Obasanjo Berates Buhari Over Security Chiefs’ Appointments

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari ignored federal character in the appointment of his security chiefs.

Obasanjo also berated the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission for failing to check the excesses of the President in the uneven distribution of public offices.

He said this on Thursday at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oke Ilewo in Abeokuta, shortly after the Coalition for Nigeria Movement was inaugurated in Ogun State.

Obasanjo said, “Let me emphasise important areas, programmes, priorities or processes for improved attention. To start with, we seem to have taken nation building for granted. Nation building must be given continued attention to give every citizen a feeling of belonging and a stake in his or her country.

“For instance, the Federal Character principle, as espoused in our constitution, was to guide the leadership to search for competent holders of major offices to be distributed within the entire nation, and avoid concentration in a few ethnic hands or geographical places, as we currently have in the leadership of our security apparatus.

“To avoid such non-integrative situation, we have the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission, both institutions which must raise the alarm or call for correction of actions by the executive that violates the spirit of our constitution.”