A Pan-Nigeria pressure group says “the deepening nepotism and lopsidedness” in the allocation of resources and appointments by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is “a reflection of an organized decapitation of the political influence of Southern Nigeria.”
“What we have seen since the beginning of 2020 is a desperate attempt to consolidate on the pursuit of political annihilation and cleansing of Southern Nigeria,” the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC) said in a statment on Sunday.
The statement made available by the group’s convener, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, read: “Since 2016, we have been very consistent in telling the people of Nigeria that Gen. Buhari has only come to establish two things in government: to return the ethno-religious dominance of the core North and to entrench the dominance of his Fulani tribe.
“Since May 29, 2019, every initiative of the regime and everything it has done, including the prosecution of crimes, have all revolved around bolstering and cementing sectional interest, for instance, how do you explain a situation where IPOB agitators, Yahoo-boys and petty thieves are kept perpetually in cells, but Boko Haram terrorists are granted amnesty?
“Every strategic position, influential appointments, and emergency allocation of resources, have been brazenly and sinfully cornered by the President, to the advantage of his ethno-religious group in the North, and to the disadvantaged of the rest of the country.
“Federal Character principle, fairness and even merit have been jettisoned, while the public service and the federal civil service have been severely altered and bastardized, just because there is a regime that is unconscionably plotting to foist the dominance of one section over the rest.
“The National Assembly whose responsibility it is to address this grave injustice, has been found to be culpable through its leadership in aiding the President, while it has not also demonstrated any commitment to challenging this unabated erosion of justice and fairness.
“Strategic components and agencies of Presidency, Finance, Oil, Revenue, Defense, Security, Intelligence, Ports, Anti-graft, Education, Agriculture, Water, Communication, Humanitarian and Emergency and many more, have been cornered by one section of the country, while their internal structures have also been altered to serve same interest.
“Every move of the Buhari regime, has lend credence to a suspected political decapitation ploy, designed to put the South at the mercy of the North, and with the hope of entrenching the political dominance of the core North to rule for a long time to come.
“We can only urge the President to have a rethink as an elderly old man whose preoccupation ought to be about planting the seed of unity, entrenching social justice, fanning the air of love and giving the country a purposeful direction.
“The situation is so grave that even the commissioned agents of the regime from the deprived sections of the country, are also whispering behind, and expressing their frustrations, but because of the perks they are enjoying, they cannot openly condemn this provincial manipulation of the country.
“We also wish to urge Nigerians not to relent in demanding for restructuring and electoral reforms as these important demands represent new opportunities for the country, if it must survive economically and democratically.
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