Basir el-Rufai has emphasized the need for Bola Tinubu to stop sectional politics which defined the era of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of appointments of his kinsmen into key federal positions.
El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna, said this while reacting to a Saturday opinion by Nigerian-American writer Farooq Kperogi, who hinted about a plot by Tinubu to replace the head of NNPCL with yet another Yoruba kinsman.
“Two wrongs do not make a right. Sensible inclusion always trumps arrogant exclusion,” the ex-governor wrote on his X handle on Saturday.
Bola Tinubu has faced criticism for allegedly appointing individuals predominantly from his Yoruba ethnic group to top federal positions.
This has drawn comparisons to former President Muhammadu Buhari, who was accused of favoring northern Muslims in federal appointments during his tenure from 2015 to 2023.
Recently, both the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) and the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) criticized Mr.
Tinubu for what they described as a bias toward the southwest in his key appointments, accusing him of promoting divisive sectionalism and imbalance.
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Critics noted that Nasir el-Rufai, a prominent northerner, refrained from condemning Buhari’s appointments during his administration and often defended them as merit-based and free of ethnic or religious bias.
This defense has since been echoed by Tinubu’s supporters to justify the dominance of Yoruba appointees in federal ministries and agencies.
Human rights activist Aisha Yesufu criticized el-Rufai for his remarks, pointing out that he played a significant role in facilitating Tinubu’s rise to the presidency.
“Whatever Tinubu is doing today, he got the memo from Buhari and his supporters who wanted to kill many of us because we said it was ICCIF! And you, @elrufai, you were one of those instrumental In Tinubu getting the critical number of votes he could use to rig the 2023 election, and you gleefully supported him,” Ms Yesufu wrote on X.
Meanwhile, remember that Mr. el-Rufai declined Mr. Tinubu’s offer of a ministerial position last year after his nomination faced a delay in approval by the Akpabio-led Senate.
Critics attributed the delay to various reasons: some pointed to Mr. el-Rufai’s contentious handling of ethnic and sectarian clashes that marked much of his tenure as a two-term governor, while others alleged his perceived tendency toward corruption and disloyalty to allies.
(Peoplesgazette)
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