Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
The Presidency has said those accusing President Umaru Yar'Adua of embarking on the 'northernisation" of the machinery of government through the appointment of more northerners in his government are insincere and mischief makers.
The Presidency has said those accusing President Umaru Yar'Adua of embarking on the 'northernisation" of the machinery of government through the appointment of more northerners in his government are insincere and mischief makers.
The Presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi who reacted to the allegation said nothing could be farther from the truth and challenged anyone with such proof to come up with it, pointing out that there are instead more southerners in the present administration at the centre than northerners.
In a statement made available to the State House correspondents, he said: 'President Yar'Adua is passionately committed to a fair, just and united Nigeria where equity and rule of law reign," describing those behind the allegation as people who have discovered a temporary boom in the business of falsehood.
'A verifiable list of all the personal aides, special advisers and other appointees to the Yar'Adua Presidency reveals that the North is actually behind the South. While the president retained about 80 per cent of the personnel from the Obasanjo era, even a cursory glance at the state of origin of the few he himself appointed reveals that majority are actually from the South," Adeniyi pointed out.
Quoting records from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, he noted that out of the 57 political appointees in the Presidency, 31 are from the South as against only 26 from the North, adding of the 19 Senior Special Assistants (SSAs), 11 are from the South and eight from the North, while of the 23 Special assistants (SAs), 13 are from the South and 10 from the North.
'The substantive appointments from the South include: Ms. Ama Iyingiala Pepple who last week replaced Eng. Ebele Okeke as Head of Service of the Federation; Dr. Gbolade Osinowo, initially retained as SSA (Political Affairs) but now the acting Chief of Staff to the President; Dr Emmanuel Egbogah, SA (Petroleum); Dr. Bolanle Babalakin, Adviser on Legal Matters; Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, Deputy Chief of Staff-VP; Dr. Magnus Kpakol, National Coordinator on NAPEP; Amb. Daniel Hart, SSA (Foreign Affairs); Mr. Mathew Aikhionbare, SSA (Head, Presidential Secretariat/Speechwriter); Deaconess J.O. Ayo, SSA (Economic Affairs); and Princess Gloria Iweka, SSA (Presidential Matters)".
"Others are Dr. Ifeoma Amobi, SSA (National Development Matters); Mr. Oronto Douglas, SSA (Research and Documentation); Nze Akachukwu Nwakpo, SA (Special Duties); Mr. Femi Ajayi, SA (Multilateral Cooperation); Mrs. Moremi Soyinka-Onilaja, SA (Youth Programme Monitoring); Blessing Omonibeke, SA (Domestic Matters); Mr. Azibanairo Jonathan, SA (Special Duties); Dr. Fiberesima David Peter and Dr. E. O. Austin Amadi, both personal physicians at the Presidency; Mr. Braeyi Collins Ekiye, PPS to the VP and Mr. Ima Niboro; SSA (Media) to the VP," he further pointed out.
Adeniyi also gave Mr. Ken Saro Wiwa (Jnr), (SA International Affairs); Bolaji Adebiyi, SA (Political Affairs); Dr. Cairo Ojougbo, SA (National Assembly Matters); special advisers like Mrs. Oluwatoyin Adetunji, Mr. Daziba Patrick Obah, Mrs. Dikimiemi Collins Mily, Princess Aramide Gbadamosi, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Njoku and Mrs. Esther Mary Obi as among the presidential aides from the South.
'A mischievous aspect of the current charge of ‘northernisation' against President Yar'Adua is that in order to unjustifiably convict him in the court of public opinion, Nigeria has conveniently been reduced to four rather than six geo-political zones. The new zonal arrangement: South-West, South-East, South-South and the North! Against the backdrop of the fact that there are 19 states in the North as against 17 in the South, this kind of convenient geo-political re-mapping is not only tendentious, it is also patently unfair and unjust.
The Presidential spokesman wondered why at a time the world is looking beyond such primordial sentiments as ethnicity, race and colour, few Nigerians are bent on manufacturing, manipulating and magnifying differences for parochial gains.