I know Buhari to be a very deliberate, reasonable and patriotic person. I know this very well. So if he makes an appointment, I can see the number of hours, days and perhaps weeks of critical thinking and consideration that went into it.
Besides, this is a person that was in this position before and coming immediately after the most reckless administration in the history of this country, the need to recruit serious minded people can hardly be faulted.
And on matters of security, PMB is in the best position to know who he needs not only to guard him but to protect the nation as a whole. The rule is that you're your best security, followed by you, and followed by you because you are the last person to willingly jeopardise your life and that of your administration.
The dilemma is always that there is only one you. So the logical thing is to appoint someone who, among other parameters of competence, you believe will never betray you or the nation. Then leave the rest to God. Let's not forget how he was once betrayed in 1985.
The "Oga" I know will be the last person that will discriminate against any section of this country. He believes in its unity. Out of hundreds of appointments, he has done only five or six. He does not have to alternate their sequence. However, in the end I am sure the fairness that has been the hallmark of his previous endeavours especially in the military will once more become manifest.
There is one notion that we need to get rid of in our minds, that northerners, and Muslims too, are the minor statistic in this country as all appointments since 1999 tried to prove. Digital technology and transparent electoral process is refuting this falsehood. Against this background, it is not surprising that giving five appointments to northerners between the Presidency and NNPC is attracting criticisms from some quarters. I wonder if we expect PMB to zone the positions of his Chief of Staff, Chief Security Officer, GMD NNPC and DGSS among six geopolitical zones or between North and South.
I am quite at home with the appointments so far. I am sure Lawal will give the DSS a new face that smiles at all Nigerians, different from the previous one that was doing its best to deliberately criminalise northerners and kill them with reckless abandon.
Buhari should move on with other appointments based more on competence than on anything else.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
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