Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, says the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs is not subject to ethnic balancing and the federal character principle.
Adesina, insisted that his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari has the prerogative to appoint those he feels are competent and can do the job of securing Nigeria against terrorists and bandits attacks.
The Presidential Spokesperson also said the President’s sickness in 2017 took eight months from his time in office which he spend in London hospital.
Adesina, who spoke on Monday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, defended the lopsided appointment appointment of top defence and security Chiefs, saying: “Don’t subject security to ethnic balancing, don’t subject security to federal character.
“In fact, the constitution that prescribes federal character even gives the President some prerogatives that he can appoint on his own.”
The President, who is from Katsina in North-West Nigeria, had been criticised for favouring Northerners in his appointments. Last November, during campaigns for the 2023 elections, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, criticised Buhari over what he described as the lopsided appointment of heads of security agencies by his administration, noting that 17 heads of various security agencies hail from the North.
Speaking on these appointments by his principal on Monday, Adesina said security should not be subjected to politics but competence.
He said, “Security is something you don’t subject to politics. Security is you bring your best foot forward.
“Look at the echelon of security agencies still 2015, would you honestly say they have all been from one part of the country? Who was the chief of naval staff in the first term of this administration? Was it not a man from Cross River State? Who was the Inspector General of Police at that time? Was it not a man from Edo State? Solomon Arase.
“Security is something you do based on the best. The best and the brightest because all you want is for your country to be secured. The President usually said unless you have secured the country or even an organisation, you cannot efficiently manage it.
“So, you get the best that can help you secure the country. People who begin to subject the headship of security agencies to where it comes from don’t know what they are talking about.”
Asked whether only the Northern region has the best hands to secure the country, he said the President has the prerogative to choose those he feels can secure the country.
“What the constitution requires of him is balancing in terms of each state being represented, in terms of certain positions. Most of those positions are prescribed, security is not part of it.
“A President will always have the prerogative to appoint those he feel will help him secure the country and have the kind of country he desires to have,” Adesina said.
The Presidential Spokesperson, who was highlighting the accomplishments and legacy of the Buhari government during the programme, stated that the President spent eight months on treatment in the United Kingdom in 2017.
“When he fell sick in January 2017, he came back in March, went again in April and didn’t come back till August 19.
“About all, eight months. That sickness took eight months of his time in the office. Of course, nobody would like that but what we are glad about is that he came whole, sound and better than he went.”
He, however, said despite this setback, the President would be leaving the country far better than he met it.
Adesina recalled that 17 Local Government Areas were in the hands of terrorists when Buhari took over in 2015, adding that the government had reclaimed those territories.
In terms of economy, he argued that Nigeria now has a diversified economy following the efforts of the Buhari administration, stressing that “oil now contributes less than 10% to Nigeria’s GDP.”
The Presidential Spokesperson also faulted the criticism of Buhari by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, over the sales of the aircraft in Presidential Air Fleet.
Adesina argued that Buhari never promised to sell off the presidential fleet, saying: “Those things don’t do credit to Father Kukah’s intellectual posture. He is somebody that we had always admired for his intellectual bent but his opinions have been coloured by politics.
“He talked about selling the presidential fleet. Was that ever promised? In 2015, there were promises made that even the candidate did not know about.”
He said if the provisions of Nigeria want the president to travel in commercial flights, Buhari would gladly do so.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in London on February 21, 2015 as the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had declared: “We intend, for instance, to bring back our national carrier, the Nigerian Airways. We shall do this by bringing all the aircraft in the Presidential fleet into Nigerian Airways and within a year increase the fleet into about 20.”
Channels TV