A former National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum and spokesman for northern delegates in the last National Conference, Anthony Sani, has said President Muhammadu Buhari should not be blamed for recent religion-inspired killings in the country, adding that the president cared for the South as he cared for the North.
Sani was reacting to allegation by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, that Buhari, as the nation’s commander-in-chief should be blamed for the unprovoked killings of Christians.
He said the president had shown through his appointment of officers that he saw every part of the country as one.
He said, “The blame is misplaced. My advice to CAN is not to help promote cleavages of the nation along religious lines.
“Please read the import of what President Obama said about the recent killings in Orlando, Charleston Church and that of Dallas, as well as the condemnation of Trump by Americans for being divisive.
“I noticed northern CAN was the one which complained, but does it make sense to posit that Mr. President would make appointments without consulting the Secretary to the Government of Federation and the Speaker of the House of Representatives who are northern Christians and seminal members of the government?”
Sani however, noted that he was not bothered about how appointments were made, adding that it didn’t really matter to him which region one was appointed from in as much the person performed credibly.
“But my response still stands. I have not bothered to analyse the appointments by religion because of my attitude that it does not matter the colour of the cat provided it can catch the rats.
“But I read the submission by one Senator Adeyeye who said there are 18 Christian ministers and 18 Muslim ministers.
“He also said while it is true that the appointments for security heads favour the North, since only the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Naval Staff are from the South, in the case of portfolios for development it favours the South; considering only agriculture and education ministers are northerners.
“He also said there were more Christian senators.
“In any case, when the time for accountability comes, Nigerians would rate the regime on issues of real concern to ordinary Nigerians and not how the regime was able to balance appointments by religion, by ethnicity, by region, by gender and by age.”
