October 31, (THEWILL) – The Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint indigenous Christians from his home state of Katsina if he really means his call for a United Nigeria.
Arising from its meeting in Kaduna, the Christian elders in a statement issued on Sunday by its chairman, Engineer Ejoga Oyinehi Inalegwu, described the call by the president for Nigerians to unite in his recent 61st anniversary broadcast as mere rhetoric if he fails to practice what he preaches.
“We join the president in appealing for a united, equitable, Nigeria that is fair and just to all, irrespective of religion, tribe, origin or region. We, however, add that unity must first begin with the president himself.
“Let him unite the nation by bringing people together through appointments, that are not based on mere relationship with him or religion or any primordial considerations but competent hands, across religious, tribal and regional divides.
“In this regard, we appeal to Mr President to start by appointing competent indigenous Christians from his home state of Katsina into key government positions.
“He will do more in promoting unity across religious and tribal lines by appointing not just a section to key sensitive institutions (customs, inland revenue, accountant general, financial institutions etc.)”, the statement read in part.
The statement also frowned “at the perpetration of the terrible injustice of the past by the systematic replacement of the favoured by the same group while the few others appointed are also being replaced by the already favoured.”
The elders also reiterated that the same goes for the security outfits (the Police, Army Air Force, Navy Prisons, Immigration, Civil Defence, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, etc.) which should reflect the regional and religious diversity of the country.
To this end, the Christian Elders noted that “the president cannot preach unity and be appointing only a section of Nigerians to hold sensitive positions”, saying “the president is not preaching unity when telling a section of Nigerians that by religion, ethnicity and region they are incompetent to hold sensitive positions in his government.
“The president should preach unity in the distribution of infrastructure, in appointments to sensitive and non-sensitive positions across all divides. For both the president and the governors, it should be noted that the resources due all citizens under them are held in trust for all, whether they voted at all or did not vote, whether they voted for the ruling party or not.
“Siting and distribution of projects and development should not be repayment for patronage at elections. Revenues are for the development of the entire domain of governance and should be so seen.
“Let us, as a nation, re-ignite our successes of the past when great minds and national pride like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Prof. Adesina Akinwumi, Arumah Oteh, Amina Mohammed, Prof. Atahiru Jega, Dora Akinyuli etc. were brought on the national stage on the basis of competence, not patronage. They, with others, did us proud and we are now celebrating them on the world stage.
“Similarly, service chiefs and other security heads were appointed from across all divides, as lubricating oil of unity.”
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