Anna Oboho
The policies of the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has exposed the administration as one that promotes tribal sentiments.
Deep tribal and ethnic coloration was first detected in Buhari’s appointments into federal positions.
Out of the three regions and 250 ethnic groups in the country, the administration of Buhari shows preference for one tribe, the Fulani tribe, where he belongs, in appointing leaders into governance and federal parastatals.
This as critics have observed, goes clearly against the constitution of the country which stresses federal character in every appointment.
Critics of the administration have also maintained that the current administration has repeated a trend that occurred in the 1983 to 1985 when Buhari was the military head of state.
In July 9, 2021, the Northern Forum accused Buhari of playing up tribal politics to a dangerous level.
They claimed that he had alienated many tribes and people in Nigeria in the quest to favour the Fulani tribe. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed who spoke on behalf of the Northern Elders Forum accused Buhari and his administration of running Nigeria to the ground.
He pleaded with Nigerians to avoid the mistake of electing another tribal president like Buhari in 2023.
He pointed out that Nigeria deserved a president that will carry all Nigerians along, not a tribalistic one.
Also commenting about the tribal trend set by the Buhari administration, Fawehinmi Dipo who reacted to the statement by the NEF, maintained that Buhari was a president who believed that only people from his own ethnic group were good enough to be in almost every position of governance.
“His actions have divided the country so badly, Nigeria will need a detribalized leader who will not put religion above major decisions.
“Age must not be a factor in picking the right leader. In fact, we need a patient person who will reconcile all aggrieved tribes to make Nigeria one again.”
Nigeria’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouk, was once quoted as saying that the ministry only shared the Covid-19 palliatives to “the poorest Nigerians in the North because we don’t have poor people in Southern Nigeria.”
She was quoted to have said that the Southern part of the country had people outside the country who were taking care of them.
There are fears that after Buhari, Nigeria may split into factions.
Many have concluded that the cracks are already showing up in the nation, especially with the spate of agitations and call of self rule by some regions in the country.
People have also criticized Buhari’s haunting down of activists such as Nnamdi Kanu who condemned the treatment of the Igbos in the South East and was haunted down and brought to Nigeria by Buhari’s Department of State Security Service.
Kanu is currently in the DSS custody and has spent more than three months there without trial and under dehumanizing conditions, as attested to by his lawyers.
Another activist, for the Yoruba nation, Sunday Igboho had to escape to Benin Republic when the DSS raided his home, destroying lives and property.
The government of Buhari has also expended resources in a quest to bring Igboho back to Nigeria.
His handling of terrorists and convicted criminals from the Fulani region has also met with heavy criticism.
Reports have it that the administration has freed almost all the convicted terrorists who bombed the United Nations building in 2011 and Kabiru Sokoto, the dreaded bomber of a Catholic Church in Madalla on Christmas day 2013.
Giving them the tag, “repentant terrorists” Buhari rehabilitates and gives these convicted killers and arsonists homes.
In the same breath, the Federal Government has refused soldiers who were accused of abandoning their duties in the fight against the terrorists.
These and many more is the reason why Nigerians have concluded that the country will not remain after Buhari.
