Appointments: Why President’s trust matters most

Also published in Daily Trust

As the controversy over the alleged lopsidedness or otherwise of President Buhari’s recent appointments persist, it is imperative to get the whole picture and put things in the right context in order to draw an informed conclusion accordingly.

While President Buhari’s critics criticize and accuse him of nepotism and deliberate flouting of the relevant federal character provisions in favour of the northern part of the country, many of his supporters seek to justify his action as many others apologetically seek to assure his ranting opponents that he would soon balance up the lopsidedness.

Unsurprisingly, his political opponents dismiss and capitalize on it in their efforts to discredit him politically. Also, though his fellow major party stakeholders in the other parts of the country especially who bankrolled his political campaigns and other political activities, and used their socio-political influence to lobby and even bully in his favour to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate, have so far remained largely silent and some of them have even expressed their support for him in this regard, their silence or verbal support doesn’t necessarily mean that they are in agreement with him in reality, after all.

In fact, even his fellow major party stakeholders in the north, who, having similarly contributed immensely towards his election victory hence equally expect to be considered for important appointments and/or get their nominated allies appointed, aren’t necessarily in agreement with him, either.

This is not unusual in politics, after all, even in developed democracies where governments are greatly transparent, once a newly elected government is inaugurated, major political stakeholders e.g. campaign financiers, lobbyists, influential campaigners and promoters etc whose collective efforts ensured victory for the winning party, get preferential consideration in the allocation of the most important appointments, of course without prejudice to the criteria of competence and credibility.

Besides, their corporations and other businesses enjoy competitive advantages in the competition for the most lucrative contracts and business opportunities, without prejudice to the relevant due processes.

Therefore, admittedly, the expectations of the major political stakeholders in Nigeria aren’t, and in fact, shouldn’t be considered abnormal in this context. Their worries and grievances are also quite understandable especially considering the fact that many of the most important non-ministerial appointments have already been made, as it also increasingly appears that the pattern of President’s upcoming appointments isn’t likely to significantly change.

Nevertheless, though these are indeed quite justifiable expectations and understandable worries, in Nigerian context, they aren’t necessarily compatible with the strategic interests of the generality of Nigerians and Nigeria as a country. As a matter of fact, the interests of such major political stakeholders are largely, if not entirely, against the interests of the ordinary Nigerians. Because, contrary to what obtains elsewhere, major political stakeholders in Nigeria have always enjoyed disproportionate preferential consideration in appointments, contract award and other opportunities, at the expense of the wellbeing of the ordinary Nigerians.

Until recently, competence, credibility and other relevant criteria would always be disregarded in the allocation of appointments in their favour, while due process would always be flouted with impunity in order to favour their largely fraudulent firms and business entities to award them lucrative yet ridiculously inflated contracts, which would anyway hardly be satisfactorily executed and/or delivered.

In view of the foregoing and considering the rampant culture of corruption and impunity in the country that also overshadows the extremely few reliable individuals in the country’s political sphere and civil service, one can understand the logic behind President Buhari’s insistence to scout for and appoint people he personally regards as particularly credible and competent enough to work with him and handle the most important responsibilities in his administration. This is notwithstanding any favourable official security reports that might have been submitted to him about them or some other potential appointees, since the processes adopted by the country’s security and anti-corruption agencies in clearing potential public office holders aren’t professional and transparent enough to prevent tampering and manipulation.

Besides, considering Nigerians’ high expectations of him to radically turn things around in the country within a maximum period of eight years, he can’t afford to assign some of the most important tasks to the people he hardly trusts, because should his government fail to deliver, he would particularly be harshly castigated and will indeed lose the reputation and credibility he has earned over the decades.

Obviously, the foregoing highlights President Buhari’s dilemma in this regard, yet it underscores the need to address the dilemma without prejudice to his constitutional obligation to balance up his pattern of appointments according to the federal character principles, yet without prejudice to his moral obligation to ensure that only those he personally trusts occupy the most important positions in his administration. Though this is quite possible, it is rather tricky and it wouldn’t pass without generating more controversy, yet it’s worth doing anyway, after all, radical reform measures are always controversial.

To achieve this, President Buhari should simply continue to exercise his constitutional prerogative to assign the most important tasks in his administration to those who he believes are the most professionally competent and trusted individuals to handle the tasks regardless of their religious or regional identities, partisan affiliations and/or ethnicities.

In the meantime, he should also balance up whatever lopsidedness that may result from this in his other appointments, which in any case must be strictly based on moral and professional merit.

Nigerians need to sacrifice the empty sense of pride they enjoy simply because their tribesmen occupy certain positions in the country. President Buhari deserves our trust and cooperation now more than ever before.