Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity President Muhammadu Buhari has said checks by the government shows that the South-West has the highest allocation in the appointments made so far by the government since coming to power in May 2015.
In article titled ‘Buhari At 78: If Only We Knew This President, Adesina said the evidence put paid to the lies by some critics who claim that President Buhari is nepotistic and that his appointments are skewed in favour of the North.
According to him, facts and figures available shows that the South West was followed by Imo, Kano, Edo and Katsina states in the scale of the appointments.
Adesina also faulted the claim by some Nigerians that the President is a religious bigot, adding that during Christmas and Easter holidays, the President asks Christians to stay off work so as to spend the period with their families.
He said a lot of people have chosen to believe lies about the President without getting the facts about who actually he is and what he represents.
He wrote “Ask for a President beleaguered from all sides, and I’ll show you Muhammadu Buhari, the ramrod straight man from Daura, in Katsina State, who turns 78 today”.
“In the build up to the 2015 presidential election, we used to say everything had been thrown at him as projectiles, except the kitchen sink. Permit me to update that expression. Today, everything possible has been thrown at President Buhari, including the kitchen sink. Anything. Everything. Fake news. Hate speech. Lies. False propaganda. Evil thoughts. Malediction. Odium. Opprobrium. Ogbunigwe. Ogulutu.Surface to air missiles. All offensive weapons. But the man trudges on. Calmly, sedately, peacefully”.
“If only more Nigerians knew this President. If only they knew the essential Buhari, the quintessential patriot and gentleman, they would behave differently, handle him with more care, and show him more kindness. Yes, everyone needs kindness, even Presidents”.
Remember that song by Mary Mc Kee and The Genesis?
You’ve got to try a little kindness
Yes, show a little kindness
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness
Then you’ll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people, on narrow-minded streets”.
“Too many people have chosen to believe the wrong things about President Buhari, and have ossified their minds against the truth. But then, those of us who have had the privilege to work with him, studied and known him at close quarters, have a duty to tell what we have seen. And what better day to do it, than on his birthday”.
“Oh, he eats from the President. What else would he say than to sing his praises. True? False. If need be, I will serve this President for free. I consider it a great privilege to serve a man I admire. Even gratis”.
“Somebody commented that a blitzkrieg has been launched against Buhari and the government he leads, from all quarters. Some elements in the media, human rights groups, so-called activists, NGOs, Boko Haram, ISWAP, all at once. But is Buhari the loser? Not at all. It’s the country that ultimately loses, just as Eric Donaldson sang in ‘Little Did You Know:’
You think that you are hurting me
But little did you know you are only hurting yourself
Little did you know you are only hurting yourself”.
“In about two years and five months, with God being merciful as He always is, President Buhari will land safely, and retire to Daura for a well-deserved retirement at 80. And if those engineering distraction against his government continue, it is the country that would have lost. A great deal”.
“What are the things some people hurl against the President, which shows that they don’t know him at all?”
He’s a religious bigot. Really? I’ve not seen a scintilla of evidence in the past five years. Every Christmas and Easter holiday, he calls those of us who are Christians, working with him, and asks us to stay off work, and enjoy the season with our families. That’s not the way of bigots, who would never acknowledge any religion, except their own”.
“As a military commander, history has it that Buhari would always give soldiers working under him time to go for worship on Sunday mornings, just as he did to the Muslims on Fridays. Yet, bigot, bigot, some people continue to shout”.
“He’s a Fulani, he rears cows, and all Fulani herdsmen are criminals, that’s why he tolerates them. Really? Some people even say all Fulani are herdsmen, whether they see them with cattle or not. Truth is; every ethnic stock has its deviants, its criminal elements. You can’t just demonize all Fulani, simply because you want to excoriate the President”
” Did he choose to be born Fulani? Did I choose to be born Yoruba, and did the Ishan, Idoma or Ijaw man choose the ethnic stock he wanted to be born into? It’s a biological accident. You have nothing to do with it. A man then doesn’t go repudiating where he comes from, simply because some people have decided to tar his people with the brush of infamy”.
“He’s nepotistic. A common refrain, but non-scientific. About three years ago, we did a scientific exercise. We chronicled all the appointments made by the President since 2015, and allocated them to states and regions. The result showed that the Southwest had the largest share. Followed by Imo and Kano states. Then Edo and Katsina. And on and on. But the naysayers ignored facts and figures, and stuck to their false narratives. Nepotism”.
“One day, the President had given me an appointment to announce in the early days of the administration. By then, some people had started talking of northernisation agenda. So I said, “Mr President, this is the murmur we hear. Why don’t you consider giving this position to another part of the country?”
“He looked at me calmly, smiled, and said: “If a search has been conducted for a position, and someone has been thrown up as the best candidate. And I then bypass him because of where he comes from, or because of his religion, haven’t I been unfair to that person?”
“Food for thought, indeed.This is Jubril from Sudan and not Muhammadu Buhari, who had died during the medical vacation in 2017, some people say. You have a clone in Aso Villa, not Buhari. Idiocy, sadly believed by even some intellectuals”.
