narrative. The South East, for example, has five states. Four of the South Eastern states have senior ministers; all of them, except one, who is Minister of State for Education.
“In the assigning particular portfolios he does (have a choice). In the north, seven northern states have no senior minister, including the President’s home state, Katsina. Now, there are those who will say, if you are nepotistic; surely seven northern states have no senior minister. It’s a narrative depending on how you want to run it.
“I give you another example; I’m from the South West. There are people who will say ‘I am from the South West, the North has everything.’ The South West, for the first time in the history of this country, has one Minister who is in charge of three ministries: Power, Works and Housing. The Ministers of Finance & Communications are also from the South West. These are critical ministries. You can run the narrative in whichever way that you choose.
“There are those who will say, for instance, look at the number of CEOs of agencies of government; the highest number of CEOs in our nation today comes from Ogun State, the state has the largest number. There are those who will say that’s his state (i.e VP’S State). So you can run the narrative depending on how you want to run it.”
