Group accuses Buhari of nepotism in appointments into Police Trust Fund
A group under the aegis of Campaign for Equity has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of exhibiting sectional and tribal sentiments, when it comes to federal appointments.
The group said that a country where the different ethnic groups constitute its strength, it will only be fair for the president to strictly adhere to the federal character principle as enshrined in the constitution when making appointments.
National Coordinator, Campaign for Equity, Oliver Akosa, said in a statement at the weekend, that the appointments made by Buhari to head the board of trustees of the police trust fund, is a clear pointer to inequity, injustice and nepotism.
The statement made available to our correspondent in Jos, further called on the president to reconstitute the board to reflect national interest and fair play.
The group said: “We took more than a passing interest in the composition of the board of trustees of the Police Trust Fund recently announced by the Presidency.
“In the appointment under reference, the former Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abbah, was announced as chairman, board of trustees of the fund, while Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto was pronounced the executive secretary.
“Members include representatives of three ministries, namely, Ministry of Police Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and Ministry of Justice. The police, civil society groups and organised labour were also represented on the board of the fund.
“While we applaud Buhari, for taking steps to ensure that the police is well funded, well equipped and highly professional, we note with disappointment that the composition of the board of trustees of the fund is sectional, parochial and lopsided, and does not therefore, meet the basic requirements of federal character as enshrined in the constitution.
“We say this because Suleiman Abbah, chairman of the board is from Jigawa state. The Executive Secretary, Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, hails from Sokoto state in the same north-west.
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“It is clearly odd and obscene for a national agency which is supposed to reflect the country’s geo-politics, have its chairman and secretary coming from one zone of the country.
“As if this is not embarrassing enough, two other members of the eight-man arrangement come from the same north -west. Mansur Ahmed, the member representing organised labour and Usman Bilkisu, the member representing the Ministry of Justice, are from Kano and Kebbi states respectively.
“To cap it all, the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, is from Sokoto in the same north -west. This shows that the entire police apparatchik of the country is in the hands of the north -west.”
This arrangement, the group asserted, falls short of both regional and federal balance and consequently, called on President Buhari to reconstitute the police trust fund board, conscious of regional or geo-political balance.
Akosa observed that for a country that is working hard to get a police force that works, the government needs the contributions of critical stakeholders to achieve that objective.
“We need to broaden the civic space to accommodate various shades of opinion. The present parochial arrangement which concentrates everything about the police in one zone of the country is retrogressive and inhibiting.
“Nepotism or cronyism which the present arrangement promotes should be shunned and jettisoned,” he said and appealled to Buhari not to inaugurate the police trust fund board in its present composition.
